Admin, Author at International Research Network for the Study of Science and Belief in Society

Religious Belief and the Geohistory of the Planet: Between Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy

By Richard Fallon In September 2021, Nature-affiliated journal Scientific Reports published a striking article arguing that the Bronze Age city of Tall el-Hammam was destroyed by a cosmic airburst. The authors, Ted E. Bunch et al, speculated that the Genesis story of the destruction of Sodom preserves memories of this impact – and received intense criticism in response. Just a few months later, scholars in Geology described another suggestive episode in the geologically recent past, citing remains in the Atacama Desert in Chile to propose that a comet struck the area around 12,000 years ago. Curious, no? Despite the significant differences between these two articles, connoisseurs of scientific controversy, and of the historical relationship between religion and the earth sciences, will recognise both as the latest iterations of a long tradition in which geoscientific research has appeared, or been construed as appearing, to conform with momentous events in religious and mythological history. Bunch and co’s Sodom angle is a twist

STEMM and Belief in Diverse Contexts Conference: reflections from Africa

From 7-9 July 2021 we held our annual INSBS conference, STEMM and Belief in Diverse Contexts: Publics, Praxis, Policy and Pluralism. Postponed in 2020 and held online in 2021 because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, in this post three of our members from Africa reflect on their online conference experience. Belief and Science is not always a Toxic Combination By Ganiyat Tijani-Adenle, Ph.D, (Lagos State University) While it has largely been easy for me to manage the relationship between my own personal beliefs and science, discussing different beliefs was always a very toxic issue in multi-ethnic and multi-religious Nigeria where I am from. Even in academic settings, I find that it is difficult for people to distance their emotions and biases from such discussions. While I appreciate that academics can be reflective, displaying negative emotions against people who do not support their perspectives and framing them as the enemy was

Open for registration INSBS conference

STEMM and Belief in Diverse Contexts: Publics, Praxis, Policy and Pluralism Online conference, 7-9 July 2021 This conference took place from 7-9 July 2021 online. The final programme can be found at the following Download link: Included in the Programme are the following two plenary events. These are public lectures. Intersectional Approaches to Diversity in STEMM: Belief, Culture, and Inclusion The lack of diversity in STEMM fields has been a topic of interest among educators and policymakers for many years. The overwhelming majority of research in this area, especially in Europe and North America, has focused on gender and race. There has been little research into or policy reflection on the under-representation of religious individuals in STEMM, as well as analysis of other cultural variables and intersectionality. In order to address this absence, this public plenary panel discussion brings together a group of international speakers to talk about the

Registration: STEMM and Belief in Diverse Contexts: Publics, Praxis, Policy & Pluralism

Online conference, 7-9 July 2021 Conference format Due to constraints imposed by COVID 19, this conference will be entirely online. Sessions will be held throughout the day in order to enable people from different time zones to participate. Participants will be given the option of pre-recording their presentations, with recordings being submitted in advance of the conference dates. If you have any questions or concerns about access or the conference format please email the INSBS Project Officer Paula Brikci ([email protected]). More details about the Conference themes can be found here. Paper and panel submission Please note:This virtual event is a rescheduled, online version of INSBS’s 2020 conference and covers the same themes. If you had an abstract accepted for that event and we have not already contacted you, please email [email protected]. This conference is wholly funded by the International Research Network for the Study of Science and Belief in Society, as

Science and Social Stereotypes

***This blog post originally appeared on the University of Birmingham website, 10 February 2021, and is reproduced here with the kind permission of the University of Birmingham.*** 11 February was the United Nations International Day of Women and Girls in Science. To mark the occasion network members Carissa Sharp and Stephen Jones explore the reasons why initiatives in this area are needed and consider their current limitations. Let’s start with a brief exercise. Close your eyes and think of a scientist. Imagine you are going to draw a picture – what would this person look like? What would their defining characteristics be? Now, would your scientist be male or female? If the scientist you imagined was male, you are not alone. A recent overview of 5 decades of US students’ drawings suggested that this is what the overwhelming majority of people do. Furthermore, while the representation of women in such tests has

How to Build an Academic Network

By Stephen H. Jones and Paula Brikci On 5th February, the International Research Network for the Study of Science and Belief in Society launched a call for grants to support the development of regional academic networks. In this blog, drawing on the insights of scholars from across the field, Stephen H. Jones and Paula Brikci look at what makes a good academic network and what anyone thinking of establishing a new network needs to consider. Networks perform an unusual function in academic life. In most professional spheres, ‘networking’ is a term people use to describe efforts to form personal links that enable new business and career opportunities. Accordingly, some individuals approach the activity with caution, viewing it as a necessary but not enjoyable part of their job or career development. However, is this always true in academia? Certainly, there are those in academia who find networking in the business sense less than enjoyable. Yet for academic researchers, the term carries another meaning,

Announcing our first International Research Network grant awards

We are pleased to announce the first awards made via our Seed Funding and Small Research Grants scheme. We have been able to award funding to fifteen projects in this first round of funding. Projects will focus on conducting socially relevant research across a variety of aspects in the field of religion and science in society, in a broad range of countries. More information about the aims of our Grants Programme including the Seed Funding and Small Research Grant scheme can be found here. We are grateful to the Templeton Religion Trust, our reviewing committee and external experts for making these awards possible. Awarded projects: Sally Barker, Graduate Student, Psychology Department, The University of Maine Co-Investigator: Dr Jordan P. LaBouff The Impact of Higher Education on the Science-Religion Relationship: A Social Identity Perspective This project will examine the impact of higher education on the science-religion relationship from a social

Podcast Special: Pew Research Center

The Pew Research Center is a fact tank which focuses on issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. For example, they study U.S. politics and policy; journalism and media; internet, science and technology; religion and public life; global attitudes and trends and U.S. social and demographic trends. To carry out such research, the team at Pew Research conduct public opinion polling, demographic research, content analysis and other data-driven social science research. You can read more about Pew Research Center on their website. In this episode, recorded in late 2020, we speak to Dr’s Cary Funk and Courtney Johnson. Cary is the Director of Science and Society research at Pew, where she leads the Center’s efforts to understand the implications of science for society. She has authored and co-authored a number of reports focused on public trust in science, scientific experts and science news and information. Courtney is a Research Associate at Pew. Her work

Emergent Themes in the Study of Science & Belief in Society

PhD Workshop Online 12 – 16 April 2021 The International Research Network for the Study of Science and Belief in Society (INSBS) will be running an international PhD workshop online from 12-16 April 2021. The workshop is open to anyone currently enrolled on a PhD programme and conducting research on any social or cultural aspect of Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths or Medicine (STEMM) in relation to any religious, spiritual or non-religious tradition, position or worldview, including unbelief. We welcome PhD candidates from all regions and countries worldwide and from a range of disciplines across the social sciences and humanities, including (but not limited to): sociology of religion, psychology of religion, science and technology studies, sociology of health/medicine, media and cultural studies, social anthropology, politics, the history and philosophy of science/religion and religious studies. In keeping with the aim of INSBS, to support the growth of high-quality international research examining the relationship between science and

New Podcast Series launched

Today (14 October 2020) we are launching our new audio series: Science and Belief in Society podcasts. More information and a schedule of release dates can be found here.