Verdenskonference for videnskabsformidling

Malmö 2008

Deadline for forslag til papers: d. 30. november 2007


Vetenskapsrådet i Sverige er sammen med Malmö Högskola, Øresundsuniversitetet, Lunds Universitet og Dansk Naturvidenskabsformidling - sidstnævnte med støtte fra Forsknings- og Innovationsstyrelsen - vært for den globale konference PCST - Public Communication of Science and Technology.

Konferencen afholdes hvert andet år i skiftende verdensdele - i 2006 var det i Seoul, Korea, i 2004 Barcelona, i 2002 Cape Town etc. Det er første gang, konferencen afholdes i Skandinavien. Hovedkonferencen afholdes i Malmö, men der bliver en eftermiddag i København på bl.a CBS.

PCST er et netværk af både praktikere og teoretikere inden for videnskabsformidling. Denne sammensætning samt det faktum, at deltagerne kommer fra hele verden, giver konferencen et unikt perspektiv.

Det er naturligvis vigtigt, at vi i Danmark benytter lejligheden til at vise verden, hvad vi kan. Både teoretikere og praktikere opfordres derfor til at indsende forslag til papers.

Deadline for forslag til papers er onsdag den 31. oktober 2007.

Der er mere information samt registrering af papers på adressen: www.vr.se/pcst.

Har du spørgsmål, er du velkommen til at kontakte Mikkel Bohm, direktør, Dansk Naturvidenskabsformidling, tlf. 70 20 86 20, mail mb @ formidling.dk

Crossing Borders in the History of Technology

Call for Papers

ICOHTEC Symposium 2008
The International Committee for the History of Technology's 35th Symposium in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, 5-10 August 2008

Deadline for Early Decision for Proposals is 14 January 2008

Final Deadline for Proposals is 3 March 2008


This conference's primary theme is the examination of how technology influences and is influenced by the interaction over various types of boundaries. These boundaries include the interaction between disciplines, theory and practice, scholarly schools, trades and professions, geographical areas, periods of time, cultures, technological and political systems, ethnic groups, and nations.

While open to all proposals dealing with the history of technology, the program committee suggests the following sub-themes for the consideration of session organizers and contributors:
The exchange of ideas and transfer of technology in history
The spread of technological theories over national borders
The impact of international trade on technological development
Globalization of technology
Osmosis between science and technology
Interaction between culture and technology
Technologies of social mobility and gender
Migration and social mobility in the history of technology
Loyalty to traditions and the frenzy of novelties
Technology and the zeitgeist
Unrealized, utopian and science fiction technology
Crossing the border between nature and technology


These sub-themes can easily be seen in a variety of topics, including technological systems, social construction of technology, cultural interface in the engineering profession, environmental awareness, design and aesthetic values in technology.

We urge contributors to consider organizing a full session of three or more papers. Individual paper submissions will, of course, be considered. It is also possible to propose papers unrelated to the general theme. They can be presented in a "Special Topics" sessions.

Note: Membership in ICOHTEC is not required to participate in the symposium.

Special features of the Symposium include the annual Mel Kranzberg Lecture by a distinguished historian of technology, the annual Jazz Night, banquet, receptions, a special plenary ©=Victoria Session on Technology and Colonialism©~ with leading international scholars, and several excursions from the British Columbia Forestry Discovery Centre to whale watching. For further information please, visit the conference website at: icohtec.uvic.ca/

INDIVIDUAL PAPER proposals must include: (1) a 250-word (maximum) abstract in English; and (2) a one-page CV. Abstracts should include the author©^s name and email address, a short descriptive title, a concise statement of the thesis, a brief discussion of the sources, and a summary of the major conclusions. Please indicate if you intend your paper for one of the specified subthemes. In preparing your paper, remember that presentations are not full-length articles. You will have no more than 20 minutes to speak, which is roughly equivalent to 8 double-spaced typed pages. Contributors are encouraged to submit full-length versions of their papers after the conference for consideration by ICOHTEC©^s journal ICON. If you are submitting a paper proposal dealing with a particular subtheme, please indicate this in your proposal. For more suggestions about preparing your symposium presentation, please consult the guidelines at the symposium web site: icohtec.uvic.ca/

SESSION proposals must include: (1) an abstract of the session (250 words maximum), listing the proposed papers and a session chairperson; (2) abstracts for each paper (250 words maximum); (3) a one-page CV for each contributor and chairperson. Sessions should consist of at least three speakers, and may include several sections of three speakers each, which might extend over more than one day.


Proposal submissions

Those who desire a quick response are requested to submit their paper / session proposals as soon as possible, but no later than Monday 14 January 2008. This option is meant especially for young scholars who need an early decision in order to apply for travel grants.

The final deadline for all submissions is Monday 3 March 2008.

Please, submit proposals for papers and sessions via the website of the Victoria symposium at: proposals.php

If web access is unavailable, proposals may be sent by fax to ICOHTEC 2008 at: (1] 250-721-8772. Otherwise they may be sent via regular mail or courier, postmarked not later than 4 January 2008 for the first deadline or 22 February 2008 for the final deadline.

The mail address is:
ICOHTEC2008
Department of History
University of Victoria
P.O. Box 3045 STN CSC
Victoria, B.C. V8W 3P4


Courier packages should be addressed:
Department of History
University of Victoria
3800 Finnerty Rd.
Clearihue Building Room B245
Victoria, B.C V8W 3P4

All questions about the programme proposals should be submitted to the chair of the programme committee, Mats Fridlund at maf @ dtv.dk . Queries about the conference venue should be made to icohtec @ uvic.ca

Graduate students members of the Society for the History of Technology (SHOT) are eligible for travel support. Go to: Travel Grants

Encompassing Knowledge

Call for Papers

15- 17 May 2008
University of Aarhus


For further information and registration please see: asb.dk/encompassingknowledge


1st Call for Papers for the upcoming conference The 2nd International Conference in the 360 Conference Series: Encompassing Knowledge at the University of Aarhus 15- 17 May 2008

The conference will deal with knowledge from three perspectives:

• Communication of Specialised Knowledge
• Representing Knowledge in Texts
• Knowledge Construction and Learning

Papers should be designed to fit into a 30-minute time slot. Abstracts of approx. 250 words should contain title, general research topic, content, discussion and bibliography (max. 5 titles).

DASTS konference

Den årlige konference i DASTS afholdes torsdag. 5. og fredag 6. juni 2008, IT-huset, Katrinebjerg, Åbogade, Århus N.

Keynote speaker vil være Lucy Suchman, professor, Lancaster University, England.

Alle STS-interesserede inviteres hermed til at deltage.

Indkaldelse og program følger.

ENHED?

- hjerneforskning, kunst og ny teknologi

Det Åbne Rum i caféområdet
ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum
Onsdag d. 23. januar kl. 19-21
Gratis adgang


I udstillingen Oneness på ARoS eksperimenter den japanske kunstner Mariko Mori med hjerneforskning, ny teknologi og østlig spiritualitet. Udstillingen bygger på den buddhistiske forestilling om, at alt er forbundet. Intet væsen, ingen ting eksisterer udelukkende i kraft af sig selv. Mori bruger vestlig videnskab og ny teknologi til at genskabe denne enhedsforestilling i sin kunst.

Udstillingen Oneness kombinerer buddhisme med naturvidenskab. Nogle af Moris billeder bruger moderne atomfysik som inspiration, mens værket Tom Na H-IU (2006) er koblet sammen med japanske detektorer, der opfanger neutrinoer fra rummet. Målet i buddhisme er erkendelse af altings sande natur, dvs. oplysning (nirvana). Det samme kunne man sige om moderne videnskab, selv om vejen til oplysning gennem videnskab er en helt anden.

Udstillingens mest spektakulære værk er Wave UFO fra 2002. Det er udformet som et stort rumskib, hvor tre "passagerer" udstyres med hjernesensorer og ser deres egne hjernebølger afbilledet på kuplen over dem. I det øjeblik, hvor alle tre hjernebølger kommer på sammen frekvens, glider afbildningen sammen i én ring af samhørighed. Gennem buddhistisk meditation, moderne hjerneforskning og ny teknologi er enhed mellem mennesker opnået.

