The Commission on Science and Literature will be holding its third conference on 2nd-4th July 2018 in Paris. Click below for the updated call for papers (deadline 10th March), together with a list of hotels near the conference venue. Proposals for papers and panels on any aspect of the relationship between literature and science worldwide are welcome.
Other organisations of interest to members of the BSLS
2nd INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP IN THE FRAMEWORK OF “HERMOUPOLIS SEMINARS”,
SYROS, 5-8 JULY 2016
“Beyond Nature in Science and Literature”
The International Commission on Science and Literature DHST/IUHPST, the Hellenic Open University and the Institute of Historical Research/ National Hellenic Research Foundation organize a two-days’ workshop to study “Beyond Nature in Science and Literature”. The CoSciLit workshop is a new addition to the prestigious Hermoupolis Seminars which have been organized for more than 30 years every July on Syros Island.
This workshop follows the successfull 1st workshop organized in 2016 on the theme of "Nature(s), Humans and God(s) in Literature. Representations" and it will be part of series of workshops which will be organized with a specific theme every July.
The venue of the workshop will be the “Historical Archives of the State” in the Town Hall of Hermoulis. Hermoupolis was once the capital of Greece and a city of great cultural, scientific and industrial heritage. Syros Island is very close to Piraeus by boat and an ideal place for a high quality, inexpensive summer visit.
Those who are willing to participate in the workshop with a presentation may ask further information and/or submit an abstract of max. 200 words sending an email to gvlahakis@yahoo.com until 15 May 2016.
Languages: English, Greek, French, German
For participants giving a paper there will be a modest fee of 50 Euros and for those who will attend without a paper a fee of 40 Euros to cover administrative expenses. There will be some hotels with reduced prices on offer for the participants but there are plenty of places, in Hermoupolis or close by, at very convenient prices.
Coffee and refreshments will be offered.
AGEING BRAINS AND MINDS, AGEING SENSES AND SENTIMENTS:
LITERATURE, NEUROLOGY, PSYCHIATRY
May 26-27, 2016
Centre Universitaire de Norvège à Paris
The Bergen Literature and Science Research group invites scholars of the humanities, neurologists and psychiatrists to explore the phenomenology of the ageing self. This research seminar encourages topics that intrinsically connect especially literary texts on ageing and old age with the realms of neurology and psychiatry. It will allow us to study comparatively some physical and psychological aspects of ageing, as they are perceived through the lenses of medicine, literature (imaginative, autobiographical, reflective) and also visual media, in any historical period. While we do not expect literary scholars to be medically trained or neurologists and psychiatrists to be experts in literary critique, we do hope to enable a lively dialogue. In this way the event will give various responses to some inherent challenges in an interdisciplinary approach to ageing. How can fictions, images and testimonies of the ageing mind cohere with neurology's materialized conceptions of neuro-degeneration? How do the weakened senses of senescence affect sensitivity, and how is this rendered in our divergent discourses? What conceptual frameworks and critical tools can the humanities adopt to study ageing in synergy with the scientific approaches pursued by medicine and psychiatry?
Confirmed speakers will include:
Martine Boyer-Weinmann (Université de Lyon 2), "Amnesia, hypermnesia and hyper-aesthesia narratives"
Bernt Engelsen (University of Bergen), "The ageing self in an epileptological and neuropsychiatric and setting"
Jan Frich (University of Oslo), "Literary Myths about neuro-degeneration: The case of Huntington's disease"
Samuel Lepastier (Université de Paris Diderot)
George Rousseau (University of Oxford), "Ageing Brains, Jihadi Terrorists, and the black holes of Language"
The seminar language will be English.
Please send by February 15, 2016: a title and a short abstract (max. 200 words) including name, discipline and affiliation to Margery Vibe Skagen: margery.skagen@uib.no
Applicants will be notified of the committee's decision by March 1.
