International Neuroscience and Society Events

CONFERENCE, FRANCE
Brain, Technology & Cognition I : Action
France, June 2011
"Action" is a complex topic related to perception, motivation, control, decision making, planning, intention, and a wide range of other cognitive abilities and phenomena like imitation. It will be approached from various perspectives: experimental approaches (neurophysiology, cerebral imagery, experimental psychology etc.), modelling and technological approaches (decision-making, planning, learning, embodiment, relation to perception, motor control, robotics, cognitive ergonomy, analysis and treatment disabilities etc.), social and ethical developments (including social cognition, anthropology, linguistics and philosophy). ESF, FMSH and UPMC, the co-sponsoring parties, invite scientists to submit proposals for a high-level research conference to take place in 2011 within the framework of the ESF Research Conference Scheme. Candidates may propose projects for the whole conference or a project for a topical session within the conference. The selection criteria will be scientific excellence and transversality. Applications for submission of proposals are now being accepted on the ESF website.
Contact: For scientific enquiries: Entre-Sciences Programme, Fondation Maison des Sciences de l’Homme, communication.entre-sciences@msh-paris.fr.
For submission of proposals: European Science Foundation, conferences-proposals@esf.org.

CONFERENCE, UK
Neurosociety…What is it with the brain these days? 7-8 December, 2010 Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, UK. A two-day international conference sponsored by the Institute for Science, Innovation and Society (InSIS), and the European Neuroscience and Society Network (ENSN). There is no cost for the event, but accommodation and travel expenses are not provided. Please send abstracts (300 – 600 words) to insisevents@sbs.ox.ac.uk. Deadline for submission of abstracts is July 1, 2010. Contact: tanja.schneider@sbs.ox.ac.uk

WORKSHOP, ENGLAND
Neurological Futures: Speculation, Value and Promissory Hope in the Bioeconomy
James Martin Institute, Said Business School, Oxford, England
7-8 December 2010

WORKSHOP, POLAND
third bid-workshop brains in dialogue on deep brain stimulation,Warsaw, Poland. 20-21 September 2010 To date more than 50.000 people worldwide have received deep brain stimulation to alleviate symptoms of several treatment-resistant disorders: from Parkinson’s disease and essential tremor to chronic pain, epilepsy and psychiatric conditions, such as obsessive compulsive disorder, major depression and Tourette syndrome. But what are the potentials and limitations of this technology? And what is the real impact on patient’s life? Is there a risk for personality alterations? Scientists, clinicians, patients, philosophers, sociologists, journalists and other stakeholders will gather to discuss the state of the art of deep brain stimulation in neurological and psychiatric disorders and the ethical and social implications. For more information: www.neuromedia.eu. Application deadline: 05 July 2010.

SYMPOSIUM, ENGLAND
Brain Self and Society - symposium: 'Personhood in a Neurobiological Age' 13 September 2010 Wolfson Theatre New Academic Building London School of Economics It seems that we have learned more about the brain in the last decade than over the previous millennia of human history. But to what extent are developments in the 'new brain sciences' leading to a mutation in our understanding of selfhood? Are we in the midst of a move from 'soul to brain' a radical restructuring of our understanding of human 'psychology' and the rise of a 'neuronal self'? If so, in what ways, and with what consequences, for individuals and for society, and for our ways of governing ourselves and others? This is the closing symposium of a three year research project - 'Brain Self and Society in the 21st century' funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and based at the LSE. The symposium will bring together leading figures from across the disciplines of the neurosciences, psychiatry, philosophy, history and the social and human sciences in an interdisciplinary dialogue on changing concepts of self and person and their implications. The event is open and free to all however pre-registration is required as seats are limited. If you would like to reserve a place please send your name, title, position and affiliation to personhood@lse.ac.uk
More information on http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/brainSelfSociety/personhood-in-a-neurobiological-age-symposium.htm

CONFERENCE, PORTUGAL
Second ENSN International Conference on the Mutual Challenges of the Neurosciences and Public Health
Centro de Estudos Sociais, University of Coimbra, Portugal
15-17 September 2010

CONFERENCE, ITALY
PRACTISING SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, PERFORMING THE SOCIAL
Trento, Italy
September 2 – 4, 2010
The European Association for the Study of Science and Technology will hold its bi-annual conference which will be organized in approximately 20-30 parallel thematic tracks. Teams for convening such a track are allowed up to 4 people. On the site (http://w ww.easst.net/node/2326) you find several fields, but two of them “medicine and healthcare as technoscientific practices” and “The ´doing` of bodies and gender in science and technology” could be of interest for scholars in medical anthropology. Submissions for tracks should address broad issues and themes in order to attract a large number of scholars. Further on, submissions are expected to include an outline of the proposed theme and the area of interest (maximum 500 words) as well as a short description of the convenors. The tracks are created to attract more than 10 abstracts and less than 40.
Deadline: October 12, 2009
Contact: conference@easst.net

CONFERENCE, GERMANY
Structure and Function of Neural Circuits
EMBL Advanced Training Centre, Heidelberg, Germany
5 - 8 September 2010
The goal of this Symposium is to highlight recent work on the anatomical and functional analysis of behaviourally-relevant neural circuits in genetically tractable model systems, and to promote the exchange of ideas and methods in this exciting field of research.
Keynote Lectures will be delivered by Jeff Lichtman, Harvard University and David Anderson, Howard Hughes Medical Institute.A preliminary programme can be found on the conference website: www.embo-embl-symposia.org

Registration and abstract deadline: 13 June 2010
Register first and then submit your abstract.
There are registration fee fellowships available, you will find further information on the website.

TRAINING, USA
Penn’s Neuroscience Boot Camp
University of Pennsylvania, USA
August 1-11, 2010
Applications are now being accepted for a 9-day academic program on neuroscience for professionals and graduate students in law, ethics, and other fields. Excerpts from the website: “The Penn Neuroscience Boot Camp is designed to give participants a basic foundation in cognitive and affective neuroscience and to equip them to be informed consumers of neuroscience research. Penn’s Neuroscience Boot Camp has been endorsed by the Neuroethics Society as a way for non-neuroscientists to gain a better understanding of the science behind the proliferation of new “neurofields” including neuroethics… “Through a combination of lectures, break-out groups, panel discussions and laboratory visits, participants will gain an understanding of the methods of neuroscience and key findings on the cognitive and social-emotional functions of the brain, lifespan development and disorders of brain function. Each lecture will be followed by extensive Q&A. Break-out groups will allow participants to delve more deeply into topics of relevance to their fields. Laboratory visits will include trip to an MRI scanner, an EEG/ERP lab, an animal neurophysiology lab, and a transcranial magnetic stimulation lab."
Deadline to apply: February 1, 2010
Submission: see website for more details

FESTIVAL, UK
Perfection of the Mind, Body and Machine
Southbank Centre
July 3, 2010

This summer the Royal Society and Southbank Centre are coming together to explore science and our human impulse to understand the world we live in. A unique ten-day festival filling every corner of London’s Southbank Centre, featuring the Royal Society’s annual Summer Science Exhibition and a host of cross-disciplinary collaborations, including music, dance, comedy, discussion, film, literature and art.The Festival of Science + Arts is a unique festival celebrating 350 years of the Royal Society.

Perfection of the Mind, Body and Machine discussion series
A Perfect Mind
Perfectibility of the Body
Perfection Machines

To find out more about the 350th Anniversary Campaign and the projects it will support, or to make a donation:
Contact the Development Office.
t: 020 7451 2500
e: events@royalsociety.org
w: royalsociety.org

CONFERENCE, IRELAND
Beyond Therapy: Exploring Enhancement and Human Futures
17th annual summer conference
July 15-17, 2010
Deerfield, IL

A decade into the biotech century, scientific discoveries and technological innovations are transforming the nature of biomedicine and revolutionizing the expectations for biotechnology. A new medicine that moves beyond therapy to enhancement presents both opportunities and perils. Our distinguished speakers will probe these possibilities and address the implications for the future of our individual and common humanity.