Videnskabscaféen har inviteret tre eksperter til sammen med publikum at diskutere enhed i spændingsfeltet mellem hjerneforskning, kunst og ny teknologi:

• Mikkel Wallentin, forskningsadjunkt, Center for Funktionelt Integreret Neurovidenskab, Aarhus Universitet, AU
• Jacob Wamberg, professor i kunsthistorie, AU
• Karen Johanne Kortbek, projektleder, Center for Interactive Spaces, AU

Moderator: Birgit Pedersen, museumsinspektør, ARoS


Videnskabscaféen ENHED? er det 16. arrangement i rækken af videnskabs-caféer i Århus, som skaber dialog mellem videnskab, kunst og kultur omkring aktuelle emner. Arrangementet er finansieret af Svend Bergsøes Fond, Naturvidenskabeligt Fakultet, Aarhus Universitet, og Aarhus Universitetsforlag.

Læs mere på: Videnskabscaféen; kontakt: Kristian Hvidtfelt Nielsen (tlf. 24 45 88 12)

Von Braun:
Dreamer of Space, Engineer of War

Monday 11 February, 14.15
Aud. A, Niels Bohr Institute
Blegdamsvej 17, Copenhagen


History of Science Seminar by:

Michael J. Neufeld
National Air and Space Museum
Smithsonian Institution


As the first speaker in 2008 I am happy to be able to introduce to you the historian Michael J. Neufeld, whose recent thoroughly researched biography of Wernher von Braun (which, incidentally, can be seen in our library) has been very well received by the international press. I look forward to seeing you in February.

Finn Aaserud, Niels Bohr Archive.

Abstract

Dr. Wernher von Braun (1912-1977), the German-American rocket engineer, has long been a subject of controversy because of his role in the Third Reich's V-2 ballistic-missile program, his consequent membership in the SS and the Nazi Party, and his subsequent move to the U.S. to play a prominent part in American rocket development. Notwithstanding his Nazi past, during the Cold War he was the object of much hero-worship in the western world for his contributions to rocket technology, from the V-2 to the Saturn/Apollo program, and for his energetic salesmanship for the idea of spaceflight in the mass media. Many biographies have been published about von Braun, most of them, at least until recently, quite uncritical.

In this illustrated talk, Michael Neufeld will discuss his new biography, Von Braun: Dreamer of Space, Engineer of War (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2007). Neufeld's central thesis is that von Braun became possessed by a dream in his teenage years of leading a space expedition, even landing on the Moon, and this enormous ambition led him into a Faustian bargain with Hitler's regime. Strongly influenced by his Prussian aristocratic, conservative-nationalist upbringing, he all too easily slipped into working for the Nazis, and his outstanding talent for leading and organizing giant engineering teams meant that he was all too attractive to the German Army and the regime. Only late in World War II, following his involvement with concentration-camp labor and his brief arrest by the Gestapo for drunken remarks about the war, did he realize his position. The U.S. Army became his deus ex machina, rescuing him from any consequences for his actions. After developing the V-2, which impacted rocketry around the world, he went on to make three more important contributions: selling the public on space travel, helping launch the first U.S. satellite, and leading the design of the gigantic Saturn launch vehicles for the Moon-landing program. Notwithstanding his morally dubious past, von Braun still must be rated, Neufeld argues, as the most important rocket engineer and space visionary of the 20th century.

International Conference

Genomics and Society:
Setting the Agenda

Amsterdam
17-18 April 2008

Program and other information: Setting the Agenda

Theme:

The theme of this year's conference will be 'Genomics and Society: Setting the Agenda'. The conference aims to explore the question to what extent ELSA genomics research feeds into or shapes the agendas of genomics research, professional practices, policy practices and public debate.

PhD workshop

How to analyze IT
Strategies, Methodologies and Challenges

2nd-4th June 2008
Århus
Deadline for registration 2nd of April 2008.


With Professor Lucy Suchman, Lancaster University, England.




Organizers:
Claus Bossen, Randi Markussen, Finn Olesen,
University of Aarhus, Denmark

Read more: How to analyze IT

IT is a monstrous phenomenon that cuts across disciplinary borders and will not stay within neither mathematics, computer science, information studies, ethnography, history nor philosophy, etc.. Different fields have sought to naturalise the monster into their field and developed taming strategies to do so.

This course aims to discuss different analytic strategies that are put into use when approaching IT in order to discuss the different taming strategies developed within interdisciplinary fields and e.g. ethnography, history, and philosophy. Which approaches are used? How can they be applied effectively to good analyses? How do such analyses enter design, development, implementation and appropriation of IT?

A central contributor to this broad field of inquiry is Lucy Suchman who has made numerous significant contributions to the development of the interdisciplinary fields around developing and analyzing IT. Her book "Human-Machine Reconfigurations. Plans and Situated action 2nd Edition" will be part of the curricula of the course, because of its central position and span across many interdisciplinary fields around IT: Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW), Participatory Design (PD) and Science, Technology and Society (STS). The book starts out from ethnomethodology and travels into artificial intelligence, CSCW, PD and STS and will provide a good departure point for the discussions.

The course will be shaped as a workshop and we aim at high interaction amongst all participants. Participants are required to submit a 5 page paper discussing their own project based on one of the central problems in "Human-Machine Reconfigurations". Based on the submissions, sub-themes will form the basis for presentation and discussion in smaller groups and for plenum discussions. Lucy Suchman will give presentations on her experiences with studying IT, supplemented by presentations by the organizers, who respectively will focus on a historical, post-phenomenological and ethnographic approach to IT.

Call for papers

Darwinisme

Slagmark - tidsskrift for idéhistorie, nr. 54, februar 2009


I 1859 udkom Charles Darwins værk On the Origin of Species, hvori han argumenterede for arternes gradvise udvikling fra den første urtype millioner af år tilbage i tiden til den mangfoldige natur, vi ser i dag. Darwins værk vakte stor opsigt langt ud over naturhistorikernes kredse. Det påvirkede det intellektuelle liv inden for en lang række videnskaber og var med til at forme datidens kulturelle og litterære landskab.

Slagmark markerer 150-året for udgivelsen af On the Origin of Species med et temanummer om darwinisme, der vil udkomme på Darwins 200-års fødselsdag 12. februar 2009. Vores ambition er at udgive en samling historiske studier, der viser, hvordan Darwins ideer er blevet benyttet i forskellige kontekster, nationalt og internationalt, lige fra 1859 til i dag. Alle bidrag er velkomne. Det kunne være studier af Darwin i populærkulturen, evolutionære temaer i skønlitteraturen, naturalisme i filosofien, darwinismens betydning for forskellige human-, social- og naturvidenskaber eller kontroversielle emner som racehygiejne og kreationisme.

Deadline for indsendelse af artikler er 1. juli 2008. Omfanget er max. 5.000 ord (alt inklusive). Skrivevejledningen skal følges for at få artiklen godkendt til peer-review. Den kan findes på www.slagmark.dk. Spørgsmål angående Slagmark, temanummeret og dette call for papers kan rettes til temaredaktør Hans Henrik Hjermitslev på hhh @ si.au.dk.

Visual legitimisation of astronomy in the 16th and 17th centuries:

Atlas, Hercules and Tycho's Nose

Den 5. februar, kl. 17.00
Auditorium 10
H. C. Ørsted Instituttet
Universitetsparken 5
København


Talk by:
Dr.habil. Volker Remmert
Institut für Mathematik, Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz


Kl. 16.30 inviterer Videnskabshistorisk Selskab på kaffe, te og frugt for 10 kr. i Institut for Matematiske Fags frokoststue, rum 04.4.19 på 4. sal.

At 4.30 p.m., coffee, tea and fruit in the lunch room of the Department of Mathematical Sciences, room 04.4.19, on the 4th floor.