COMMISSION ON SCIENCE AND LITERATURE, DHST/IUHPST
2nd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE on SCIENCE & LITERATURE
7-9 September 2016
Pöllau, Austria
Following the successful 1st International Conference on Science and Literature which took place in Athens this Conference is the second to be organized under the aegis of the Commission on Science and Literature DHST/IUHPST. The second International Conference will be co-organized by the History of Physics Group/European Physical Society, Echophysics and the Victor Franz Hess Society with the technical support of the Hellenic Open University. As it was the case with the first Conference, the second one does not have a specific theme, as its intent continues to be the creation of an open forum for all scholars interested in Science and Literature, thus bringing into the dialogue multiple perspectives. Nevertheless, the Conference will be organized along thematic sessions, according to the papers which will be accepted by the Scientific Committee.
Proposals for individual papers or panels of three or four papers should be submitted from 1st February until the 30th of April 2016. They must include the title of the paper (or the theme of the panel), name and affiliation of the author(s), an abstract of no more than 350 words and a short CV of up to five lines.
A dedicated webpage will be available for the submission of the proposals.
An international scientific committee will review the submissions and notice of acceptance will be sent two weeks after the deadline for the submission of proposals.
Registration: 1st February 2016 to June 30th 2016
Registration fees (include coffee, tea, refreshments and Conference material): 150 Euros
Fees for students and early career scholars: 75 Euros
Participants are asked to make their own arrangements concerning their accommodation in Pöllau, but the Conference organizers will be happy to give any necessary assistance.
Further information will be included in the second CfP which will be circulated on 30th January 2016.
The 10th conference of the European Society for Literature, Science and the Arts will take place in Stockholm, June 14-17, 2016.
The conference's theme is Control, and confirmed speakers include Mieke Bal (University of Amsterdam), Lauren Berlant (University of Chicago), Michael Dillon (Lancaster University), Alexander Galloway (New York University) and Steven Hinchliffe (University of Exeter).
The deadline for abstracts is December 14th, 2015.
The call for papers, along with more information, can be found on the conference homepage, http://control2016.com.
The Royal Society invites entries for the 2015 Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books.
The 2015 prize will celebrate the best of outstanding popular science books from around the world. This prestigious prize is open to authors of science books that are accessible and compelling accounts of the world around us or inside us, written for a non-specialist audience.
The six shortlisted books will be selected by a panel of judges in July 2015. The winner will be announced in September 2015 and will receive £25,000. The 5 other authors of the shortlisted books will each receive £2,500. An online entry form must be completed for each entry, and seven non-returnable copies of each entry submitted to The Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books, 6-9 Carlton House Terrace, London, SW1Y 5AG, UK by 18:00 BST on Friday 10 April 2015.
Books submitted for the 2015 prize must have been, or be due to be, published for the first time in English between 01 March 2014 and 30 September 2015. Preview manuscripts are accepted provided they are available by the end of April 2015 and the title is due to be published by 30 September 2015. The entry form and full details of the prize's regulations and eligibility criteria are available on the Society's website.
For more information please contact Rebecca Jones at sciencebooks@royalsociety.org or on 020 7451 2513.
An international conference on Science and Fiction: A Creative Exploration of Real and Fantastic Worlds will be hosted by the Catalan Society for the History of Science and Technology and the Catalan Society for SF and Fantasy on September 2-5, 2015. The main goal of the conference is to analyze and discuss the relations between science and fiction in literature, theatre, cinema, the arts, etc. The conference will take place at Barcelona, Institut d’Estudis Catalans, September 2-4, 2015 and Vilanova i la Geltrú, Biblioteca-Museu Víctor Balaguer, September 5, 2015. The official languages of the conference will be be English and the Romance languages. The organising committee includes David Bueno (Universitat de Barcelona), Volker Dehs (Société Jules Verne), Martí Domínguez (Universitat de València), Carme Gregori (Universitat de València), David Jou (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona), Emma Sallent (Universitat de Barcelona) and Chris Willmott (University of Leicester).
For more information, including a more detailed CFP, deadlines, etc. please turn to https://cienciaificcio.wordpress.com/in-english/.