Through joint sponsorship with the University at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and The Center for Bioethics & Human Dignity, AMA PRA Category 1 credits tm for physicians are available during the Beyond Therapy: Exploring Enhancement and Human Futures summer conference, July 15-17, 2010 and preconference institutes (Intensive, Advanced, and Medicine and the New Healthcare Paradigm), July 12-15, 2010.

Certificates of Completion will also be available after the conference for other professionals to present to employers or accreditation boards.

For more information and to register: www.cbhd.org/conference.

OPERA, UK
The Lion's Face Opera on dementia premiers
Royal Opera House
London, July 2010

For those of you who are interested in any of the following:

dementia
medical sociologies/anthropologies of psychiatric/neurodegenerative conditions
arts-science collaborations
public engagement with science / patient & public involvement (PPI)

Felicity Callard, member of the ENSN network, has recently been involved -- as the 'medical sociologist/historian of psychiatry ' on the team -- in the development of a brand new opera on dementia called The Lion's Face. The Opera Group -- a decade old company that commissions a lot of new work -- has been collaborating with Prof Simon Lovestone's team (whose research focuses on biomarkers for Alzheimer's re diagnosis & treatment targets) at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London.

Fundamental to the development of the opera was the sustained involvement of patients, healthcare staff, family members, as well as basic & clinical researchers. The librettist & composer visited the biomarkers labs, talked extensively to the various stakeholders and witnessed various practices of dementia care.

The opera premiered at the Brighton Festival in May 2010, and will come to the Linbury Studio at the Royal Opera House, London in July 2010. The opera explores the lifeworlds and current research practices surrounding Alzheimer's disease, and opens up a variety of questions vis-a-vis how aesthetic projects engage with social scientists, scientists and other stakeholders in the development of creative work that explores biomedical research and practices.

For more information on the opera and its development see:
http://thelionsface.wordpress.com/
http://www.roh.org.uk/whatson/production.aspx?pid=13567
http://www.iop.kcl.ac.uk/news/?id=405

CONFERENCE, USA
Penn Conference on Clinical Neuroscience and Society
University of Pennsylvania, USA
July 23-25, 2010
Advances in neuroscience are raising a host of new ethical, legal and social issues for healthcare practitioners. To address many of these issues, the Center for Neuroscience & Society will be offering a first of its kind CME -accredited conference aimed at reviewing the latest developments in brain imagery, pychopharmacology, devices, competence and medicolegal practices, and exploring the ethical issues raised in the context of lectures and case discussions. Due to space restrictions, conference attendance will be limited.
Registration will open November 1, 2009
Contact: conference@neuroethics.upenn.edu

SEMINAR, UK
The Freedom of the Will
British Academy, 10 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1
9.30am - 5.35pm, followed by a drinks reception
July 3 2010
Convenor: Professor Richard Swinburne FBA, University of Oxford There is wide interest in whether humans have free will in a sense which makes them morally responsible for their actions, not merely among philosophers and psychologists, but among those involved in formulating and operating the criminal law, theologians, and a wide general public. The last fifty years have seen the publication of an enormous philosophical literature on the relation of mind to body, and a considerable literature on moral responsibility, all relevant to this issue. More recently, there has also been a significant body of scientific work deriving from the pioneer studies by Benjamin Libet, on the extent to which intentions are caused and affect human behaviour. This accessible public symposium will bring together these strands of literature. The symposium will consist of three seminars, each featuring two papers followed by a discussion. The first looks at recent neurophysiological work on whether intentions cause brain effects, the second asks if our actions are pre-determined and the third explores what kind of free will we would need in order to be morally responsible for our actions. Please click here for a copy of the full programme. Attendance is free, but registration is required. If you wish to attend please complete the online registration form. Please note that lunch will not be provided, but time will be allowed for attendees to obtain lunch in the surrounding area.

CONFERENCE, UK

The future of medical history - the swansong conference of the Wellcome Centre for the History of Medicine

Goodenough College, London 15-17 July 2010 The Wellcome Centre for the History of Medicne at UCL has circulated an announcement for a conference which “represents our swansong and statement of what we would have liked to have been allowed to achieve in the history of medicine”. Appropriately titled ‘The Future of Medical History’, the conference will take place on. Abstract due:1 June 2010 Contact: l.cracknell@ucl.ac.uk “Due to current circumstances”, the Centre will not be able to cover the cost of travel or accommodation.

CONFERENCE, UK
Society for the Social History of Medicine 2010 Conference: Knowledge, Ethics and Representations of Medicine and Health: Historical Perspectives
Durham and Newcastle, UK
8-11 July 2010
The theme of the 2010 meeting of the Society for the Social History of Medicine in Durham and Newcastle, 8-11 July 2010, will be 'Knowledge, Ethics and Representations of Medicine and Health: Historical Perspectives'. The organisers particularly encourage proposals for 20 min papers addressing questions such as: What processes have generated knowledge about the body, illness and health that has become authoritative in different societies? How have claims of medical expertise been justified vis à vis claims from other domains of social and cultural authority such as religion and law? What did it mean for medical practitioners in different cultural and social contexts to claim to be ethical as well as knowledgeable? How did they present themselves to the public? What kind of material, visual and textual representations of body, mind, health and disease have gained 'defining power' exerting influence on medical practice and research until today? Otherwise no restriction re. period or geographical region. Panel session proposals also wanted (with 3 papers). Send 250 word abstracts. For more info, see website.
Abstracts due: 1 November 2009
Contact: conference@nchm.ac.uk

CONFERENCE, USA
39th Neural Interfaces Conference, Co-sponsored by NIH Deep Brain Stimulation Consortium
Long Beach Convention Center, Long Beach, CA 21-23 June , 2010 Attended by an multi-disciplinary group of clinicians, engineers, and scientists representing academia and industry. 30 platform presentations from leaders in neuromodulation and neural engineering,176 poster presentations,23 sponsors, including major Neurotech companies (Medtronic, St. Jude Neuromod), small businesses as well as NIH and the VA.
All students are eligible for no cost registration. When registering on-line for the conference, under the payment section, please select “student”. Please note, your conference registration is not complete until you submit a letter from your Faculty Advisor confirming your current student status. The letter must be written or typed on your schools letterhead and submitted no later than Friday, May 21st. Your no-cost student registration for the conference is contingent upon receiving this letter. Letters may be emailed to Lex Davies at LDavies@JBSAssociates.ws or mailed to her attention at 954 La Mirada Street, Laguna Beach CA 92651. Conference program, registration, and more information at: http://www.neuralinterfaces2010.com/

WORKSHOP, USA Beyond Brain Machine Interface: From Senses to Cognition
Co-sponsored by IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society and Army Research Office
Long Beach, CA 20 June 2010 A workshop on the topic “Beyond Brain Machine Interface: From Senses to Cognition” (http://tnsre.bme.jhu.edu), sponsored by Army Research Office and IEEE EMBS, will preced the Neural Interfaces Conference. The goal of the workshop is to push the frontiers of BMI, from sensory and motor interfaces to enhancing cognitive and physical performance. To achieve this vision, the Workshop will provide a state of the art review of the field, share experiences with current systems and experimental paradigms and then present ideas and initiatives for future activities in the field. The workshop will be designed with a pioneering spirit to push the frontiers of BMI in humans. Distinguished leaders in the field will give reviews and keynote presentations. Active researchers and young scientists are invited to present their work and progress. Junior scientists, postdocs, and advanced graduate students are invited to apply for travel fellowships to participate and to display their posters by sending an email with an abstract and a CV to editortnsre[at]gmail.com with subject “Beyond BMI Workshop”. Travel fellowships, poster abstracts, and registration: http://tnsre.bme.jhu.edu

CONFERENCE, USA
The Social Determinants of Mental Health: From Awareness to Action
Drake Hotel in Chicago, USA
June 3rd and 4th, 2010
The Institute on Social Exclusion at the Adler School of Professional Psychology is organizing the event. The keynote speaker is David Satcher, the 16th Surgeon General of the United States and former director of the CDC. The plenary speaker is Sandro Galea, the director of the Center for Global Health at the University of Michigan. The Adler Institute on Social Exclusion has issued a call for papers.
Abstracts: 300 words due December 31st, 2009
Contact: ise@adler.edu.

