CfP: Mad Science International Interdisciplinary Conference: Innovation, Genius, Madness

10th-11th May 2024, Iași, Romania

Organisers: Department of Foreign Languages, “Gheorghe Asachi” Technical University of Iași

Contact: Ioana Baciu

Venue: “Cristofor Simionescu” Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Environmental Protection, Bulevardul Profesor Dimitrie Mangeron 73, Iași 700050, Romania , 5th floor

Abstract submission deadline: 15th March 2024. Notice of acceptance by 2nd April 2024.

Format: on site & on-line

Conference languages: English, Romanian, French, German.

Conference fees: 150 RON/50 euros: researchers, professors; 25 euros/75 RON - doctoral students.

Publication: a selection of papers will be published in Les Cahiers Linguatek/The Linguatek Notebooks, the biannual journal of the Department of Foreign Languages at “Gheorghe Asachi” Technical University of Iași, CEEOL indexation.

We are pleased to invite you to the first Mad Science international interdisciplinary conference organized by the Department of Foreign Languages at “Gheorghe Asachi” Technical University of Iași. We invite scholars, researchers, professors and doctoral students of the sciences, arts and humanities to present 20-minute papers on, but not restricted to, the following topics:Scientific breakthrough as a negotiation between genius and madness;
  • Figures of brilliant innovators in literature, as well as the visual and the performing arts (painting, sculpture, photography, the theatre);
  • Scientific innovation in times of crisis (war, natural disasters, famine, pandemics)
  • Depictions of the man of genius/woman of genius;
  • Gender and scientific visbility and success;
  • The figure of the mad scientist in literature, film and the arts;
  • Science and the gothic genre;
  • Mistakes and accidents as the basis of discoveries and innovations and/or catastrophe;
  • The science of beauty and the beauty of science;
  • The ethics of science;
  • The scientist as saviour/villain;
  • Practical science: depictions of the engineer;
  • Bad engineering and good engineering;
  • Historical and contemporary discourse(s) on science;
  • Fake news in scientific discourse;
  • Science and education: fun ways and new approaches to the teaching of scientific subjects;
  • Hacks, quacks and crooks – how science is/can be used by the criminal mind;
  • From cure to poison – societal discourse on drugs;
  • Accidental scientific discoveries;
  • Cultural variations in scientific discourse;
  • Cyberscience: the role of the internet and of digitalization/digitization in the propagation of scientific discourse;
  • Portraying the post-industrialized world in contemporary fiction and discourse;
  • Portrayals of technology in popular culture;
  • The use and misuse of science in the service of politics/ideology;
  • The role of AI in scientific development and learning science;
  • The use of social platforms in informing/distorting scientific information;
  • Effective ways of communicating science to the non-specialist public;
  • Scientists/doctors of the ancient world;
  • Superstitions regarding the world of science;
  • Science and religion;
  • Decoding the science behind the pathologies of literary and film characters;
  • The science behind the architecture of literary cities;
  • Innovation and genius in the economic sciences.

Please send 250-word abstracts, followed by 5 key-words, a short bibliography and a 150-word author bio, to Ioana Baciu by 15th March. Notification of acceptance by 2nd April. A selection of conference papers will be published in Les Cahiers Linguatek/The Linguatek Notebooks, CEEOL indexation.