IACSR Call for Proposals

An announcement from IACSR:

Call for Proposals for Presentations at the 2010 meeting of the International Association for the Cognitive Science of Religion (IACSR) in conjunction with the XXth Quinquennial World Congress of the International Association of the History of Religions (IAHR)

August 15-21, 2010 in Toronto

http://www.religion.utoronto.ca/resources/iahr


The IACSR, which seeks to advance the naturalistic study of religion, invites interested scholars to submit proposals for presentations (lasting no more than 25 minutes) for possible inclusion on the program at its upcoming meeting for 2010 in Toronto. Submissions are welcome on any topic in the cognitive science of religion. The IACSR recognizes that the cognitive sciences encompass a wide array of disciplines and methods, including, among others, experimental research in psychology and neuroscience, computational modeling, ethnographic, historical, archaeological, and comparative studies of religious cognition, and the survey techniques of the social sciences. Presentations advancing new cognitive theories of diverse religious phenomena are also welcome.

Proposals should consist of two pages. The cover page should include the following items ONLY:

1. presentation title

2. word count of the proposal

3. all authors’ names

4. all authors’ email addresses (papers with multiple authors should explicitly indicate which of the addresses should serve as the one to which all subsequent communications about this submission should be sent)

On a subsequent page, the substantive section of the proposal should, again, include the title of the presentation, should not exceed 500 words, and should not contain either footnotes or endnotes or the author’s name(s). The author’s name(s) should only appear on the cover page.

Proposals should be attached as an MS Word file in emails with “IACSR submission” in their subject lines to be sent to Armin W. Geertz at awg@teo.au.dk. The deadline for submission is February 15, 2010.
President Luther H. Martin

President Elect Robert N. McCauley

Secretary General Armin W. Geertz

Religion in Scientific American and Nature

Worthwhile articles on religion are in recent issues of Scientific American and Nature. The Scientific American article cites work by Justin Barrett and others suggesting that religious belief appears connected to consciousness. In Nature, Pascal Boyer writes that we are cognitively disposed to believe, and that disbelief requires effort.

Both articles are worthwhile, and might be especially useful for students in psychology of religion courses. For more depth along these lines, a good place to start would be Barrett's book, Why Would Anyone Believe in God? (Cognitive Science of Religion Series)

Star Island Conference

The next Star Island Conference will be held July 26 - August 2, 2008. The conference has a reputation for being an ideal "working vacation", where you can exchange ideas with fascinating people in a beautiful location off the coast of New Hampshire. Though not explicitly dealing with the psychology of religion, the theme for this year's conference has significant overtones for psychologists interested in religion, morality, and human potential. A friend who has attended previous Star Island conferences raves about them and said that it fills up quickly, so don't delay registering.

Ph.D. Studentship at Queen's University

This announcement comes from Thomas Lawson at Queen's University, Belfast.

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A 3-year PhD studentship, to begin September/October 2008, is being offered by the Institute of Cognition and Culture (School of History and Anthropology, Queen’s University – Belfast) as part of a collaborative research grant with partner US institutions. The project is titled ‘Cultural Variation in Vigilance and Precaution Themes’ and focuses on the hazard-precaution psychology underlying individual precautionary measures as well as those precautionary themes expressed in collective rituals. Both UK/EU nationals and international applicants are eligible for this studentship which shall run parallel to the three-year duration of the grant. To be eligible applicants should at minimum have:

1. a bachelor’s degree in cognitive psychology, evolutionary psychology, cognitive anthropology, or other relevant fields
2. nothing that would prevent fieldwork in locations like sub-Saharan Africa, US, continental Europe, potentially Southeast Asia
3. an interest in explaining human behavior from a cognitive and evolutionary psychological perspective

The applicant chosen shall develop a PhD research project in concert with the general project’s aims. An experimental component is required. The student will work with the two primary investigators, Professor Thomas Lawson and Dr Joel Mort.

The student will receive funds for tuition, fees, and maintenance for three years. Most research costs (subject costs etc) will be covered by the grant but any additional costs must be accounted for by the student through additional grants etc. Postgraduate office space will be provided at the Institute of Cognition and Culture (including network access). Interested persons should send applications via email to t.lawson /at/ qub.ac.uk no later than 1 Feb 2008. In addition a signed hard copy of the application materials should be mailed to:

Professor E. Thomas Lawson
Institute of Cognition and Culture
Queen’s University
2-4 Fitzwilliam Street
Belfast BT7 1NN
UK

A short-list of finalists will be chosen from all applications and those short-listed will be interviewed.

Application materials required:

• QUB application form
(http://www.qub.ac.uk/home/ProspectiveStudents/PostgraduateStudents/ApplyingtoQueens/ )

• Two academic references
• University transcripts