CONFERENCE, FRANCE The 15th Annual Meeting of the International Society for the History of the Neurosciences Paris from 15-19 June 2010.

We have put together a rich and varied program of presentations, plus a full social program including a film evening, organ concert at the Salpetriere Hospital and visits to several significant landmarks in the History of Medicine. There will also be a fabulous banquet. We are urging all who are planning to attend to send in their registration as soon as possible to facilitate arrangements. The registration form is available on the website. Please note that there will be only a limited number of tickets for the banquet so please send in your registration soon to avoid disappointment. \

The Program is now available Registration form

For details about local arrangements and hotels please see the Society's website: www.ishn.org

Workshop, Germany
Europeam Platform for Life Sciences, Mind Sciences, and the Humanities
May 31- June 2, 2010
Tutzing, Bavaria, Germany
Recent developments in the cognitive neurosciences, particularly the combination of imaging technologies like fMRI or MEG with methods of experimental psychology, have broadened the thematic scope of experimental and theoretical neuroscience research tremendously. As it seems, the neurosciences take over research questions which have been traditionally in the focus of disciplines like philosophy, psychology, and the social sciences – leading to potentially new fields of research like “neurophilosophy”, “neuroeconomics”, or “social neuroscience”. This development has not only been met with great interest and fascination, but has also provoked profound skepticism, not only for science, but also for society and the concept of humankind at large. As a first step, a workshop will be organized for a maximum of 40 participants from all-over Europe. The main goal of this workshop will be to identify new key topics related to the ongoing interdisciplinary dispute. Accordingly, the focus will not be on research topics within a given discipline, but on questions at the interface between disciplines, which usually find no place in specialized disciplinary research programs. Furthermore, the workshop should help to establish several smaller teams,
which will have the possibility to apply for funds for a joint working phase on a selected topic of up to two years.
Deadline to apply: before March 1, 2010 in both paper and electronic form (see website for further details regarding submission criteria)
Volkswagen Foundation
Thomas Brunotte
Kastanienallee 35
30519 Hannover
Contact: Thomas Brunotte brunotte@volkswagenstiftung.de

CONFERENCE, ISRAEL
Knowledge and Pain
Hebrew University, Jerusalem
24-26 May 2010
Pain, physical or emotional, as a field of knowledge about suffering, is a subject of scholarly attention in the humanities and social sciences, in parallel with the scientific study of pain mechanisms and controls. The conference Knowledge and Pain will be devoted to the voices of the sufferers (rather than to those of inflictors, healers, or managers of pain). Bypassing, as much as possible, the messages of professional mediators, it will focus on the light that sufferers themselves shed upon their condition through verbal or visual expression. The organizers of the conference welcome proposals that deal with the following questions: How does discourse function as an intermediary between sufferer and listeners? Is pain destructive of language or does it merely challenge it? How and in what contexts does body language communicate suffering in different cultures and inter-culturally? What social capital (if any) do sufferers gain from communicating their pain? Is pain exclusively destructive of the subject's world or can it yield cognitive or spiritual gain? Is it ethically problematic to ascribe meaning to pain beyond its function as a symptom? What are the relationships between physical and emotional pain? How are the media used to represent pain, and with what side effects? Do artistic representations of suffering improve our understanding of the pain of another? How does the voice of pain implicate the hearer?
Abstracts due: 8 September 2009
Contact: msecohen@mscc.huji.ac.il

SYMPOSIUM, USA

Symposium on Neural Computation

University of California, Los Angeles 22 May 2010 UCLA’s Neuroscience Research Building (NRB) 17th Joint Symposium on Neural Computation – UCLA
9:00 am – 5:00 pm Registration: http://www.jsnc.caltech.edu/ Abstract due: 7 May 2010

CONFERENCE, USA
2010 Translational Neurotech Summit
Boston, USA
May 18, 2010
Call for speakers - The Neurotech Development Foundation is organizing a Translational Neurotech Summit on May 18, 2010. This one day gathering of scientists, entrepreneurs, executives and investors will be held coordination with The 5th annual Neurotech Investing and Partnering Conference May 19-20, 2010. The goal of the summit is to facilitate the movement of promising neurotechnology (pharmaceuticals, biologics, cell-based therapeutics, devices and diagnostics) from universities, government labs and research institutes into the private sector. The summit will feature the top researchers from across translational neuroscience including Alzheimer's, addiction, ALS, anxiety, depressive disorders, epilepsy, migraine, mild cognitive impairment, Huntington's, multiple sclerosis, obesity, pain, Parkinson's, schizophrenia, age-related macular degeneration, sensory disorders, sleep disorders, and stroke.
Application deadline: January 5, 2010
Contact: zack@neurotechindustry.org First, visit website.

CONFERENCE, USA The Neurotech Investing & Partnering Conference 2010
Advances in Drugs, Devices and Diagnostics for the Brain and Nervous System
Westin Waterfront Boston
May 19 - 20, 2010 The premier partnering and investing conference for the neurotechnology industry including pharmaceuticals, medical devices and diagnostics will be held May 19-20. The Neurotech Investing and Partnering Conference is a global forum where investors, executives, entrepreneurs, scientists and others involved in the development of new treatments and diagnostics for the brain and nervous system come together to shape the future of their organization and the industry.
This market defining conference features keynotes on the state of the neurotech industry, cutting edge company presentations, leading translational research projects and panel discussions on a comprehensive selection of neurotech topics.
Hear about next generation treatments for Alzheimer's, addiction, anxiety, depression, pain, sensory disorders, obesity, stroke, schizophrenia, sleep disorders, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, Parkinson's and more. See 2009 Agenda and Attendees.

CONFERENCE, USA BioPrediction Washington DC on 8-9 May. BioPrediction will address how biological information could aid predictions of misconduct The idea is not to replace psychological and sociological studies but to supplement them with new information from structural and functional brain scans, genetics, hormone analyses, and other biological sources. Contemporary statistical engines can use all of this information together to generate predictions of future delinquency and crime. In educational and other social contexts, biomarkers might aid in identification of 'high risk' children - perhaps at a pre-symptomatic stage -- who will benefit from early interventions. In forensic contexts, biomarkers could inform predictions of criminal behaviour -- including violence and sex crimes -- to be taken into account in sentencing, parole, probation, and detention decisions. Biomarkers could also be used in addiction treatment programs to guide treatment and predict relapse, and in psychiatric contexts to predict risk of harm to self and others as prerequisites for release from a mental institution. These possibilities clearly raise a host of ethical and legal issues, including concerns about privacy, intervention and due process. All of this will be discussed by leading clinicians, social scientists, neuroscientists, lawyers, and ethicists at a workshop on May 8-9 in Washington, D.C. Revised papers from this workshop will be published in a collection. To register: https://www.oxforduniversitystores.co.uk/catalogue/products.asp?compid=1&deptid=86&catID=687&hasClicked=0