Organizer:
Videnskabshistorisk Selskab
Danish Society for the History of Science

Absract

Images of the virtuous hero Hercules and the crowned King Atlas offered considerable potential for legitimising the new astronomy of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The accomplishments of Hercules, a seeker after virtue, with his exceptional learning, his role as disseminator of knowledge, his significance as an example of ideal manhood and, in addition to all, his achievement of immortality, invited comparison with the endeavours of astronomers. Throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, Hercules and Atlas appear as the spiritual authorities of the discipline, and each was called into use to symbolise both the old and the new astronomy. To argue by visual means was part of the order of the day, whether in Rome, Paris or Copenhagen. Tycho Brahe played an important part in applying strategies of visual legitimisation to the science of astronomy, for he had a comprehensive understanding of the tradition and importance of the artistic legitimisation and glorification of power.

Dus med dyrene?

Forårssemesteret 2008
Mandage kl. 15.15 - 17.30
Studenternes Hus
Aarhus Universitet
Mødelokale 2.

Arrangør: Forum Teologi Naturvidenskabs


I vor vestlige kultur er der en lang tradition for at betragte mennesket som noget helt særligt i forhold til dyrene. Det gælder teologisk såvel som filosofisk. I teologien påberåbte man sig gerne skabelsesberetningen i 1 Mos 1, hvor det hedder, at Gud skabte mennesket i sit billede og gav det som opgave at herske over alle verdens dyr. I filosofien betonede man, at det er fornuften eller ånden eller moraliteten, der hæver mennesket højt op over dyrene. Betoningen af forskellen mellem mennesker og dyr kulminerede med Descartes, som betragtede dyret blot som en maskine uden sjæl og følelser. Dermed leverede han en filosofisk retfærdiggørelse af vivisektion, dvs. dissekering af levende dyr.

Betoningen af menneskets særstilling gik og går hånd i hånd med udnyttelse af dyr til gavn for mennesket, f.eks. i kvægdrift, i medicinsk og kommerciel forskning, men også i det at holde kæledyr. Udnyttelsen behøver ikke at være hensynsløs, men er det ofte. Det dokumenteres bl.a. af den seneste tids grusomme transporter af slagtesvin.

Teologiens og filosofiens radikale distinktion mellem menneske og dyr er blevet problematiseret af evolutionsteoriens tese om en udviklingsmæssig kontinuitet mellem menneske og dyr. Mere specielt kan der henvises til den senere tids påvisning af et stort genetisk slægtskab mellem mennesker og chimpanser samt tydelige analogier mellem de sidstnævntes sociale adfærd og menneskelig moral. Bevidstheden om kontinuiteten mellem menneske og dyr er en vigtig del af baggrunden for en voksende kritik af hensynsløs udnyttelse af især 'højere' dyr.

Alt dette fremkalder spørgsmålet, om der er en uløselig konflikt mellem et teologisk (filosofisk) og et biologisk syn på forholdet mellem menneske og dyr. Samtidig urgeres det etiske spørgsmål, hvordan vi bør behandle dyrene, hvis de i flere henseender er 'ligesom os'. Det er disse spørgsmål, der danner omdrejningspunktet for forårssemesterets forelæsningsrække.

Rækken åbner med en forelæsning ved Knud Larsen, som er seniorforsker ved Det Jordbrugsvidenskabelige Fakultet ved Aarhus Universitet. Forelæsningen handler om de etiske overvejelser, der melder sig i forbindelse med bioteknologisk udnyttelse af grise, især frembringelse af transgene grise som organdonorer. Næste forelæsning holdes af professor i bioetik og formand for det Dyreetiske Råd Peter Sandøe og handler om spørgsmålet, om det traditionelle skel mellem menneske og dyr kan opretholdes. Dernæst tages den teologiske tanke om menneskets særstilling op til fornyet overvejelse af Helena Röcklinsberg, som er lektor i teologisk etik ved Lunds Universitet. Rækken slutter med en forelæsning ved chefen for dyreafdelingen i Odense Zoo, Bjarne Klausen, om danskernes syn på dyrene, samt spørgsmålet, hvordan et fornuftigt dyresyn bør se ud.

Alle er velkomne til møderne, som holdes mandag eftermiddage i Studenternes Hus, Aarhus Universitet, mødelokale 2. Der gøres opmærksom på, at møderne - der som sædvanligt starter kl. 15.15 - slutter kl. 17.30 og at kaffepausen reduceres fra en halv time til et kvarter.

Engagement i arbejdet?

Konsultationsprocesser hos danske praktiserende læger

Forsvar af ph.d.-afhandling ved:
Astrid Pernille Jespersen

Fredag d.8 februar kl.13.00.
Københavns Universitet
Den Humanistiske Fakultet
Lokale 23.0.49 (det nye KUA)

Analysing discourses, networks and other fluid things

Seminar & PdD course

28 February 2008
CBS, Porcelænshaven 16 B, 2. sal, lokale 212.
Frederiksberg

More information: PhD course

Seminar
Folk som ikke er ph.d. studerende er velkomment til at deltage fra kl. 13-15. Skriv til Maja og tilmeld dig: mh.lpf@cbs.dk


Faculty
Professor Mike Michael, Sociology, Goldsmith's, University of London Associate. Professor Maja Horst, Department of Management, Politics and Philosophy, CBS. Professor Alan Irwin, Research Dean at CBS


Course Coordinator
Maja Horst, Director of doctoral school of knowledge and management, CBS


Prerequisite
The participants should have an interest in research analytics inspired by actor-network-theory, discourse analyses or other post-structural frameworks.Before the course, participants should provide 1-5 pages describing the specific analytical framework of the PhD-project including a description of at least one example of empirical analysis.

Prerequisite/progression of the course
The participants should have an interest in research analytics inspired by actor-network-theory, discourse analyses or other post-structural frameworks.Before the course, participants should provide 1-5 pages describing the specific analytical framework of the PhD-project including a description of at least one example of empirical analysis.


Aim of the course
The focus of the course is on methodology and the aim is to discuss challenges connected to the use of post-structural analytical frameworks inspired by Foucault, Latour, Deleuze and others. The course does not provide lectures on theory, but focuses on the discussion of specific examples of empirical analysis. It aims to discuss the choices made by the analyst and the challenges included in these choices. Examples to be discussed will be provided by PhD-scholars as well as faculty.


Learning Objectives
The course intends to provide PhD-scholars with inspiration and guidance about how to get from abstract theories to specific, tangible analyses of actual empirical material. In line with that overall goal, specific feedback on individual projects will be provided to participants.

Matematiske modeller:
vejledning eller vildledning?
-historisk set

RUC-Modeldag

13. marts, kl. 9-16
RUC, bygning 27, lokale I
Tilmelding m.m.: Klik her

Formålet med matematisk modellering
Prof. Stig Andur Pedersen, (Forskergruppe Filosofi og videnskabsteori, RUC)

Matematiske modeller spiller i dag en afgørende rolle i mange forskellige sammenhænge. De er nødvendige redskaber til forståelse af komplekse sammenhænge, og de benyttes til forudsigelser og til at kontrollere og regulere processer. Spørgsmålet om modellernes egnethed og kvalitet afhænger af, hvilke formål de skal tjene. På grundlag af nogle historiske eksempler vil forholdet mellem matematiske modellers formål og kvalitet blive diskuteret.


Fremkomsten af statistisk mekanisk modellering
Adjunkt Martin Niss (Forskergruppe IMFUFA, RUC)

Statistisk mekanik blev etableret som en fysisk disciplin i anden halvdel af 1800 tallet. Herved kulminerede flere århundredes forskning i en modelleringstilgang baseret på flg. komponenter: en atomistisk approach, hvor man forsøger at beskrive og forstå makroskopiske fænomener ud fra fænomenernes mikroskopiske byggesten kombineret med en udstrakt brug af matematiske modeller for at koble de to niveauer, som bygger på en statistik beskrivelse af byggestenes opførsel. I foredraget vil jeg forsøge at udrede den til tider ret snørklede historiske udvikling som førte til udkrystallisationen af denne modelleringstilgang.


Statistiske modeller gennem 300 år
Lektor Jørgen Larsen (Forskergruppe IMFUFA, RUC)

Foredraget vil præsentere udvalgte historiske eksempler på statistiske modeller med tilhørende overvejelser over, hvad det er modellerne kan/kunne, og hvad det er man kan/kunne med modellerne.


