Vera Straetmanns
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yavannakemi.bsky.social
Vera Straetmanns
@yavannakemi.bsky.social
500 followers 370 following 76 posts
PhD student working on plant philosophy and its history 🌱 recent paper: "The Lady and the Plants: Two Notions of Teleology in Agnes Arber’s Philosophy of Plants"; read it here: https://rdcu.be/d5xPI | fan of Tolkien and board games | she/her
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yavannakemi.bsky.social
This week, we celebrate Democracy Week in the GA building of @ruhr-uni-bochum.de. Come around, if you're on campus! We've put together a really great program: uni.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/sites/uni.ru...
Let's stand together against any queer- and democracy-hostile tendencies! 🏳️‍🌈
Header of the program for the Democracy Week saying "Democracy Week in building GA - an initiative of the Mittelbau. All events are open for interested members of all faculties."
November 17, 2025 at 9:59 AM
yavannakemi.bsky.social
Even on a grey and rainy day in October (or especially then?), the botanical garden at @ruhr-uni-bochum.de is just magical 🤩🍂
A tiny tiny snail on a green-yellow Gingko leaf Some tall, slim birches and conifers. A beautiful tree with green, yellow and red leaves Some tiny tiny clover leaves with water drops on them.
October 16, 2025 at 12:18 PM
yavannakemi.bsky.social
Happy to be in Dresden for my 3rd conference this year: the annual meeting of the German Society for the History of Science, Medicine and Technology. Looking forward to learning a lot about animal history after already talking about plant history at the FoGeL meeting yesterday. 🦉🌳
#PhDSky #HistSci
Photo of the botanical garden in Dresden that we visited yesterday. Photo of the Frauenkirche in Dresden Photo of a cupboard full of coloring agents in glass bottles that we were shown during a tour through the historical color collection at the TU Dresden. Photo of local organiser Gisela Hürlimann during her welcome address at the opening session of the conference.
September 24, 2025 at 6:29 PM
yavannakemi.bsky.social
#EPSA2025 was a really great experience! Thank you to @epsaphilsci.bsky.social and all the local organizers for creating this beautiful event! Inspiring talks, friendly people, interesting posters and dinner in a church - what else could you ask for?! 😀
#PhDSky #PhilSci
View over a bridge to some nice houses and a rainbow-colored crosswalk. Sergei Shevchenko next to his slide in front of the audience at EPSA 2025. People sitting at white tables in a church with white walls. View of the city center of Groningen from the roof of a building.
September 1, 2025 at 8:16 AM
yavannakemi.bsky.social
This is a wall of the room I'm sitting in right now
Wall of a pompous room hanging full of portraits of Dutch professors.
August 28, 2025 at 10:29 AM
yavannakemi.bsky.social
Gave my talk today at the @epsaphilsci.bsky.social meeting, speaking about plant agency in Agnes Arber, Emil Ungerer and Raoul Francé. 🌳🤓 Thank you to everyone who attended, it was a really great session and an engaged audience! 🤩
#PhDSky #HistSci #PhilSci
Photo of me standing next to a screen with a slide from my talk that shows an AI generated drawing of Ungerer, Arber and Francé working in a plant lab together.
August 27, 2025 at 7:58 PM
yavannakemi.bsky.social
Happy to be at the meeting of @epsaphilsci.bsky.social in Groningen! Already had a great day yesterday visiting the amazing botanical garden, having a great Poké-Bowl for dinner and chilling in my hostel bunk bed 😃
#PhDSky #PhilSci
Photo of the aula where the keynote talk today took place Photo of the inside of my bunk bed. Photo of my delicious vegan Poké bowl Photo of the gorgeous Chinese garden in the botanical garden of Groningen.
August 27, 2025 at 10:02 AM
yavannakemi.bsky.social
Back in the office after returning from Porto yesterday. I had a blast at #ISHPSSB2025! Thanks for all the great talks, the amazing community and a special thanks to everyone who came to my talk on the morning after the conference dinner to listen to me talking about the history of plant agency! 🥰🌳
Me standing in front of the title slide of my talk, entitled "The Historical Roots of Plant Agency: Lessons from Early 20th-Century Biology". Group picture of people from the organized session "Pluralism, Epistemic Injustice, and Transdisciplinarity in the Life Sciences" plus guests. Sunset over Porto A picture made of tiles showing Jesus with a glass of wine in his hand and the words "Jesus bless portwine".