CONFERENCE, USA
Natureculture: Entangled Relations of Multiplicity
La Fonda Hotel in Santa Fe, New Mexico
7 and 8 May, 2010
At the 2010 SCA Conference we seek to encourage inquiry into the ways that anthropological, and specifically ethnographic inquiry, present opportunities to interrogate both the ontology of Western notions of history (and effectively provincialize it) and reciprocally, to historicize the notion of ontology thus pluralizing it. How are diverse ontologies made and deployed? How are distinctive ontological claims that sustain scientific, economic, domestic, ritual, and/or governmental projects articulated both within and across orders of natureculture? Anthropological exploration of these questions (that suspend "ethnographic" and "theoretical" divides) may enable an iteration of ontologies as a relational analytic device, displacing its version a as pre-established reality-out-there (even if an open and shifting one), the end-goal of investigative endeavors. Our conference invites papers, films, photo essays, and multimedia installations that track, propose, or otherwise reveal and interrogate paradigmatic, disciplinary and ethico-political ruptures effected through the analytics of naturecultures. We are as interested in topics ‘traditional’ to anthropology (magic, ritual, kinship, to name a few) as we are in thematic newcomers (animals, climate, oceans, air, GMOS) and, of course, those fields—such as race, the state, the environment, art, health and bodies, neo-liberalism, sexuality, globalization - that have occupied our discipline in the last generation. Multi-disciplinary presentations as well as contributions by other than anthropologists will also be considered.
Submission deadline: December 15, 2009 (see website for submission details)

Conference
Ten Years After - Mapping the societal landscape of genomics
Amsterdam
27-28 May 2010
The Centre for Society & Genomics (the Netherlands), in collaboration with the ESRC Genomics Network (United Kingdom) and Valgen (Canada) will hold its biannual Conference on Society and Genomics on 27-28 May 2010 in Amsterdam. We invite submission of abstracts for oral and poster presentations addressing the upcoming conference’s theme. The conference is focussed on mapping and assessing the emerging societal landscape of genomics. Four zones will be distinguished to guide us through the emerging landscape: the urban, the industrial, the rural and the environmental zone. Within these zones, a range of topics (dealing with innovation, governance, infrastructures and emerging issues) will be addressed in the form of parallel sessions.
Abstracts due: January 8, 2010
Contact: submit online

SEMINAR SERIES - OXFORD UNIVERSITY
The Green Templeton Medical Anthropology Discussion Group Presents

Neuroscience Technologies:
Ancillary, Appropriated and Anticipated

Week 2 (May 4th):
“Autism, neuroscience and history; or, some virtues of being objective ”
Des Fitzgerald (BIOS Centre, LSE)

Week 4 (May 18th):
“fMRI beyond the clinic: the uses of neuroscience in marketing”
Tanja Schneider (INSIS, Oxford)

Week 6 (June 1st):
“Lessons from Polygraphy: will fMRI lie detection be used in the US legal system?”
Andrew Balmer (Sociology, Sheffield)

TrinityTerm 2010
Location: Barclay Room, Green Templeton College
Tuesday of Weeks 2, 4 & 6
4.00-5.00 pm
(Convened by Nick Shapiro, Nadine Levin & Elisabeth Hsu)
Inquiries: nadine.levin@gtc.ox.ac.uk<mailto:nadine.levin@gtc.ox.ac.uk>

CONFERENCE
The British Psychological Society’s History & Philosophy of Psychology Section
University of Edinburgh, Scotland
30th March – 1st April, 2010
The British Psychological Society’s History & Philosophy of Psychology Section 2010 annual conference to be held in the Psychology Building in the School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences at the University of Edinburgh. We invite proposals for individual papers or symposia in any area dealing with conceptual and historical issues in psychology, broadly defined. This year, we would particularly welcome submissions on the history of concepts and categories of mental health and illness, and psychology in Scotland. The conference is open to independent and professional scholars in all relevant fields, not just Section or British Psychological Society members. A limited number of bursaries will be available to students who have had their paper accepted for presentation.
The keynote speaker will be Professor Richard Bentall who will also be discussing his recent book Doctoring the Mind (2009).
Abstracts: (200 word) by Tuesday 1st December 2009
Contact: Dr Geoff Bunn at: g.bunn@mmu.ac.uk.

NEUROSCHOOL, GERMANY
Würzburg, Germany
29 March - 2 April 2010

WORKSHOP, SWEDEN
March 25-27, 2010
The Centre for Gender Research, Uppsala University (Sweden) organizes a three-day event consisting of a public day and a workshop entitled
"NeuroGenderings: Critical Studies of the Sexed Brain". This event is organized within the frame of the Excellence research programme GenNa: Nature/Culture and Transgressive Encounters. Some questions we want to address are: Which kinds of critical studies of neuroscience and which neursoscience are needed to counteract neuro-sexism, -heterosexisms and -racisms? How are identities re-conceptualized in neuroscientific experiments? Are sex and gender differences separate variables in neuroscientific experimentation and if yes why? Can and should there be a queer theory of the brain? When does "neurolization" become a social or political problem?
Contact: Katarina Mattsson (Katarina.Mattsson@gender.uu.se)

STUDENT MEETING/WORKSHOP, GERMANY
EASA Medical Anthropology Network
Berlin
11-12 February 2010

The meeting aims at giving students of medical anthropology a platform for presenting their research in a variety of panels in an informal setting, meeting other students, and networking around Europe. We will also offer a workshop on applied anthropology and professional skills with Rachael Gooberman-Hill and Kathryn Tomlinson from the UK. Feel free to forward the Call for Presentations to anybody who might be interested in joining our group and participating in the meeting and the workshop in Berlin.
Abstracts due: 30 November 2009
Contact: stumedanth@gmail.com

CONFERENCE, UNITED KINGDOM
Transcultural memory
University of London
5-6 February 2010
In an age of globalization, is it still possible to speak of local and national memory, or do the local and national always exist in implicit and explicit dialogue with the transnational? Holocaust- and memory studies have begun to address these questions in tracing the globalization of Holocaust memory as a trope by which other modern atrocities are shaped and remembered, and, of course, the Holocaust has been incorporated into national memories in order to forget indigenous genocides and shore up ideals of nation (Huyssen and Patraka). Conversely, theories of vicarious witnessing have posited an ethical dimension to the remembrance of events across cultural boundaries. It is increasingly difficult and problematic to isolate representations of past, which in turn calls attention to the need for the comparative study of memory as it takes an increasingly transcultural form – as Rothberg’s recent ground-breaking work on the multi-directionality of memory has shown. The conference organizers invite abstracts on the subject of transcultural memory from across the disciplines – English and Comparative Literary Studies, History, Cultural Studies, Architectural Studies, Cultural Geography, Film Studies, Media Studies, Politics, Philosophy, Psychology, Sociology, the Visual Arts, and so on – but recognize that the study of memory will often involve an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approach.
Abstracts due: 21 July 2009
Contact: transculturalmemory@gmail.com

WORKSHOP, ITALY
Brains in dialogue on genetic testing
Trieste, Italy
28-29 January 2010
In recent years genetic research has lead to the development of hundreds of genetic tests which are now easily accessible to individuals curious to find out whether or not they will develop a certain disorder. An increasing number of these tests are also available for main neurodegenerative diseases, like Alzheimer, Parkinson and Huntington, which are still incurable. But how reliable are these tests and what type of information are they offering? Do they help people to take decisions about their life? Scientists, clinicians, patients, lawyers, philosophers, sociologists, journalists and other stakeholders will gather to discuss the state of the art of genetic testing for main neurodegenerative diseases and the ethical, legal and social implications.
Application deadline: 25 November 2009.
Contact person: Chiara Saviane
Tel: +39 040 2240879
E-mail: saviane@sissa.it

CONFERENCE, UNITED STATES
Cultural and Biological Contexts of Psychiatric Disorder: Implications for Diagnosis and Treatment
University of California, Los Angeles
22- 24 January 2010
The aim of this conference is to improve the quality of psychiatric diagnosis and treatment by giving specific attention to biological and cultural contexts and their interactions. Given the abundant criticism directed to both the biological and cultural validity of current DSM diagnostic categories, the focus is particularly important and timely. Revisions to the DSM are now underway that attempt to incorporate divergent cross-cultural aspects of mental illness, as well as underlying neurobiological factors common to different disorders.
Early registration deadline: 13 November 2009