Ren og anvendt matematik ved DTU gennem tiderne
Prof. Vagn Lundsgaard Hansen (Institut for Matematik, DTU)

For at være i stand til formålsrettet at udvikle matematiske modeller skal man kunne matematik, kunne bringe matematik i anvendelse og kunne vurdere matematikanvendelsen. Disse kompetencer er langt fra sammenfaldende. Og det er ikke nogen simpel sag at organisere vekselspillet imellem matematik i egen ret og matematik som redskab i anvendelsessammenhænge optimalt. Foredraget vil illustrere denne problemstilling ud fra eksemplet DTU gennem tiderne.

Dansk bioteknologi i det 20. århundrede

9. maj, 8.30-16.30,
DTU, bygning 306, auditorium 31
Lyngby
Se Kort: dtu_vejviser.aspx


Symposium i Dansk Selskab for Historisk Kemi, hovedmøde i Kemisk Forening. Arrangeres i samarbejde med Dansk Bioteknologisk Selskab.


Tilmelding senest 15. april til Anita Kildebæk Nielsen akn(snabel-a)cen.dtu.dk eller anita(snabel-a)kildebaek.dk (evt. 4525 6474 eller 3052 7502). Husk at angive arbejdssted og titel, hvis dette ønskes oplyst på deltagerlisten.

DRAW THE LINE!

Cultural boundary making in everyday academic work life

May 30-31, 2008
The conference will be held at the Danish School of Education, University of Aarhus. The School of Education is situated in Copenhagen
The conference's webpage
UPGEM (Understamding puzzels in the Gendered European Map)

Deadline for Registration April 15th, 2008
Early registration is strongly recommended due to a limited number of participants


Research in academia shows that competent female and male scientists follow different career paths in different national contexts. Some countries are better than others at attracting female scientists to a research career in physical science. Even so, in these countries female scientists never reach top positions to the same extent as their male colleagues. The results presented at the UPGEM conference unveil the complex and intricate cultural historical patterns behind these facts.

The project offers a multifaceted picture of the diversity of the everyday life at universities in five European countries; Italy, Poland, Finland, Estonia and Denmark. To capture this complexity, the project has developed a `Culture Contrast Method' that draws analytical lines across the vast empirical data. This method sheds light on problems of e.g. retaining competent researchers in academia or problems of perceived gender categories hindering female researchers reaching the top. We have found these problems to be related to culture; i.e. diversity in historically and socially created boundaries between practices in nation states, between males and females and between those who stay in academia and those who leave because they are pulled out by more rewards in other workplaces or pushed out for reasons spanning from harassment, sexual harassment, low pay, unfair competition or fired following changes in the political climate.

The conference has three roundtable debates and a number of work shops on selected themes where specific findings will be presented. The actual results of the research will be presented for the first time at the conference itself, but you can learn more about the UPGEM project: UPGEM project

Responsible for workshops are UPGEM senior partners, consultants and assistants:

Senior partners:
Dr. Endla Lõhkivi, University of Tartu, Estonia
Dr. Kristina Rolin, Helsinki School of Economics, Finland
Professor Anna Maria Ajello, University La Sapienza, Italy
Dr. Merja Helle, University of Helsinki, Finland
Dr. Cathrine Hasse, Danish School of Education, University of Aarhus, Denmark

Consultants:
Agata Heymowski, Polish representative and consultant, Poland
Lone Svinth, Consultant of Quantitative studies, Denmark

Assistants:
Katrin Velbaum, University of Tartu, Estonia
Jenny Vainio, Helsinki University, Finland
Giulia Califiore, University La Sapienza, Italy
Cristina Belardi, University La Sapienza, Italy
Stine Trentemøller, Danish School of Education, University of Aarhus, Denmark
Anne Bjerregaard, Danish School of Education, University of Aarhus, Denmark

Dual Uses of Biomedicine:
Whose responsibility?

X Annual Swedish Symposium on Biomedicine, Ethics and Society

9-10 June 2008
Seglarhotellet, Sandhamn
Sweden
Click here to read more


Biomedical research can have both beneficial and harmful uses and consequences. Of special concern in recent years is the perceived threat of "bioterrorism".

Acting with Science, Technology and Medicine

Call for Papers

EASST/4S conference
August 20 - 23, 2008
Rotterdam


STS Locations: Latin America

As has been noted in many STS works, the manner in which science, technology, and medicine is produced or translated depends greatly on historical and national contexts. The production of knowledge about the interactions of science, technology, medicine, and society is not exempt from this contextualization. Yet much like the production of tehnoscientific and medical knowledge, STS knowledge production remains primarily EuroAmerican despite the field's attempts to broaden its conceptual perspectives. The session's goal is three-fold: to explore the contributions to thinking about science, technology, medicine and society by scholars in Latin America past and present; to provide scholars working on Latin American STS issues an opportunity to showcase their work; and to further theorize the specifics of acting with a co-productionist/interventionist approach, to science, technology, and medicine in Latin American locations.

Papers are invited to address issues such as:

* Methodological and theoretical contributions to the field of STS by Latin American scholars
* Latin American approaches to theorizing and acting with science, technology, and medicine
* Latin American interventions and activism with science, technology, and medicine
* Latin American innovations and developments in science, technology, and society


Multiple panels will be submitted in these four areas if there is sufficient interest.


Session Organizers:
Robert Olivo, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA
Rick B. Duque, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA
Christina Holmes, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada


Submission deadline: February 13, 2008.

Please send an abstract of a paper (minimum 250 words, maximum of 400 words) dealing with the issues sketched above and related issues to Robert Olivo (olivo @ vt.edu).
Link to: Archive of STS.NL

Ways of knowing the field

International Conference on the History of Fieldwork, Cartography and Scientific Exploration

Text from: www.fieldstudies.dk/107581

Carlsberg Academy, Copenhagen, 13-15 August 2008

Call for Papers

This conference aims to bring together leading historians from a number of disciplines to explore different ways of knowing the field as they have been conducted within a range of technological and scientific practices.

Extended Deadline for Abstracts:
Scholars wanting to present a 30-minute paper at this conference are invited to submit a 500-word proposal to the organizing committee before 15 April 2008 (Extended deadline!) at cjries@ruc.dk.


Organizers

The conference is organized by The Danish Network for the History and Sociology of Scientific Fieldwork and Expeditions, and The Danish Research School in Philosophy, History of Ideas and History of Science.

Background

Since the 19th century, standards of credibility, objectivity and accountability have been defined according to ideals manifested in the carefully composed framework of the scientific laboratory. Fieldwork and cartography, on the other hand, are by definition conducted in intimate, unpredictable and unorganized interaction with particular places and with local actors that influence, shape and to some degree may even create end results.

While this may have earned knowledge produced in the field a reputation for being further removed from the scientific ideal set up by the laboratory standards, fieldwork remains a crucial tool for making the world knowledgeable. Traditionally, fieldwork, field studies and field sciences have served as collective designations for a host of heterogeneous of practices related to the collection and production of data, objects, maps and meaning. Measuring, counting, mapping, excavating, interviewing and experimenting - such activities have all been conducted `in the field' in order to provide information and material thus transformed into objects for technological or scientific processing elsewhere.

Historically, the botanical, zoological, geological, geographic and political sciences along with cartography were among the first areas of inquiry to go into the field in search of knowledge and discovery. A closer analysis of the cultural and historical variations of the roles of fieldwork in these as well as in other domains of knowledge will enhance our understanding of field practices, and their role in the production of meaning and knowledge about the world.

Social and collective remembering in organizations

Guest lecture

Mandag 25/2 kl. 15-16.30,
Copenhagen Business School, Kilen Ks43
Fredriksberg


Lecturer: Steve Brown

The concept of organizational memory usefully draws our attention to the practices and problems involved in preserving the past in the present. But it also suggests that we view memory as a static set of capacities shared across individuals and organizations. In contrast, I will present a social psychological view of memory which focuses on remembering as a communicative practice. Remembering is something which is jointly performed by persons, and mediated by objects, artefacts and place. Using a series of empirical examples, I will seek to demonstrate how this approach can reveal subtle interactional processes in which the past is subject to continuous reconstruction. Memory is not simply about preservation, it is the active invocation of a version of the past which occurs in the course of ongoing interaction in the present. We must then see the psychological dimensions of organizational behaviour as both performed-into-being through interaction and also as perpetually unfinished or open-ended.

