Academic Research

12.05.2013

Td Summer School 2013: Transdisciplinary Research at the Science | Society Interface

“Td Summer School 2013: Transdisciplinary Research at the Science | Society Interface”  will be held at Leuphana University Lueneburg, Germany, from September 1 – 10, 2013. The Td Summer School 2013 offers a “Td Training Module” (Sep., 1-6) and a Special Training Module in “Constellation Analysis” (Sep., 9-10) in cooperation with the Center for Technology and Society at Technical University of Berlin. The Modules can be attended separately.

For further informations see www.leuphana.de/cm-td-training and this PDF file.

Furthermore: For people interested in the First Global Conference on Research Integration and Implementation, Canberra, Australia and Online (http://www.i2sconference.org/) Leuphana University Lueneburg is organizing a Co-Conference (Sep., 9-10) which can be combined with the Td Summer School 2013.

For further informations on the I2S Co-Conference please contact Prof. Dr. Ulli Vilsmaier: vilsmaier [at] leuphana [dot] de

By Sacha Kagan

11.05.2013

Artists, Art Communities and Creative Initiatives in the Urban Spaces of Russia and Europe

Open Interdisciplinary Seminar series “Scientific Environment”, 6th meeting of the 2013 spring session

 May 14th 2013, Faculty of Sociology, St. Petersburg State University (Russia), ul. Smolnogo 1/3, entrance 9, room 229, 18:00

Speakers:

  •  Sacha Kagan (Leuphana University Lueneburg, and Cultura21): “Creative cities and the challenge of sustainability”
  • Nikita Basov and Anisya Khokhlova (St. Petersburg State University, Faculty of sociology): “Communication Practices of Knowledge Generation: Comparing Creative Communities in St. Petersburg”
  • Anna Zhelnina (Higher School of Economics at St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg State University, Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences) and Alexandra Nenko (Higher School of Economics at St. Petersburg): “Self-Organizing Urban Initiatives: Actors and Practices of Creative Transformation of the City”

This event is organized by the Center for German and European Studies (a collaboration between the St. Petersburg State University in Russia and the University of Bielefeld in Germany).

Website (with abstracts): click here

By Sacha Kagan

06.05.2013

New Directions in Social Ecology: From Climate Action to Housing Justice

San Francisco (USA),  June 12th – 22nd 2013

Each year, the Institute for Social Ecology hosts intensive seminars for students, activists, and community leaders to come together to explore sets of dynamic and urgent social and ecological issues. They are partnering with the California Institute for Integral Studies based in the SOMA district. Classes will include the politics and philosophy of Social Ecology, international social movements for direct democracy, alternatives to capitalism, climate justice with a focus and emphasis on urban housing and land struggles. There will be local field trips that will allow participants to get to know the community in which they are studying.

Read more: Click here

By Sacha Kagan

21.04.2013

Art, Environment, Sustainability – Call for articles

For an upcoming issue of Antennae

Submission Deadline: 1st of September 2013

“At the forefront of today’s social issues are questions related to the human relationship to nature and the environment, the meaning of a sustainable future and the relationship of environmentalism to modernity and today’s economic structures. While the sciences have, until recently, dominated the debate, the arts are making an increasingly important contribution. Antennae is seeking submissions to an issue focused on Art, Environment, Sustainability. We are seeking contributions that go further than being a mere rehashing of the narrative of environmental activism (the human as destroyer of nature; the dangers of climate change; extinction of species; etc, etc.) to address more fundamental meanings, explore ambiguities and engage with the complex societal questions that arise from the environmental and sustainability debate – and the role of the arts in that debate. We encourage potential contributors to be bold and creative in generating and exploring perspectives that move beyond the apocalyptic and often “preachy” culture of modern environmentalism.”

Academic essays = length 6000-10000 words
Artists’ portfolio = 5/6 images along with 500 words max statement/commentary
Interviews = maximum length 8000 words
Fiction = maximum length 8000 words

www.antennae.org.uk - antennaeproject [at] gmail [dot] com

By Sacha Kagan

17.04.2013

Art and biodiversity: sustainable art ?

Plastik, a bi-lingual (French-English) online journal on art & science published at Institut Acte (CNRS and Université Paris 1 Sorbonne), is announcing the following open call for articles for its upcoming 4th issue on “Art and biodiversity: sustainable art?” (deadline: June 15, 2013 – the call is also available in French language here):

“Interest in ecology and sustainable development is unprecedented, as is to the increasing concern overshadowing society’s well-being. With the news of massive deforestation and the scarcity of water resources, we are continually reminded of how animal and vegetable species are endangered. It’s clear that the need to respect the environment is shared by all but that natural resources are being exhausted through conflict of interest and contradictory action. As a result living and endangered organisms are affected by a kind of universal heritage value, as if representing the memory of an uncertain future. Read more »

By Sacha Kagan

11.03.2013

Call for participation in survey on soil and art

If you have used earth materially or symbolically in your creative practice, or in some way addressed the value, function, or meaning of soil in your art,  you are cordially invited to take part in an online survey about soil and art.