PANEL, UNITED STATES
Neuroscience, Cognitive Psychology and the Criminal Justice System
New Orleans, Louisiana
January 2010
The explosive growth of knowledge in the field of cognitive neuroscience provides both opportunities and challenges for the criminal justice system. This panel will explore the potential, as well as the pitfalls, of using cognitive neuroscience to shed light on criminal justice theory and practice. Topics include, among others, implicit bias in decision-making, the dynamics of tunnel vision, brain imaging to assess prior knowledge or veracity, group-level emotion and jury dynamics, the effects of emotionally-charged evidence on reasoning, and the effects of brain injury on criminal responsibility.
Abstracts due: 1 April 2009; email to Patty Blake, pblake@pitt.edu
Contact: David Harris, chair Criminal Justice Section, daharris@pitt.edu

SEMINAR, UK
BIOS department, London School of Economics, London
December 10, 2009
"Autonomy and responsibility in an era of neurological reflexivity"
Matt Grist - Social Brain project director, Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA)
5:30-7:30pm, Room H201 PLEASE NOTE CHANGE OF USUAL TIME
Neuroscience challenges common sense conceptions of autonomy and responsibility. The automatic nature of much of the brain's functioning, as well as its predisposing us to be unconsciously influenced by social norms, are amongst the facts that drive this challenge. I argue that although we must discard certain common sense conceptions of autonomy and responsibility, there are others available that fit the science. Moreover, adopting them has important implications for politics, policy and practice - implications that cut across both left and right wing approaches. All welcome, no ticket required. Seats allocated on a first-come, first served basis.

CONFERENCE
Mind and Its Potential
Sydney, Australia
December 2-3, 2009
Science is only just beginning to understand the extraordinary capacity of the brain to change and develop. The implications for how we learn, work and care for one another are profound. Here is your opportunity to hear the world’s top scientists, psychologists and philosophers explain how to apply the new science of the brain in education, medicine, business and your life. The Dalai Lama, Paul Ekman and Martin Seligman are the really big names, and then people like Susan Greenfield, Marc Hauser, Natasha Mitchell and many more fill a long list of “extraordinary speakers.” The conference really emphasizes the following: “Practical applications of the new science of the brain: How do we learn? How do we teach? How do we overcome adversity and disability? How should we live our lives? Find out the implications for education, health care, business and your life!”

ART INSTALLATION, UK
Assembling bodies
University of Cambridge, UK
Ongoing until December 2010
Don’t forget to see ‘Assembling Bodies: Art, Science & Imagination’, the major interdisciplinary exhibition at the University of Cambridge’s Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, when you are in town (45 mins from Stansted airport). The exhibition explores some of the different ways that bodies are imagined, understood and transformed in the arts, social and bio-medical sciences. The project is part of the Leverhulme Research Project ‘Changing Beliefs of the Human Body’ (2004-2009), which has brought together researchers in archaeology, ancient history and social anthropology. A series of special events and activities for a wide range of audiences is running throughout the period of the exhibition, until December 2010.

DISCUSSION, UK
'The Future in your Brain'
The Royal Society, London
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
A discussion with Professor Steven Rose and Dr Sarah Jayne Blakemore URF about the opportunities and uncertainties posed by advances in neuroscience. We hope you can join us for this timely and important discussion. Especially for this event Steven Rose, Emeritus Professor at the Open University, has released an updated paper: Prospects and Perils of the New Brain Sciences: a twenty year timescale. He will discuss several areas where the application of neuroscience will raise complex ethical, legal and social issues in the coming years, including: greater use of neuroscientific evidence in legal proceedings; increased use of brain imaging techniques for diagnostic and prognostic purposes, and for surveillance; increased use of ‘predictive’ genetic testing for neurological and psychiatric disorders; and new military technologies enabled by neuroscience.To attend this free event, please email science.policy@royalsociety.org with your name, job title and place of work, clearly stating which event you would like to attend. Please forward this invitation to any colleagues who may be interested.

HISTORY OF SCIENCE MEETING, USA
Phoenix, Arizona, 20 November
Theories of Mind, Brain, and Cognition in Social Engagement
•Giving Shape to the Common Brain: Cerebral Organization and Political Unity in the 18th Century, Nima Bassiri, University of California, Berkeley
•“Crazy, bedeviled, bewitched or something”: Concepts of Insanity in the United States, 1800-1843, Rachel Ponce, University of Chicago
•Nervous Societies and the Fragmented Self – Sigmund Freud and Biological Psychiatry, Katja Guenther, Princeton University

WORKSHOP, GERMANY
EMBL Workshop "Translating Behavior: Bridging Clinical and Animal Model Research"
Heidelberg, Germany
14-16 November 2009
The goal of this workshop is to bring together behavioral neuroscientists working on animal models with clinical researchers studying human behavior. The main question to be addressed by the workshop is how animal models can best be used to discover treatments for behavioral disorders, including mental illness. Although animal models are powerful tools to identify the neurobiological mechanisms underlying behavior, too few researchers are trying to directly bridge the gap between human behavior and homologous behaviors in lower animals. In some cases animal behavior and human behavior appear similar and may share common molecular mechanisms; however, many human behaviors remain only distantly homologous to animal behaviors and common mechanisms are controversial. Our workshop aims to take advantage of the increasing interest in behavior among both clinical and basic researchers to help ensure the best possible use of animal models. The workshop will try to cover a range of commonly studied behaviors relevant to human disease, including anxiety, impulsivity, and aggression, but also more controversial topics such as depression, schizophrenia, autism, and attachment. In this way, participants will be exposed to a wide range of clinically relevant behavioral research and gain an appreciation of its successes and pitfalls.
Please register online.
Deadline: 30 September 2009

Conference, USA
Evolution of Brain, Mind and Culture
November 12th and 13th, 2009
Emory University, Georgia, USA
Emory University’s Center for Brain, Mind and Culture is hosting a free conference that is open to the public, The Evolution of Brain, Mind and Culture. The keynote address “Darwin in Genes and Culture” will open the conference at 1:00 PM on Thursday and will be given by Matt Ridley, author of books such as The Origins of Virtue and Nature via Nurture. That keynote will be followed a session on brain evolution. On Friday sessions on the evolution of mind and the evolution of culture will fill the morning and afternoon. You can see the entire schedule here. Prominent Emory scholars like Jim Rilling, Melvin Konner, and Frans de Waal will be joined by some great outside people like Pascal Boyer, Sally McBrearty, and Joe Henrich.

PUBLIC DIALOGUE
5 November 2009
The Laboratory of Neurobiology at UCL is pleased to present the third in a series of public dialogues: The Visual Brain Studied Through Visual Art: a public dialogue between Patrick Hughes, artist, and Colin Blakemore, neurobiologist. Click here to reserve a place.
Venue: Cruciform Lecture Theatre 1, Gower Street, University College London.
Registration: 5.30-5.50pm
Event start and end: 6.00pm-7.00pm (guests must be seated by 5.50pm)

WORKSHOP, NORWAY
Medical Knowledge and Medical Practice in the 20th Century
Oslo, Norway
4-6 November 2009
The workshop, which is primarily intended for scholars from the Nordic countries, is about the interconnectedness of knowledge, practice and institutions, more specifically “the circulation of knowledge between medical science and medical practice, with a particular focus on an important aspect of medicine in the 20th century, medical technology”. Medicine in the 20th century has both been subject to and itself caused a multiplicity of changes in what it means to be human. Be it diagnostics or therapy, computer tomography or organ replacement, the century has seen the creation of a whole set of novel ways of understanding and intervening into health and disease, many of them related to technological inventions: Organ replacement has challenged our concept of the human body, antibiotics and antibiotics resistances have reshaped infectious diseases; the rise of the risk factor has - to say the least - challenged the traditional association of sickness and symptoms of disease.
Abstracts due: April 20, 2009
Contact: Christoph Gradmann: christoph.gradmann@medisin.uio.no; Anne Kveim Lie: a.h.k.lie@medisin.uio.no

ONGOING COLLOQUIUM
UCLA History of Science, Medicine and Technology Colloquium
Los Angeles, California
November 2, 2009
Talk at 4:00 pm 5288 Bunche Hall, UCLA. Cathy Gere “The utilitarian self: the neurosciences and political reform in nineteenth-century Britain” Cathy Gere is a faculty member in Science Studies at the University of California, San Diego. See website for other upcoming talks.