Forårets program I STS-læsekredsen

19/2, 22/4, 27/5
Alle dage fra kl 13.00-15.30
Copenhagen Business School
nstitut for Ledelse, politik og Filosofi
Porcelænshaven 18a
Frederiksberg



STS-læsekredsen holder i alt tre møder i foråret. For tilmelding og tilsendelse af tekster, send mail til Birgitte Gorm Hansen bgh.lpf@cbs.dk


STS-læsekredsen er en specialiseret læsekreds der i øjeblikket er situeret på Copenhagen Business School, institut for Ledelse, Politik og Filosofi.
Den har tidligere fungeret på IT universitet samt under forskerskolen på Institut for Organisation og Arbejdssociologi, Copenhagen Business School.
Kredsen har fungeret uafbrudt siden september 1999 og beskæftiger sig med tekster og debatter inden for, i nærheden af og i forlængelse af Aktør-netværksteori og Science, Technology and Society Studies. Alle møder er åbne og indlæsthed i STS er ingen forudsætning for deltagelse.
Ph.d-studerende kan få tildelt 1 ECTS point for deltagelse i minimum 3 møder per semester. Spørgsmål og kommentarer kan rettes til Birgitte Gorm Hansen bgh.lpf@cbs.dk

Psychopathology of Schizophrenia:
100 years

A conference

April 24-26, 2008
Lausanne, Switzerland

Program and other material: chuv.ch/psychiatrie/dpc_pge_evenements.htm

On April 24th, 1908, Eugen Bleuler introduced the term "schizophrenia" in his Berlin lecture to the German Society for Psychiatry. In order to mark this 100 years anniversary, the Department of Psychiatry of the University of Lausanne, in collaboration with the University of Copenhagen (Hvidovre Hospital, Department of Psychiatry, and Center for Subjectivity Research) has organized a conference entitled Psychopathology of Schizophrenia: 100 Years, to be held in Lausanne, Switzerland, from 24th to 26th April, 2008.

The killing of Polish officers in Katyn, finding of the bodies in 1943, and the conclusions and consequences

Torsdag d. 3. april kl. 19.30
Auditoriet
Medicinsk Museion
Bredgade 62
1310 København K


Temamøde i Dansk Medicinsk-historisk Selskabs Møderne er åbne for alle. Tilmelding er ikke nødvendig.

Professor em. Timothy W. Harding, formerly Université de Genève
Professor Harding will give an account on the Katyn Affair based on the papers presented at a meeting "Experts et expertises medicales dans les crises humanitaires" convened by Université de Genève and the International Committee of the Red Crox 18-21 April 2007 in Geneva. Professor Harding will outline recent knowledge about the history of the Katyn affair, he will inform on the German initiated and organised mission of forensic experts to Katyn in April 1943 and report on the findings concerning the fate of the mission's participants, one of whom was a Dane. He will also briefly touch upon other examples involving medical expertise in illucidating and disclosing violations of human rights conventions, which were presented at the Geneva meeting.

Direktør Morten Kjærum, Institut for Menneskerettigheder
In light of the Katyn Affair, Morten Kjærum will discuss the role of medical expertise in present human rights violations. He wil further discuss the present controversy between the Polish view that the killing of the officers constituted a genoicidal act and the Russian opinion that it was a "war criminal act".

(Disse to foredrag vil blive holdt på engelsk)


DR's tv-program "Kraniet fra Katyn"
Aftenen wil slutte med en præsentation af DR's tv-program "Kraniet fra Katyn", som beskriver den danske deltager i den internationale retsmedicinske mission til Katyn i 1943, Helge Tramsen, og hans skæbne. Journalist Lisbeth Jessen, der har stået for produktionen, vil være til stede og vil efter fremvisningen give en kort redegørelse for udviklingen efter produktion af programmet og besvare spørgsmål.

Interacting Bodies: Posthuman Enactments of the Problem of Diabetes

Peter Danholt's PhD defence

Friday March 28th, 13-16
Room 37 in Building 42.2
RUC


Download the dissertation: danholdt.pdf


The PhD programme "Design and Management of Information Technology" at The Department of Communication, Business and Information Technologies, Roskilde University invites to Peter Danholt's PhD defence. Following the defence, the department will host an informal reception. (Room 37 in Building 42.2)


The assessment committee
Associate Professor Morten Hertzum, PhD., Roskilde University, Chair
Associate Professor Randi Markussen, Lic. Phil., University of Aarhus, Opponent
Professor Andrew Pickering, PhD., University of Exeter, Opponent

Principal supervisor
Associate Professor Keld Bødker, PhD.,, Roskilde University

The defence will be chaired by Associate Professor Jesper Simonsen, PhD., Roskilde University

About the tesis

Chronic diseases and their treatment constitute a significant problem in western societies and accordingly it seems obvious to try and solve this problem through organizational and technological means. But the general epidemiological problem does not say anything about how chronic diseases concretely and in practice is a problem for people with chronic conditions. This dissertation therefore opens with the question: what constitutes the problem of chronic disease, concretely diabetes?

The dissertation is premised by understanding science and technology as performative practices, which entails that knowledge and technology is produced through heterogeneous networks of human and non-human actors, as argued in posthuman Science, Technology and Society studies (STS).

The empirical fieldwork constituted an experiment where eight persons with diabetes type 2 were introduced to a mobile information- and decision-support system for diabetes self-care. Premised by a posthuman understanding the experiment employed a concrete solution as a means for investigating the problem of diabetes, in contrast to an attempt to develop a solution to a general problem. Thereby emphasizing how diabetes is enacted through practices, self-care technologies and understandings and how diabetes as a disease in return enacts persons with diabetes.

In conclusion the dissertation argues that with a posthuman disposition one can acquire an understanding where technology may be re-figured rather than concretely re-designed. The concrete technology is thus not altered, but re-conceptualized and thereby neither transgressed nor preserved, but multiplied. Last, it is argued that the problem of diabetes may be considered as a matter of managing a relation between interacting bodies engaged in affective relations.

Where did Topology come from?

Tuesday 8 April at 5.15 p.m.
Auditorium 10, H. C. Ørsted Instituttet
Universitetsparken 5, 2100 Copenhagen Ø


Oranized by: Danish Society for the History of Science


At 4.30 p.m., coffee, tea and fruit will be served in the lunch room of the Department of Mathematical Sciences, room 04.4.19, on the 4th floor. (Prize: 10 kr.)

Talk by:
Professor Jeremy Gray
Mathematics and Statistics, Open University, Milton Keynes, U.K.
mcs.open.ac.uk/People/j.j.gray


Abstact
In the 20th Century topology became one of the most fundamental branches of mathematics, as well as a source of popular puzzles involving Möbius bands, knots, and the like, but its roots lie in numerous elementary ideas that came up in many different places in the 19th Century. Most of these ideas were originally seen as lying on the boundary of mathematics and as interesting problems that needed no deep mathematical theory to be understood. This talk will look at some of the ups and downs on the way these ideas were brought together and made into a new and basic branch of mathematics.

Nature's Mind-Reader:

Hans Christian Ørsted's Discovery and his Position in European Science and in Danish Society

Monday 7 April, 14.15am
Auditorium M, Niels Bohr Institute
Blegdamsvej 17, Copenhagen


A Niels Bohr Archive History of Science Seminar by:

Dan Charly Christensen


After what I consider a successful year for seminars in 2007, I herewith announce the first one in 2008. Dan Charly Christensen has been working on his monumental Ørsted biography for about half a lifetime, and I am very happy that he has agreed to share the fruits of his labours with us, now at the completion of his writing.

