CfP: Mad Science: Biology, Technology, Systems of Power International Interdisciplinary Conference
Mad Science: Biology, Technology, Systems of Power International Interdisciplinary Conference
‘Gheorghe Asachi’ Technical University of Iași, Romania, 5th-7th June 2026
We are delighted to launch the call for papers for the second edition of the international interdisciplinary Mad Science conference, to take place in 2026 at ‘Gheorghe Asachi’ Technical University of Iași. This year’s topic is Biology, Technology and Systems of Power, exploring current debates and points of inflection at the intersection of various disciplines. We welcome papers and workshop proposals in panels in Romanian, English, French and German.
The conference topic is inspired from the social and political events of the recent years, which have brought the social, political, cultural and ideological implications of technology to the fore. As the technological burrows ever so deeply into our lives, the questions that we raise are inevitably connected to the changing status of the human in relation to the technological. Has, in foucaultian terms, technology become another means of disciplining the body and of social and political disciplining? Has the use of technology today been co-opted and instrumentalised by the powers that be? How are technology and scientific innovation used to reinforce or subvert systems of power and shape society, its culture and cultures? Where does the balance between the biological and the technological stand at the moment? How are the social, political and economic issues of today influenced by the pervasiveness of technology into the fabric of our everyday lives? Can the way technology is marketed to make us better human beings (in monitoring our health) bring back extremist ideologies of the past? We look forward to receiving your 200-word paper abstracts, as well as workshop proposals, via Google form.
Organizer: Foreign Languages Staff, Department of Teacher Training (DPPD), ‘Gheorghe Asachi’ Technical University of Iași, Romania
Where: onsite and online
When: 5th-7th June 2026
Conference fee: 60 euros/300 RON professors and academics, 20 euros/100 RON PhD students
Application submission: via Google form
Important deadlines:
- Submission of abstracts – by 20th April 2026
- Notification of acceptance – by 1st May 2026
- Payment of conference fee - by 15th May 2026
- Publication of conference papers: December 2026, Les Cahiers Linguatek (no publication fee for conference participants)
Scientific board: same as for Les Cahiers Linguatek