WORKSHOP, ITALY
Third Annual Rovereto Attention Workshop: Attention and Awareness
Rovereto
29-31 October 2009
The goal of the workshop in Rovereto is to provide a unique forum for researchers from a range of perspectives who are interested in these topics to come together to discuss their research and develop new directions and collaborations. The workshop is hosted by the Center for Mind/Brain Sciences, at the University of Trento. The list of confirmed speakers includes: David Alais, Marisa Carrasco, Patrick Cavanagh, Alan Cowey, Christof Koch, Rene Marois, Susana Martinez-Conde, Geraint Rees, John Reynolds and Pieter Roelfsema. A poster session is organized to encourage young researchers and students to attend and present their work. A number of small travel fellowships will be awarded to the best poster submissions.
Please see conference website for more information.
Abstracts due: 21 September 2009
Contact: info@form.unitn.it

CONFERENCE, ITALY
ESF-COST Conference on Law and Neuroscience: Our Growing Understanding of the Human Brain and its Impact on our Legal System
Aquafredda de Maratea, Italy
26-31 October 2009
In the past two decades, the field of Cognitive Science has made significant progress in understanding the human brain. Many expect that this research will make further strides over the next decade. And many suggest that this knowledge could have a profound impact on the future of our legal system and legal practice. There has been much speculation over whether developments in neuroscience will overturn legal paradigms (e.g., by shattering the concept of free will). This conference will sidestep such speculations to address empirical evidence and current research on the likely impacts of neuroscience on legal practice, with a specific focus on European legal systems. The conference will strive to establish a dialogue between neuroscientists, legal practitioners, researchers in socio-legal studies and social scientists, to further mutual understanding and make some realistic evaluations of the potential developments at the intersection of neuroscience and law. Topics will include: The legal and societal impact of developing accurate neuroscience-based lie detectors; The role of cognitive science in determining competencies and legal capacities; The role of the legal system in the debate on cognitive enhancement; The risk of discrimination based on neuroscientific information; Privacy and confidentiality issues surrounding neuroscientific data. Chaired by Nikolas Rose, London School of Economics, UK.
More information (including programme and application form) available online at: www.esf.org/conferences/09302.
Deadline for applications: 16 July 2009
Contact: Ms. Antje Teegler, Conference Officer; ateegler@esf.org

Neuroethics Social Hour at the society for Neuroscience
Washington, DC
Tuesday Oct 20, 2009 - 6:30-8:00
Chair: Martha J. Farah. Location: Room N139, convention center
Guests: J.T. Cacioppo J.D. Haynes J. Illes S. Laureys H.S. Mayberg E.A. Phelps R.A. Poldrack B.J. Sahakian
Interested in the ethical, legal or policy implications of neuroscience? Come to the neuroethics social hour and meet others with the same interests. And don't miss the short but spirited debate, between two leading neuroimaging researchers, on the proposition that "brain imaging is already capable of (something worthy of the term) 'mind reading'."

SYMPOSIUM, SWITZERLAND
Human Enhancement: What should be permitted?
Brocher Centre, Geneva
20-21 October 2009
Biomedical science is increasingly yielding technologies that can be used to enhance the capacities of healthy people, as well as to treat disease. This two-day workshop will aim to advance the debate on the ethics of human enhancement by considering (1) What enhancements are likely to become possible? (2) What enhancements will be ethically permissible? (3) What enhancements should be legally permitted? (4) What criteria should be used to answer 2 and 3? To attend the event, you are kindly requested to fill in the registration form and to send it back to the Brocher Foundation by mail, e-mail or fax.
Application deadline: 5 October 2009
Contact: email scientificprog@brocher.ch; fax 0041 22 751 93 91

CONFERENCE, KENYA
8th International Conference on Urban Health
Kenyatta International Conference Centre, Nairobi
18-23 October 2009
The annual ICUH meetings provide an international forum for knowledge exchange among urban health stakeholders. They address issues pertaining to urban health, with emphasis on interventions that help to alleviate barriers to urban health care and to promote strategies and policies that enhance the health of urban populations. The ultimate goal of the ICUH is to mobilize and energize like-minded professionals addressing the effects of urbanization and urban environments on the health of urban populations. The Theme of the 2009 ICUH is “Meeting Urban Health Needs through Innovative Research, Policies and Interventions”. During a planning meeting convened by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in Vancouver on October 28th, 2008, a lively and engaging discussion ensued around the vast opportunities that ISUH and the ICUH have in shaping progress on urban health issues worldwide in the years to come.
For more information, see conference website.
Abstracts due: 30 May 2009
Contact: icuh@aphrc.org

CONFERENCE, USA
Society for Neuroscience 39th annual meeting
Chicago
17-21 October 2009
SfN's annual meeting provides the world's largest forum for neuroscientists to debut research and network with colleagues from around the world. Through lectures, symposia, workshops, and events, attendees experience innovative neuroscience research. The meeting features thousands of abstracts and provides networking and professional development opportunities.
Deadlines: Multiple - see this website

SEMINAR, UNITED STATES
7th Annual Joint Atlantic Seminar for the History of Medicine
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
9-10 October 2009
The seminar is organized and coordinated by graduate students across North America working in fields related to the history of medicine. Our mission is to foster a sense of community and provide a forum for sharing and critiquing graduate research by peers from a variety of institutions and backgrounds. For more information, including previous years' programs, please visit www.jointatlantic.org. Graduate students are encouraged to submit abstracts for research presentations on topics related to the history of health and healing; of medical ideas, practices, and institutions; and of illness, disease, and public health, from all eras and regions of the world. Abstracts should be no more than 350 words and should clearly state the purpose, thesis, methodology, and principal findings of the paper to be presented. Please note that abstracts more than 350 words in length will not be reviewed. Speakers must be enrolled as graduate students at the time of the conference. Successful proposals will engage with relevant historiographic issues and the potential contribution to scholarship on the history of medicine and health. A panel of graduate students and faculty members from several different institutions will review the abstracts. All abstracts should be submitted electronically (either as a MS Word document or as text in the body of an e-mail).
Abstracts due: 15 May 2009
Contact: Marissa Mika, Program Chair, jasmedconf@gmail.com

WORKSHOP, UNITED KINGDOM
Strategic Unknowns: the usefulness of ambiguity and ignorance in organisational life
Saïd Business School, University of Oxford
9 October 2009
At this one-day international workshop, a range of scholars will explore the ways that ignorance and ambiguity are strategically deployed within organisational life. From the subprime crisis, to the war on terror; from the politics of climate change to the rise of 'evidence' based medicine, this workshop will examine whether ignorance, and not knowledge, often serves as the main bulwark of economic, political and financial strength. In the context of global crises, whether financial, military or pandemic, is the 'unknown' increasingly being exploited as a strategic tool for personal and organisational survival?
Contact: Linsey McGoey, linsey.mcgoey@sbs.ox.ac.uk or Emily Davis, Emily.davis@sbs.ox.ac.uk

CONFERENCE, USA
The Encultured Brain
Indiana, University of Notre Dame
8 October 2009
The Encultured Brain conference will be held 8 October 2009 at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. This conference will promote neuroanthropology, which aims to integrate anthropology, social theory, and the brain sciences. As the first conference exclusively in this area, The Encultured Brain will provide a vision for the future of this line of integrative research, sparking conversations and establishing connections across disciplinary boundaries.
Abstracts must be submitted by September 4th, 2009. CONFERENCE, UNITED STATES