Finn Aaserud
Niels Bohr Archive
History of Science Seminar

Abstract

Two centuries ago there was no such thing as an international scientific community. Science was rooted in different national traditions. Denmark-Norway, however, was weak in science and did not uphold a tradition of its own, but followed French mechanical-mathematical science. Ørsted was the only Danish natural philosopher to embrace Kant's critique of mechanical physics. Ørsted's dynamical research programme was contested, even despised, by both French Laplaceanism and German Naturphilosophie. However, it was vindicated by his great discovery of electromagnetism, which was particularly celebrated in Britain while contributing to the downfall of Laplacean physics. In this paper I shall, firstly, try to elucidate Ørsted's concept of physics, its epistemology as well as its motivation. My point will be that Ørsted was the most successful natural philosopher among the few who took inspiration from Kant. Secondly, I shall elaborate on Ørsted's career and strategy to conquer a space for physics in Danish society. Rooted in Kantian and Neoplatonic dualism Ørsted's justifications for scientific education and research diverge significantly from today's political goals.

International Conference on the History of Fieldwork, Cartography and Scientific Exploration

Extended Deadline for Abstracts: 15 April 2008

See: fieldstudies.dk/107581

First Announcement and Call for Papers:

The Epistemology of Liberal Democracy

- free speech, disagreement and common belief

University of Copenhagen, Denmark
November 20-21, 2008
Conference website mef.ku.dk/csec/


Confirmed speakers:
Alvin Goldman (Rutgers)
Erik Olsson (Lund)
Christian List (LSE)
Duncan Pritchard (Edinburgh)
Igor Douven (Louvan)
Klemens Kappel (Copenhagen)
Jesper Kallestrup (Edinburgh)
Wlodek Rabinowicz (Lund)
Sandy Goldberg (Northwestern)

Call for papers.
Papers are invited on any of the topics of the conference. Abstracts of no more than 1000 words should be sent to the organizing comittee at csec08_mef [at] hum.ku.dk.

Please prepare submissions for blind review. Deadline for submission is August 15th, 2008. Notifications of acceptance will be made no later than September 15th, 2008.

Registration details will be announced soon at conference website mef.ku.dk/csec/

For further information, contact Klemens Kappel (kappel [at] hum.ku.dk).

Organizers: Klemens Kappel, Erik Olsson, Duncan Pritchard, Jesper Kallestrup, Mikkel Gerken.

One of the most important and cherished features of liberal democracy is the value placed on freedom of speech and inquiry. Regimes of free speech and free inquiry inevitably lead to disagreement, not only about issues of value, but also about very important factual matters. Another important feature of liberal democracy is the commitment to the toleration of disagreement, even over crucial factual matters.

Clearly, both features are extremely important for citizens within liberal democracies if they wish to arrive at true or justified beliefs about the world, and to correct mistaken views. Yet, these features of liberal democracies are rarely discussed from an epistemological point of view, despite their obvious epistemological import.

The aim of this conference is to foster new research in epistemology as well as cross-disciplinary research relating to the epistemological questions raised by liberal democracy. The topics for the conference will include but not be limited to the following:

What are the epistemological features of free speech and free inquiry? Under what conditions will free speech and free inquiry promote truth and justified belief?

How should one should one alter one's beliefs in the light of disagreement?

Under what circumstances will voting be truth-conducive?

What are reasonable ways to aggregate different factual judgements?

How should public policy take into account widespread disagrement over important factual matters?

When should one trust experts, in particular when purported experts disagree?

Applied issues, basic epistemological issues, as well metodologial issues concerning these questions: How should questions such as these be studied? How can philosophy contribute?

Patient partcipation in cancer research:

The 'Unfortunate Experiment' at National Women's Hospital

22. april kl. 15.15-17.00
Lokale CSS 15.3.15
Center for Sundhed og Samfund
Øster Farimagsgade 5
1014 København K


Forskerskolen i folkesundhedsvidenskabs Sundhedstjenesteforskningsseminarer fortsætter den 22. april, med en forelæsning om en politisk kontrovers om forskning.

Ved:
DPhil and Associate Professor Linda Bryder
Department of History, University of Auckland

Linda Bryder forsker i medicinsk historie og social- og sundhedspolitikkens historie i New Zealand og Europa. Hun har blandt andet beskæftiget sig meget med reproduktionsfeltet og skrevet bogen A Voice for Mothers: The Plunket Society and Infant Welfare 1907-2000, Auckland, 2003.

Abstract:

In 1987 the Auckland magazine Metro published an exposé of a longstanding research programme conducted by Associate Professor Herbert Green at New Zealand's National Women's Hospital. Green, it was alleged, had allowed a number of women to develop cervical cancer from carcinoma in situ as part of an experiment into conservative treatment of the disease. The government immediately set up a Committee of Inquiry. This paper examines the investigation into the so-called 'unfortunate experiment', revealing it to be far more than an examination of the work of one man. The Inquiry put the whole of the medical profession on trial and found it wanting. The article in Metro and the Inquiry were a clash between a conservative, predominantly male medical profession and the new women's health movement, for which the former was totally unprepared.

Videnskaben og den nye ateisme:

Den nye ateismes brug af naturvidenskab

24. April kl. 19.30
Det Teologiske fakultet Auditorium 1
Købmagergade 44
Ind i gården op ad trappen til højre

Entre: 20 kr.

The lecture will be in English


En forelæsning af Alister McGrath med udgangspunkt i ateismen hos Richard Dawkins og Daniel Dennett.

Arr: Forum for Eksistens og Videnskab I samarbejde med afdeling for systematisk teologi

Yderligere oplysninger:
Universitetspræst Nicolai Halvorsen
Pnh (at) adm.ku.dk

Hos flere af den agressive nye ateismes fortalere spiller naturvidenskaben en hovedrolle. Videnskab og rationalitet står mod religion og irrationaltet. Dette er et hovedpunkt hos fremtrædende ateister som Richard Dawkins og Daniel Dennett. Professor i teologi Alister McGrath ved Oxford Universitet betvivler, at det er så simpelt og argumenterer for et mere nuanceret syn på sagen. McGrath er opvokset i Belfast og var som ung en selvbevidst ateist. Han blev uddannet i kemi og havde en forskerkarriere især indenfor biofysik. På universitetet faldt han over videnskabshistorie og videnskabsfilosofi og blev draget væk fra ateismen og over i teologien.

Foruden professoratet i historisk teologi ved Oxford Universitet er han senior research Fellow ved Harris Manchester College ligeledes i Oxford. Desuden er han for tiden præsident ved the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics Alister McGrath har skrevet en række bøger om centrale emner i historisk og systematisk teologi. I de senere år har han skrevet flere bøger om ateisme. Nogle af de senste titler er: The Twilight of Atheism: The Rise and Fall of Disbelief in the Modern World. (New York: Doubleday, 2004). Dawkins' God: Genes, Memes and the Meaning of Life. (Oxford: Blackwell, 2004). The Science of God: An Introduction to Scientific Theology. (London: Continuum, 2004). The Order of Things: Explorations in Scientific Theology. (Oxford: Blackwell, 2006). The Dawkins Delusion. (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 2007).

Ekskursion til Skt. Hans Hospital

Fredag d. 30. maj kl. 16.00

Tilmelding:
Senest d. 16. maj til Søren Bak-Jensen
sbj @ mm.ku.dk
Fredericiagade 18
1310 København K.

Arrangør:
Dansk Medicinsk-historisk Selskab

Skt. Hans Hospital er Danmarks ældste og stadig største psykiatriske hospital. Vi ser på de historiske bygninger og går derefter på rundvisning i Museet i Kurhus, som har udstilling af hospitalets og behandlingens historie. Derudover er der en unik samling af psykiatriske patienters værker - skulpturer, malerier, tegninger og broderier. Dagen afsluttes med middag, som forudsætter betaling af kr. 50 ved tilmelding.

BioSys Symposium on

Human Post-Genomics, Evolution and the Future of Life

Friday, May 30th
From 9.00
The Queen's Hall
The Royal Library, Slotsholmen
Søren Kirkegaards Plads 1,
DK - 1214 Copenhagen


Registration
Attendance is free, but registration is necessary due to catering. To register please visit our web site: www.biosys.dk

BioSys is an Innovation Network stimulating interaction between companies and public research institutions working within the fields of Bioinformatics and Systems Biology and raising the general awareness of these technologies in the Danish scientific community. Learn more about us at our website: www.biosys.dk

Computer technology and development of software to handle complex biological data and data integration is revolutionizing today's biological research as well as providing a new foundation for contesting and reconfiguring former understandings of human nature, human history and the future of human life.