July 30, 2025 at 3:45 PM
yavannakemi.bsky.social
Looking forward to the "Cognizing Life Conference 2025", 16.-19. July! With talks by @djnicholson.bsky.social, @dalianassar.bsky.social, @gregoryrupik.bsky.social, @philippehune.bsky.social and many more! You can participate online, all info here: www.clc2025.de
#HPBio #PhilSci #HistSci
Screenshot of the website for the Cognizing Life Conference 2025.
July 15, 2025 at 9:41 AM
yavannakemi.bsky.social
🌱 Call for Contributions – FoGeL 2025: Plant-based 🌿
📍 Dresden | 🗓️ Sept 23, 2025
One day before the annual meeting of the @gwmt.bsky.social, we're looking at #plants in the history of the life sciences
Submit your idea by June 15 to vera.straetmanns[at]rub.de - in German or English.
#HistSci #HPBio
Poster for FoGeL 2025, saying: "FoGel 2025 - Plant-based 23. SEPTEMBER 2025 / DRESDEN BEITRAGSVORSCHLÄGE BIS 15. JUNI 2025 AN: VERA.STRAETMANNS@RUB.DE" Explanation about FoGeL 2025: "Im Vorfeld der diesjährigen Tagung der GWMT in Dresden findet am 23.9.2025 erneut das Forum Geschichte der Lebenswissenschaften (FoGeL) statt. In diesem Jahr wollen wir bewusst einen Kontrapunkt zum tierzentrierten Thema der Haupttagung setzen – aus der pflanzlichen Perspektive. Was passiert, wenn wir die Geschichte der Lebenswissenschaften plant-based denken? Welche Rolle spielten und spielen Pflanzen – als Erkenntnisobjekte, als Modellorganismen, als Gegenstände technischer Aneignung oder ästhetischer Projektionen? Welche historischen Akteur*innen, Praktiken, Orte, Bilder oder Konzepte rücken durch diese Perspektive ins Zentrum? Wir suchen Beiträge (ca. 10 Minuten), die aus laufenden Projekten heraus eine Frage aufwerfen oder einen Aspekt zur Diskussion stellen. Besonders willkommen sind experimentelle Formate, unfertige Gedanken, methodische Herausforderungen oder knifflige Quellenfunde – all das, was im klassischen Vortrag oft keinen Platz findet. Bewerbungen (max. 200 Wörter Abstract + 1–2 Sätze zur eigenen Person) bitte bis 15. Juni 2025 an vera.straetmanns@rub.de."
May 23, 2025 at 1:35 PM
yavannakemi.bsky.social
My first paper is published!🤩 In it, I analyze how 20th century plant morphologist Agnes Arber understood teleology in plants.🪴 Spoiler: I think that she had two different notions of teleology and only liked one of them.
Read more here: rdcu.be/d5xPI or in the following thread! 🧵 (1/5)
🌱🐋 #HistSci
Portrait of Agnes Arber from 1946. It was an official photograph taken on behalf of the Royal Society on her election as a Fellow. Photographed by Walter Stoneman, 1946 © Godfrey Argent Studio, courtesy of the Royal Society.
January 8, 2025 at 10:34 AM
yavannakemi.bsky.social
Great workshop last week in Bochum - the first one I co-organized 😎
Such great talks and all of them about plants!! 😍🌿
Also happy about my talk on early plant psychologists - something I will keep on working in the future.
#PhDSky #HPBio #HistSci
Photo of me presenting my talk at the workshop "Flora in Focus". Another photo of me presenting my talk at the workshop "Flora in Focus" kind of waving my arms at the slide.