CONFERENCE, GERMANY
German Anthropological Association Conference: Cultural Appropriation: Assimilation - Adaptation - Camouflage
Frankfurt, Germany
30 September - 3 October 2009
Global influences have long touched off profound cultural changes in the societies that constitute the object of anthropological analysis. Due to the more rapid diffusion of goods, values and norms, the customary anthropological conception of culture has been called into question: culture and society no longer constitute a single entity. An anthropology committed to the study of contemporary societies must take this into account. Its particular focus is the continuance of cultural diversity that by no means succumbs to the onslaught of globalization, but rather simply undergoes transformation and is expressed in the articulation of new cultural identities. While former anthropological paradigms were primarily interested in the forms of resistance to external cultural influences, more recent approaches have focussed on the strategies with which social actors actively engage the challenges of globalisation. These are also to be the focus of the up-coming GAA-Conference dedicated to “Cultural Appropriation”. The term assimilation refers to the selective adoption of cultural imports, in which the adopted ideas or things are adapted to customary life ways and accorded with alternating meanings. In contrast to such forms of cultural nostrification, adaptation to dominant orders results in a break with a group’s own traditions, which – insofar as this break fails – often sparks attempts at retraditionalisation. Finally, the term camouflage highlights a strategy in which external demands are only apparently complied with, so that actors can secure sufficient latitude to pursue traditional goals.
For registration information, follow this link.
Early registration deadline: 30 June 2009

CONFERENCE, ITALY
2nd World Congress of Cultural Psychiatry
Rome
27-30 September 2009
The Second World Congress of Cultural Psychiatry will take place in a particular moment in the history of Psychiatry, characterised by a universal recognition of the great innovativeness of introducing the cultural factor in Psychiatric Epistemology. The congress therefore represents an extraordinary meeting opportunity for the pioneers who laid the theoretical foundations of Cultural Psychiatry, for the experts who, through their clinical studies, gave shape to the new configuration of Psychiatry in societies under the spur of globalization and for young researchers in the field. As for the Congress topics, particular relevance will be given to the need to delve into the new hybrid sciences and especially bio-culture, considered as the main epistemological approach to establish the influence of biological, geopolitical, cultural and relational factors in the construction of new pathologies, both in the West and in developing Countries, to evaluate the effectiveness of the psychotherapeutic approaches used in different cultures, as well as to organize culturally sensitive Mental Health services. Finally, the Congress intends to focus on the analysis of the complex problems arising from the relationship between Science and Faith.
For more information please see the World Association of Cultural Psychiatry website.
Abstracts due: 1 July 2009

CONFERENCE, CANADA
BRAIN Matters: New Directions in Neuroethics
Halifax, Nova Scotia
24-26 September 2009
The Brain Matters conference will bring together new and established researchers from around the world with a complementary range of expertise in ethics, philosophy of mind, medicine, science, history, social studies, law and policy, to critically examine a wide range of issues in neuroethics. The conference presents a valuable opportunity to strengthen current research relationships between health and ethics researchers, and to foster new collaborations. Brain interventions are significantly different from other medical interventions, given their potential to alter our understanding of the species and our sense of self relative to concepts such as memory, free will, responsibility, consciousness and personal identity. Ethics issues associated with health care, health research, and health policy will be the central focus of this conference. Participants will examine practical and policy issues that concern different understandings of agency and privacy, forced psychiatric treatment, personality enhancement, harm/benefit analysis, risk assessment, and research ethics. Scientific, clinical, social and legal issues will be addressed in the elucidation of ethical issues.
Registration is now open.
Abstracts due: 1 March 2009

CONFERENCE, UNITED STATES
International Conference of the Society for Medical Anthropology
Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
24-27 September 2009
As the discipline of medical anthropology reaches half a century of existence, it is time to celebrate both its accomplishments and its interdisciplinarity. With its 50-year-old foundation solidly in place, medical anthropology is currently expanding outward and interacting in many productive ways across disciplinary boundaries. The conference highlights thirteen areas where some of the most exciting interdisciplinary work is beginning to emerge in “new millennial” medical anthropology: Global Public Health; Mental Health; Science & Technology Studies; Genetics/Genomics; Bioethics; Public Policy; Occupational Science; Disability Studies; Gender/LGBT/Sexuality Studies; International & Area Studies; Medical History; Feminism & Technoscience; and Medicine/Primary Care.

CONFERENCE, SPAIN
Gene expression to neurobiology and behaviour: human brain development and developmental disorders
Sant Feliu de Guixols, Spain
20-25 September 2009
How does the genome, interacting with the multi-faceted environment, translate into the development by which the human brain achieves its astonishing, adaptive array of cognitive and behavioural capacities? Why and how does this process sometimes lead to neurodevelopmental disorders with a major, lifelong personal and social impact? These are central and intrinsically interdisciplinary problems of human development which can only be understood by a concerted effort of neurobiologists, geneticists, psychologists, neurologists, psychiatrists, cognitive and computational scientists. he meeting will draw on a linked range of topics: genetics of neurodevelopmental disorders and animal models with genetic modifications (e.g. knock-outs), biology of neuronal organisation and connectivity in the developing brain, infant cognitive and sensorimotor development and its relation to developing brain mechanisms, cognitive and sensorimotor characteristics of specific neurodevelopmental disorders and neuroimaging and neurophysiology of function in normal and atypical development.
To apply, please fill in an application form.
Contact: Ms. Alessandra Piccolotto, +32 (0)2 533 2023
Applications due: 5 June 2009

CONFERENCE, DENMARK
Copenhagen Neuroaesthetics Conference
University of Copenhagen
24-26 September 2009
Neuroaesthetics is a fairly new field of inquiry. This conference is convened to discuss the state of the art of the field. It will bring together a number of leading researchers working on all aspects of neuroaesthetics. The conference will include sessions on Visual Art, Music, Literature, Dance and Film, Aesthetic Preferences, Neuropsychology of Art, Experimental Aesthetics, and Evolutionary Aesthetics. It will also offer an opportunity to present new work in poster form. The full programme will be unveiled in August.
Registration is now open.
Contact: Jon O. Lauring, jonol@hum.ku.dk

SUMMER SCHOOL, ITALY
The Social Self: Summer School in Neuroscience and Philosophy of Mind
Alghero, Island of Sardinia
20-27 September 2009
The Faculty of Architecture of the University of Sassari,the Department of Philosophy of the University of Milano, the Department of Neuroscience of the University of Parma organize a one week summer school on contemporary research on philosophical and psychological models as well as neural mechanisms underlying the sense of Self shaped through the intersubjective experience. The aim of the summer school is to provide a limited number of qualified students with the opportunity to attend short-courses of six hours (two hours each day), as well as main lectures of two hours (one hour talk, one hour discussion), focused on the analysis of the social roots of the Self. Research presentations and discussions sessions will allow researchers and students to share knowledge and interact. English will be the official language. We invite on line submission by graduates and young researches who obtained their PhD within the last five years. Candidates must complete the application form available on the summer school web site: http://www.sei.architettura.uniss.it/summerschoolthesocialself.
Abstracts due: 30 June 2009

CONFERENCE, UNITED KINGDOM
Vital Politics III: The Politics of the Life Sciences in an ‘Age of Biological Control
London
16-18 September 2009
The Third Vital Politics Conference, organized by the BIOS centre at LSE. London, UK. The BIOS Centre for the Study of Bioscience, Biomedicine, Biotechnology and Society is organizing an international conference on 16-18 September 2009 at the London School of Economics and Political Science. The aim of the conference is to provide a comparative and global perspective on present forms of practice in the life sciences. The Organizing Committee welcomes proposals for individual papers which seek to make empirically based and conceptually innovative contributions to the exploration of the character and genealogy of transformations in health, illness, vitality, pathology and politics.
Abstracts due: 1 December 2008
Contact: v.dyas@lse.ac.uk