At this symposium leading scientists and experts will present and explore the character and tendencies of contemporary transformations in bioinformatics and systems biology, including 1) Human History Written in our Genome, 2) Mapping Genetic Determinants, and 3) The Future of Human Life.

The symposium will be of interest to everyone with an interest in the frontiers of Life Science, and we welcome participants from industry, academia, the media, public institutions as well as curious laypeople.

We encourage you to forward this invitation to colleagues and friends who may wish to attend the symposium.

Things, Tools and Touch

Exploring New Materialisms in Science, Technology and Medicine Studies

A monthly reading symposium arranged by

Dept of the History of Ideas, Dept of Science Studies & Centre for STS-Studies, Aarhus Network for Science Technology and Medicine Studies & Research Network for Material Culture, Cognition and Nature, University of Aarhus


The last decade have seen the appearance of a growing body of research pointing toward a increased interest in the role of material culture, material agency and `artifactuality' inside as well as outside science, technology and medicine studies. One example is art historian W. J. T. Mitchell, main protagonists of the visual turn that supposedly supplanted the linguistic turn in the 1990s, in describing the anthology Things That Talk (2004) as an example of

"advanced research in what might be called the 'new materialism.' Unlike the old materialism, which dreamed of a positive science, purified of linguistic accident, ideological prejudice, or fantasy, the new takes aim directly at the figuration and imaging of objects, factoids, and things."

To explore this potential `material turn' researchers, curators and doctoral students within history and social studies of science, technology and medicine are invited to participate in a new reading symposium devoted to these `new materialisms'.


It will meet once a month from April until December at a museum or research institution in connection with the University of Aarhus to discuss a book according to the list below. The symposia will take place 12-3pm consisting of an optional brown bag paper presentation with lunch followed by 2 hours of discussion of the reading concluded by an optional tour of the hosting museum/institution. The discussions will be in English or Scandinavian depending on the participants. We expect to be able to be able to pay for the reading materials and lunches for all participants.


We expect to be able to accommodate all interested but if we will have to limit the number of participants we reserve the right to decide who can participate with priority to doctoral students. It is not necessary to attend every meeting to participate but priority will be given to those expressing their intention in following the whole symposium. Those interested in participating should send an email expressing their interest by Monday April 21 to Kristian Hvidtfelt Nielsen, Dept of Science Studies at khn @ ivs.au.dk. For the first seminar on Wednesday April 30 the readings will be sent out electronically and for the following meetings participants are requested to purchase books that will be reimbursed against receipts by the end of term.


It is possible for doctoral students to follow the reading group for credit as a 5/7.5 ECTS PhDcourse. Students taking the course will be required to attend an additional seminars and for 7.5 ECTS write a longer (20-25 pp) research paper. The conclusion of the PhD course will be concluded with a public symposium where the students present their final papers.

Welcome!

Semiotics:
a highly needed transdisciplinary post-modern "science" in the knowledge society

April 30, 9.00 - 18.00
Copenhagen Business School
Dalgas Have 15
Auditorium SØ.089
2000 Frederiksberg

Semiotics symposium at The Centre for Language, Cognition and Mentality

The seminar concludes with Søren Brier's inaugural lecture as Professor of the Semiotics of Information, Cognition and Communication Science.

Organized by:
The Center for Language, Cognition and Mentality and The Department of International Culture and Communication Studies

Registration: Admission free (lunch not included). If you wish to attend, please send an email to Merete Borch, mb.iadh@cbs.dk or phone +45 3815 3389 no later than Monday April 21.

Further information:
Per Durst-Andersen, pd.ikk@cbs.dk or Søren Brier, sb.ikk@cbs.dk
Abstracts and presentations of the speakers can be seen at the website of the LaCoMe-Center here: CBS page

Understanding Puzzles in the Gendered European Map

DRAW THE LINE!

Revideret program
Konferencen har været annonceret i et tidigere nummer af Hugin og Munin
Danmarks Pædagogiske Universitetsskole
Tuborgvej 164, 2400 København NV, København, 30.-31. maj 2008


Kulturel grænsedragning i det akademiske arbejdsliv

Ulige karriereveje for mænd og kvinder Hvorfor er nogle lande bedre til at tiltrække og engagere kvindelige forskere? Påvirker arbejdspladskulturen mænds og kvinders forskerkarriere forskelligt? Og hvordan skal politikere og ledere forholde sig til kulturforskelle på universitetet som arbejdsplads?

Den internationale konference Draw the Line! tager fat på nogle af de barrierer, der præger visse akademiske arbejdsmiljøer og får forskere, ikke mindst kvindelige forskere, til at forlade karrieren: Skjult konkurrence, chikane, ansættelsesusikkerhed og konflikt mellem arbejds- og familieliv. Problematikken om kønnede karriereveje diskuteres på konferencens workshops der skal munde ud i anbefalinger til Europa Kommissionen.


Se konferencens fulde program og læs mere om projektet på www.upgem.dk Workshops vil fortrinsvis foregå på dansk. Tilmelding til konferencen og en workshop på skja @ dpu.dk senest d. 10. maj. Tilmeldingen er bindende.

Ekskursion til

Hauchs physiske cabinet

Sorø Akademi
Lørdag den 24. maj


Der vil være rundvisning i cabinettet ved daglig leder Jørgen From Andersen fra kl. ca. 11 til 13 og efterfølgende frokost.

Det er gratis at deltage i rundvisningen, mens frokosten koster ca. kr. 70,- pr. person.

Tilmelding til vhs @ math.ku.dk senest d. 10. maj. Antallet af deltagere er begrænset til 30.

Der vil blive arrangeret fælleskørsel og man er velkommen til at stille bil til rådighed. Vi skal køre fra Københavnsområdet ca. kl. 10.

Arrangør: Videnskabshistorisk Selskab

Berkeley, Biology and British Petroleum:

Public Academics-and the Academician-in a Corporatized World

Wednesday, May 7 at 14.15 hours
Auditorium A
Niels Bohr Institute,
University of Copenhagen
Blegdamsvej 17
DK-2100 Copenhagen

The Fourth INESPE Lecture on the Social Responsibility of Engineers and Scientists

Lecture by:
Ignacio Chapela
Associate Professor at Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management.
University of California, Berkeley.


Persons who want to attend this lecture are required to register on-line at inespe.org/lectures/chapela.html. Registration can also be done by sending an email to contact(at)inespe.org. Admission: Free.

More info on the INESPE Lecture Series on the Social Responsibility of Engineers and Scientists at inespe.org/lectures/

Please note that Ignacio Chapela also delivers a lecture on May 6. More info at biokemi.org/meetings/lect_060508.htm


Best regards,
Tom Boersen.

Abstract

In 1997, and then again in 2007, the University of California at Berkeley was the epicenter of key developments in the history of public research institutions, universities and academe in general.The proposal to have intimate and very substantial financial relationships with two major transnational corporations (Novartis and British Petroleum, a.k.a. BP) was met, in both occasions, with opposition on the part of some faculty and many members of the public. The dynamics of these local developments can be seen as emblematic of much larger processes taking place within the Modern enterprise of a social programme based on innovation and RD&D (Research, Development and Delivery). This presentation will discuss the incorporation of Biology, through "biotechnology", into the paradigm of RD&D progress, specifically from the viewpoint of Berkeley and the University of California. Here, the forces driving much of science and academe in our days are clearly discernible: on the side of industrial development those forces include corporatization, entrepreneurship, reliance on intellectual property protection and venture-capital, while on the other hand academia is impacted by the rise of "big science", politization and militarization. How these forces work in tension with each other will be analyzed using the case-study of the presenter, who has been engaged in opposition to privatizing forces in Berkeley and to the final incorporation of Biology into the world of corporations and large, concentrated venture capital. In discussion with the audience, we will scrutinize the options available to individual scientists, engineers and academicians in general, in the face of forces that would appear overwhelming. What are the alternatives? How to balance public principles with personal interests? How is the public represented in the work of academe? Whence has academic freedom wandered?