“Although the arts play a critical role in sustainability discourses, the actual opinions, knowledge and practices of artists are rarely a subject of scientific inquiry. This is why your voice is so important!” With your help, the researcher in charge of this project, Alexandra Toland, hopes to identify a wide spectrum of art projects that bring new awareness to the thin layer of matter on which all life is based, and to gather information on the various conditions under which such works are made.

This survey makes up part of Ms. Toland’s PhD research (at the Technische Universität Berlin) on the artistic use, interpretation and representation of soil and soil conservation issues. All data is collected with utmost integrity for research purposes. Specific details about individual projects and persons will not be disclosed without respondent’s consent. As a symbol of appreciation for your participation, Ms. Toland would like to feature your work on the soilarts.org research platform.

Deadline: April 15th 2013

By Sacha Kagan

30.01.2013

Call for Papers – Acoustic Space No. 12: ART OF RESILIENCE

Riga’s Center for New Media Culture RIXC is welcoming submissions – articles, conceptual and artistic texts, research papers and visual contributions – from artists, theorists, scientists, researchers who are engaged with issues of social and ecological sustainability, and who are interested in a deeper understanding of technology, for the next Acoustic Space (Volume No. 12), a peer-reviewed journal for interdisciplinary research on art, science, technology and society, devoted with the theme Art of Resilience. Read more »

By Nikolai Huckle

26.01.2013

Summer School – Sustainable Technologies and Transdisciplinary Futures

From Collaborative Design to Digital Fabrication

STTF2013 Summer School – July 8-12 – ISCTE-IUL University Institute of Lisbon

STTF2013 invites you to apply for a one week intensive programme of social and technical methods, in a transdisciplinary environment that will engage participants in both conceptual and practical activities with all four pillars of sustainability as background.

STTF2013 is intended for Master and PhD students, researchers, and professionals from STS, Product and Service Design, Social Sciences and Humanities, Architecture and Engineering, Communication and Media, Environmental Studies, Economics and Management, Computer Sciences, and others.
Regardless of individual experience, everyone will have the opportunity to work in sociotechnical processes of design, construction and discussion of concrete objects, through Introductory Sessions, Masterclasses and Hands On Workshops. Read more »

By Nikolai Huckle

22.01.2013

Call for Submissions – Water Memories & Tomorrow’s Landscapes

12th Inter-University Meetings on Landscape
Symposium on Waterwheel for World Water Day – 22 March 2013, Tunisia

On 22 March 2013, the Research Unit Horticulture, Landscape, Environment of the Higher Institute of Agronomy of Chott Mariem, IRESA, Sousse University, Tunisia, will host the twelfth international inter-institutional and inter-university meeting dedicated to water landscapes. In keeping with its multidisciplinary nature, this will also be the second World Water Day Symposium on WATERWHEEL platform, in partnership with Griffith University in Brisbane (Australia), the Five Colleges in Massachusetts (USA), and Reciclarte and IQLab in Buenos Aires (Argentina).

The proposed theme Water Memories and Tomorrow’s Landscapes is inscribed in the project of building a new interface between sciences, techniques and arts in order to imagine the future of ecosystems resources. Facing concerns provoked by problems of the “degradation” of inhabited environments, new interdisciplinary tools are needed. Within a systemic framework, it is essential to better understand the main properties, characteristics and uses of water, and ways of relating them to the organization and operation of environments of all kinds.

The general organization aims to create the best possibilities of communication and expression, thanks to the internet platform Waterwheel, which will allow an exchange in the form of on-line workshops (between 1-2 hours max), presentations (10 minutes), panels (2 hours max including 30 min discussion), performances (10-20 minutes) and posters, throughout the symposium, and will ensure their dissemination through the site http://water-wheel.net. Read more »

By Nikolai Huckle

24.12.2012

Ecopsychology: Science, Totems, and the Technological Species?

Peter H. Kahn, Jr., Professor in the Department of Psychology and Director of the Human Interaction with Nature and Technological Systems Laboratory at the University of Washington, and Patricia H. Hasbach, Licensed Professional Counselor and clinical psychotherapist with a private practice in Eugene, Oregon, and a faculty member at Lewis & Clark College and Antioch University Seattle, have brought together and edited the publication Ecopsychology: Science, Totems, and the Technological Species, a collection of essays giving insight on the rather new discipline of Ecopschology. Read more »

By Nikolai Huckle

21.12.2012

Call for Papers – PhD Student Research Award

Deadline extended: Feb. 15th 2013!
The Research Network Sociology of the Arts, that is an integrated part of the European Sociological Association (ESA) announces a bi-annual PhD-Student Research Award to recognize outstanding unpublished papers by PhD-Students. The winner of this year´s award will receive 500 € and will present his/her paper at a section during the 11th Conference of the ESA (University of Turin, August 28th-31st, 2013)

Deadlines: 15.02.2013 (for the conference abstract) and 24.05.2013 (for the full paper version)

For more information on the call, click here.