December 3, 2024 at 2:31 PM
yavannakemi.bsky.social
On my way back from Vienna after 4 days of talks, discussions and meeting great people at #EASPLS. I can really recommend it to any PhD in #HPBio! Thanks to @leonardobich.bsky.social, Matteo Mossio and Lucie Laplane for organizing! Also great to spend time with ROTO guests Mariano and Joan 😊
#PhDSky
Folder with material from the KLI for the participants of the EASPLS 2024. A view of the conference room with people sitting and listening to the speakers sitting in front. The Danube in the evening sun. Joan, Mariano and me smiling at the camera.
September 13, 2024 at 2:22 PM
yavannakemi.bsky.social
August 31, 2024 at 8:54 PM
yavannakemi.bsky.social
I feel very blessed and honored to have been part of the extraordinary conference "The organic and the normative". Such a lovely, "deliberately heterogenous" group of people! Thanks to @sebastjanvoros.bsky.social and his group for organizing this and welcoming us in beautiful Ljubljana! 💚
August 2, 2024 at 9:38 AM
yavannakemi.bsky.social
Don´t want to brag but I seem to be quite good at this 😊
July 17, 2024 at 10:27 AM
yavannakemi.bsky.social
Yesterday, I gave a talk about Agnes Arber and her understanding of teleology in plants at the #HOPOS2024 - my first talk at a scientific conference ever 🤓 Very happy that it went so well and that I was in such a great session about the philosophy of biology!
#HPBio
#PhD
July 10, 2024 at 6:39 PM
yavannakemi.bsky.social
Springtime in Bochum ☀️😍🪻
March 19, 2024 at 12:49 PM
yavannakemi.bsky.social
I´m in love with this interactive poster on the evolution of plants!! 🤩🌿
madland.science/greening.php
Screenshot of the poster. It shows the evolution of multicellular plants and other details on plants and life in general in great detail and with miniature illustrations.
January 2, 2024 at 3:13 PM
yavannakemi.bsky.social
Fascinating talk today by Michael Levin in the basal cognition lecture series. I will probably dream of three-headed planaria tonight 🙈🪱
Thanks to @tobiasschlicht.bsky.social, Caroline and Matt for organizing this great series! 🤩
Poster for the basal cognition online lecture series. Next (and last) meeting is on the 24th January, 2pm.
December 20, 2023 at 5:15 PM
yavannakemi.bsky.social
Autumn walk in Bochum's botanical garden 🍂
Photo of lichen on a tree Silvery plant fruits (I don't know the species...) Gingko leaves turning yellow Tree with red leaves in Chinese garden
November 7, 2023 at 4:42 PM
yavannakemi.bsky.social
Agnes Arber fact #5:
Arber was not only a researcher and writer, she also was a very skilled draftsperson and illustrated most of her books and articles herself. Both her father and her sister were painters and her father started giving Agnes art lessons in the age of three.
#histsci #philsci #HPbio
Illustration of different microscopic and macroscopic plant structures by Agnes Arber. Illustration of leaves and axes of Amicia Zygomeris, Fagus Sylvatica and Rubus Laciniatus including written descriptions by Agnes Arber. Illustration of a branched rhizome by Agnes Arber, including written descriptions.
November 6, 2023 at 3:16 PM
yavannakemi.bsky.social
Agnes Arber fact #3:
Arber had a lifelong interest in Goethe. She called him "a botanist of genius" and drew on his concepts in her writings. She already came into contact with his work during college and published a translation of his “Metamorphosis of Plants” in 1946.

#histsci #philsci #HPbio
A portrait of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe by Joseph Karl Stieler, 1828. Taken from Wikipedia.
October 30, 2023 at 10:24 AM
yavannakemi.bsky.social
Looking forward to tomorrow's talk! 🌺 @manipulatingflora.bsky.social
#HPbio #HistSci #PhilSci
Poster for the online seminar series "Plants in Early Modern Knowledge (and Beyond): History, Philosophy and Medicine
October 26, 2023 at 9:15 AM
yavannakemi.bsky.social
Agnes Arber fact #2:
Arber was born in London and lived at Primrose Hill between 1890 and 1909. A blue plaque of the English Heritage marks the house in which she lived.
#histsci #philsci #HPbio
Me standing in front of Agnes Arber's former home in London. The blue plaque saying "Agnes Arber née Robertson 1879-1960 Botanist lived here 1890-1909"
October 26, 2023 at 7:45 AM