Hvad er det sociale?

Torsdag den 15. maj, kl. 9.00 til 16.30
Preben Hornungstuen i Studenternes Hus, Aarhus Universitet


Konference i regi af Sociologisk Forum

Sociologisk Forum har de sidste fem år afholdt en række heldagskonferencer om sociologiske problemstillinger og store sociologers værker, f.eks. Max Weber, Pierre Bourdieu og Niklas Luhmann.

Denne gang har konferencen et tematisk sigte. Vi stiller de helt grundlæggende spørgsmål om, hvad det sociale består i, og hvordan denne "genstand" kan studeres frugtbart i dialog med andre vidensfelter. Er det sociale synonymt med menneskelig samhandlen, består det sociale af normer og værdier, er det sociale alt det, der ikke er fysisk givet, og som derfor kan forandres gennem menneskelig handling, er det sociale kommunikation osv.?

Hvis man forstår sociologien som givet ved et særligt iagttagende blik eller metode, om man vil, så vil de fleste være enige i, at denne består i at reducere individuel adfærd til en samfundsmæssig rod. Mange samtidige sociologer har taget denne reduktionisme op til kritisk revision og er som følge heraf gået i dialog med en række andre discipliner, fx neurologien, psykoanalysen eller naturvidenskaben. Konferencen spørger til, hvordan sociologien frugtbart kan trække indsigter fra andre discipliner ind uden samtidig at miste sin egenart: dets fokus på det sociale.

Konferencen består af fem oplæg med tilhørende diskussion og afsluttes med en fælles paneldebat.


Arrangør: Sociologisk Forum (eventuelle spørgsmål rettes til Carsten Bagge Laustsen på telefon 8942-1394 eller e-mail: cbl (at) ps.au.dk)

Deltagelse: Alle interesserede er velkomne

Tilmelding: Tilmelding er ikke nødvendig

Frokost: Fælles frokost arrangeres for interesserede. Prisen for frokost samt kaffe og kage/frugt er 120 kr. Tilmelding til frokosten sker hos Carsten Bagge Laustsen (telefon 8942-1394 eller e-mail: cbl (at) ps.au.dk)

Surviving Ourselves: The Human Condition

Call for Papers
Submission deadline 1 June
Roskilde University, August 13-15, 2008


ROSKILDE SCIENCE SUNRISE CONFERENCE 2008

Conference background and goal

We invite papers for the Roskilde Science Sunrise Conference 2008. The Conference aims to provide an international forum for discussing important new scientific developments and the broader societal, cultural, political, ethical and other challenges such developments may bring about.

The subject of Roskilde Science Sunrise Conference 2008 is Surviving Ourselves: The Human Condition.

How are we to act and interact in the century ahead? Shaping the future and grappling with its complexities is a challenge to ourselves and at the same time a matter of surviving ourselves since history seems to teach us that we are as much problem makers as problem solvers.

What might be the impact on the human condition of two major scientific breakthroughs about to be announced:

(1) the laboratory creation of primitive life, and

(2) the possibility of genetic recreation of dead DNA ("awakening the dead")?

By bringing some of the most renowned politicians, scientists and public figures together, this first Roskilde Sunrise Conference provides a unique forum for discussing some of the scientific, ethical and political consequences of these two new possibilities for the human race in the 21st century.

Invited speakers

Mark Bedau / Reed University, David Deamer / UC Santa Cruz, Drew Endy / MIT, Gerald L. Epstein / Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington DC, P. Luigi Luisi / University of Rome, Donald W. Pfaff / Rockefeller University, Steen Rasmussen, FLiNT Center, SDU, Denmark, Robert M. Friedman, Vice President for Public Policy, J. Craig Venter Institute.

Submission

Submissions may address any area related to the conference themes. Submissions to be considered for presentation (35 minutes and 10 minuets for QA) must contain an abstract of 150-250 words. Deadline for submission of abstracts is 1 June 2008. For submission go to http://sunrise.ruc.dk/.

Conference location

Roskilde University, Denmark, August 13-15, 2008

Conference secretariat

sunrise(at)sunrise.dk
Phone (+45) 4674 2995

Program committee

Vincent F. Hendricks / Roskilde University, Poul Holm / Roskilde University, Jesse Ausubel / Rockefeller University, A.P. Sloan Foundation.

Organizing committee

Vincent F. Hendricks, Poul Holm, Frederik Stjernfelt, Anette Warring, Jeppe Dyre, Jacob Torfing, John Gallagher.

Leon Rosenfeld invented indeterminate gauge dynamics in 1930

Rettelse: Foredraget begynder kl. 17.00
Tirsdag den 6. maj
Auditorium 10, H. C. Ørsted Instituttet
Universitetsparken 5, 2100 København Ø


Foredrag ved:
Professor Donald Salisbury
Physics Department, Austin College, Sherman, Texas and Max-Planck-Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte, Berlin


Arrangør:
Videnskabshistorisk Selskab

Kl. 16.30 inviterer Selskabet på kaffe, te og frugt for 10 kr. i Institut for Matematiske Fags frokoststue, rum 04.4.19 på 4. sal.

In 1929 and 1930 Heisenberg and Pauli published groundbreaking papers presenting schemes for quantizing the electromagnetic field in interaction with a second-quantized Dirac electron matter field. At the same time Fermi independently proposed his own distinct approach. The principle problem that needed to be addressed was how do deal with the identical vanishing of the momentum conjugate to the temporal component of the electromagnetic potential. Heisenberg and Pauli invented two procedures, each of which destroyed the manifest symmetry under gauge transformations of the potential and matter field. Pauli in particular expressed doubts about the validity of the method. Fermi's construction destroyed manifest Lorentz symmetry.

In 1929 Leon Rosenfeld was working with Pauli in Zurich. With Pauli's encouragement and assistance he was able to show that no unphysical interaction with longitudinal components of the electromagnetic field resulted from the first Heisenberg-Pauli modified Lagrangian. But neither Pauli or Rosenfeld were satisfied with the seemingly ad hoc suggestions for dealing with the vanishing momentum. Again at Pauli's urging and with an apparently essential (though unidentified) idea from Pauli, Rosenfeld undertook the first formal investigation of the nature of local symmetries under the transition from Lagrangian to Hamiltonian dynamics. The resulting analysis was published in Annalen der Physik in 1930. Rosenfeld was able to show that both the Heisenberg-Pauli, and Fermi methods were mathematically justified. In the process he invented a significant portion of the machinary of constrained Hamiltonian dynamics, now the basis of all canonical treatments of local gauge theories, including Yang-Mills, gravity, and superstrings. Furthermore, Rosenfeld treated as an example Dirac matter fields and electromagnetism in interaction with general relativity. It was primarily in this domain in 1949 that Dirac and Bergmann began to produce the constrained Hamiltonian algorithm that now bears their name.

One naturally wonders why Rosenfeld's contribution has not received the attention that it merits. It was surely of crucial interest to Pauli, and demonstrably also to Dirac. In fact, after having satisfied himself of the validity of the Fermi procedure, Rosenfeld published in 1932 a demonstration that Dirac's relativistic electron theory was equivalent to that of Heisenberg and Pauli. Dirac was indeed in correspondence with Rosenfeld before Dirac, Fock, and Podolsky published their "improved" demonstration of this equivalence. Dirac had written Rosenfeld asking him detailed questions about the appearance of arbitrary functions in Rosenfeld's constraint analysis.

It appears that Rosenfeld's contribution to quantum field theory simply came to early. It suffered the same fate in the coming two decades as did quantum field theory itself. Coming to terms with the apparently insurmountable infinities that plagued quantum electrodynamics, Rosenfeld himself declared in his 1932 overview that there was no longer any reason to think that second quantization could lead to an acceptable theory of interaction of material particles. This may also explain why Rosenfeld's contribution was initially unknown to Peter Bergmann in 1949 when he set himself the task of inventing a procedure for tracking the indeterminate time evolution of the gravitational field.