For the full post and all call for papers of the ESA conference 2013:

http://www.cultura21.net/activites/conferences/call-for-papers-crisis-critique-and-change

By Nikolai Huckle

17.12.2012

Call for Papers – Crisis, Critique and Change

Deadline extended: Feb. 15th 2013!
The European Sociological Association (ESA) is calling for papers for their 11th conference, taking place in Turin, Italy from the 28-31 August 2013. The topic of the conference is “Crisis, Critique and Change“.

There are multiple calls by all the different Research Network and Research Streams, ranging from Environment and Society or Quantitative Research to Social Theory, as well as a Call for Paper for a pre-conference PhD Workshop at the end of August.

One particular Research Network is the Sociology of the Arts RN chaired by Tasos Zembylas:

Art’s position within society and politics has always been complex and ambivalent. Artists may raise a critical voice or offer ideological legitimation for a dominant, hegemonic image of society. They may display a strong commitment or keep a distance from others’ fate. The attitude of the arts towards contemporary issues such as the ecological crisis, the debt crisis, violence against minorities and opponents, economic exploitation, and deprivation of people’s rights has never lost any relevance. Therefore, we would like to create special sessions and invite papers on this topic with the expectation that they may include a broad nexus of sub-issues around the relation and commitment of arts in society.

More information on this specific call, is available here.

The deadline for submissions is February 15th 2013. For further information on the Conference, all the Calls for Papers and the submission procedure please visit: http://www.esa11thconference.eu

By Nikolai Huckle

16.12.2012

Techno-Ecologies – Acoustic Space #11

The Riga Centre for New Media Culture (RIXC) has published the 11th volume of Acoustic Space:

Techno-Ecologies
edited by Rasa Smite, Eric Kluitenberg and Raitis Smits

The publication takes a different perspective on the value of the relationship between humans, the environment and technology:

We can no longer consider technology as the alienating “other”. The idea is that we “inhabit” technological ecologies emphasises our connectedness to our environment (material, natural, technological) and our dependence on available resources (material, energetic, biological, cultural). Mastering these conditions is vital to our survival on this planet.

This techno-ecological perspective was the topic of the Techno-Ecologies conference in Riga, November 2011. As such, some of the many contributors were conference participants, but other authors also took part in writing the book.

For more information on the book and how to buy it (or older publications in the series), click here

Techno-Ecologies is the 11th volume of Acoustic Space Series. Acoustic Space (published since 1998) is a journal for new media culture and creative explorations within digital networked environments and electro-acoustic space. Since 2007 Acoustic Space has come out as a peer-reviewed international journal for transdisciplinary research on art, science, technology and society.

By Nikolai Huckle

21.11.2012

Call for Papers: Media and Climate Change

Papers are welcomed for a special issue of the journal Environmental Communication: A Journal of Culture and Nature (Official Journal of IECA) to be published in March 2014 on the topic of Media Research on Climate Change.

Acknowledging the vast amount of academic research done over the past decade on the media coverage of climate change and its various results, questions of how to continue in this research field have risen. What conclusions can be drawn from the existing works and how can the research move into the next phase? In which direction should the field orient itself, theoretically and empirically speaking?

Possible themes papers may address include:

  • The development of theoretical and conceptual frameworks for media studies on climate change
  • (New) methodological procedures for media studies on climate change
  • Particularly important empirical aspects of future media studies on climate change, such as online representations and/or the role of communications campaigns/persuasive communication
  • Ways in which media studies on climate change can be integrated into interdisciplinary collaborative research aimed at mitigating and adapting to climate change impacts

Deadline for submissions: 28 February 2013

For more detailed information on the journal and how to submit the paper, click here.

By Nikolai Huckle

16.11.2012

The Myth of Apathy: Going Beyond Behaviour Change

17:30 – 19:30 – 20 November 2012

The UCL Energy Institute of the University College London has invited Dr. Renee Lertzman, a strategic communications specialist focusing on the deep psychological dimensions of sustainability, to talk about her current research.

In the seminar, Dr. Lertzman, currently teaching at the Royal Roads University in Canada, addresses how we perceive environmental threats and climate change, not only cognitively but also emotionally! This is her notion of “Going Beyond Behaviour Change”, as it´s not just a description of which behavioural change needs to happen and how we can make it happen, but a look upon the status quo of how and why a more sustainable lifestyle is incorporated, or not, by people.

For more information, click here.

By Nikolai Huckle