SYMPOSIUM, UNITED KINGDOM
Exploding Objects: A New Scholars Symposium
Goldsmith's University, London
10 September 2009
The aim of this year's symposium is to explore the status of 'objects' within current sociological debates. Deconstructing and reconstituting our understanding of 'objects', the symposium seeks to utilize innovative forums to explore what a postgraduate community's work contributes to the study of 'things'. From tracing various objects through their journeys across social worlds to reflections on the role of the senses in constituting the perception of objects and considerations of people as 'objects' vs. 'subjects', the conference intends to 'explode' sociological understanding of 'objects' and to develop further connections across the postgraduate community. Papers will be organised into small streams, which will enable participants to present their work in a format that will encourage dialogue and constructive engagement. Each participant will be assigned one paper prior to the symposium to which s/he will be encouraged to prepare a response. The symposium will also attempt to engage with objects in more innovative ways through a 'show and tell' workshop. With Beverley Skeggs 'Turning it on is a class act: immediated object relations with television' and Caroline Knowles 'The life-worlds and journeys of a flip-flop sandal'.
Applications should be submitted here.
Application deadline: 15 May 2009

SCHOOL, GERMANY
Research in Forensic Populations
Kloster Seeon, Germany
10-13 September 2009
Topics include: The use of Self-report, implicit measures, psychophysiological experiments, fMRI, genetic studies in the forensic domain, as well as consequences of such forensic research for law. The aim of the school is to give an overview of state-of-the-art research methods and to discuss their usefulness in forensic populations with the leading experts in the relevant fields. Target population: The school is intended for PhD. students or Post-doctoral researchers in fields of research in forensic populations and related areas such as legal questions. A total of 30 students will be accepted. Structure: All participants and experts take part in all of the workshops. A workshop contains four presentations of two experts and of two of the PhD students. There will be a lot of time for discussion.
Please see the website for more information on applying.
Application deadline: 1 July 2009

SCHOOL, UNITED STATES
Neuroscience Bootcamp
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
2-12 August, 2009
Neuroscience is increasingly relevant to a number of professions and academic disciplines beyond its traditional medical applications. Lawyers, educators, economists and businesspeople, as well as scholars of sociology, philosophy, applied ethics and policy, are incorporating the concepts and methods of neuroscience into their work. Indeed, for any field in which it is important to understand, predict or influence human behavior, neuroscience will play an increasing role. The Penn Neuroscience Boot Camp is designed to give participants a basic foundation in cognitive and affective neuroscience and to equip them to be informed consumers of neuroscience research.
Through a combination of lectures, break-out groups, panel discussions and laboratory visits, participants will gain an understanding of the methods of neuroscience and key findings on the cognitive and social-emotional functions of the brain, lifespan development and disorders of brain function.
Applications due: deadline has passed

SCHOOL, UNITED KINGDOM
Wellcome Trust School on Biology of Social Cognition
Wellcome Trust Conference Centre, Hinxton, Cambridge
9-16 August 2009
The principal aim of the workshop is to provide an intensive week of training for advanced graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, and faculty with an interest in the biological underpinnings of social behaviour. The past few years have seen remarkable advances in our knowledge of the genetic, molecular, and neural factors that contribute to social behaviour. At the same time, sophisticated analytical and theoretical approaches have helped to make sense of the data. This week-long workshop aims to provide a comprehensive overview of these topics. Whilst the emphasis will be on social cognition in humans, there will also be study days dedicated to state-of-the-art presentations on comparative approaches and evolutionary models. Finally, all themes will be related to the clinical consequences of dysfunctional social cognition, and the role of translational research.
Registration deadline: 29 May 2009
Contact: j.beard@wtconference.org.uk

LECTURE, UNITED KINGDOM
Oxford Centre for Neuroethics
University of Oxford
3 July 2009
Lecture by Professor Adam Kolber: Why Retributivists Must Abolish Prison
Strong retributivists hold that we are obligated to punish offenders in proportion to their blameworthiness. There are two principal reasons, however, why this view is inconsistent with our prison sentencing policies. First, our sentencing policies usually ignore variation in prisoners' subjective experiences of incarceration. Two people may commit offenses that make them equally blameworthy. Yet, even if they receive equal terms of incarceration, the prisoner with more difficulty adapting to prison is likely to be punished more severely than the prisoner who adapts more readily. Second, our sentencing policies neglect to consider variation in offenders' baseline conditions. An offender with greater liberty or subjective well-being outside of prison is likely to be punished more by a particular term in prison than an offender with a worse baseline condition, even when the offenders are equally blameworthy. In both of these examples, offenders may be equally blameworthy yet receive unequal punishments. Our sentencing policies generally ignore (and often strive to ignore) variation in both offenders' baseline conditions and their punishment experiences, even though such variation must be considered in order to satisfy retributivist commitments to proportional punishment. While we can imagine creating prison sentencing policies that actually do take into account pertinent variation among offenders, such policies are impractical and likely to have few proponents. I will, therefore, argue that strong retributivists, and perhaps all retributivists, must cease support for incarceration.
Contact: nicholas.iles@philosophy.ox.ac.uk

COLLOQUIUM, UNITED KINGDOM
UCL Law and Neuroscience Colloquium
London
6-7 July 2009
Neuroscience is a young field of biological research that is growing rapidly but has already produced many profound and beguiling discoveries about how the human brain works. Developments in the field are hard to predict, but it is expected from research that is already underway or being planned that our knowledge of brain functions will expand rapidly during the next few decades. Recent discoveries about the human brain are beginning to influence our legal system, increasing our understanding of actions that our laws regulate and of attitudes that our laws reflect. The way that we apply neuroscientific discoveries will have a major impact on the future of our legal system. With informed and cautious reform, our legal system could have more accurate predictions, more effective interventions, and less bias. Society could have less crime and fewer people in prisons. This colloquium explores developments in the field of Law and Neuroscience
For more information please see the conference website.

SYMPOSIUM, UNITED KINGDOM
Considerations of Meaning, Morality & Transcendence Part Two: Understanding Brain, Mind, and the Nature of Being
University of Oxford
22 July 2009
This gathering of prominent scholars will address the question whether neurotechnology can provide an accurate insight into the mind, and what changes might be needed in the theories and concepts of neuroscience and evolutionary psychology if a holistic concept of the human person is to emerge from them. Participants will discuss the interaction of body, brain, mind and environment; the viability of the 'self' concept; the relationality of the person and the nature of virtue and responsibility. They will also consider the neurological aspect of moral and aesthetic experience, offering a wide view of the impact of neuroscience on both the perennial questions of philosophy and practical aspects of psychology.
For registration and other information please see website.
Contact: info@mindbodysymposium.com

CONFERENCE, UNITED KINGDOM
Postgraduate Science and Technology Studies
University of Nottingham, Nottingham
28-29 July 2009
The first UK Postgraduate Science and Technology Studies (PSTS) conference will be held at the Institute for Science and Society at the University of Nottingham on the 28th and 29th July 2009. If you are engaged in research in science, technology and society and related fields, then the event will provide a key forum in which to present on-going research and build networks within the UK STS community. The conference is organised by postgraduate students and is intended for postgrads at all stages of research. We would particularly like to encourage submissions in the following areas: STS and medical sociology, STS and socio-legal studies, neuroscience and society, biopower, computing/ robotics.
Abstracts due: March 16, 2009

International Neuroscience and Society Events

2011

2010

FESTIVAL, UK Perfection of the Mind, Body and Machine Southbank Centre July 3, 2010

2009

FESTIVAL, UK
Perfection of the Mind, Body and Machine
Southbank Centre
July 3, 2010