Foundations of Enactive Cognitive Science
We are excited to announce the organisation of the conference "Foundations of Enactive Cognitive Science", held February 27-28th, 2012. The conference is sponsored by the CINN, with the support of the EPSRC. We also gratefully acknowledge support from the School of Systems Engineering, at the Univ. of Reading, the Society for the Study of Artificial Intelligence and Simulation of Behaviour (AISB), as well as from AVANT, the journal of the philosophical-interdisciplinary vanguard.
If you intend to participate (even if you do not plan to submit a poster or a talk), we kindly ask that you send us an email, as we need to make some arrangements with the venue. Easily done by clicking this link.
Dr. Etienne Roesch (Goldsmiths Univ. London; Univ. of Reading)
Dr. Slawomir Nasuto (Univ. of Reading)
Prof. John Mark Bishop (Goldsmiths Univ. London)
The pursuit of cognitive science is concerned with the scientific study of the mind. Interdisciplinary in nature, the discipline spans philosophy, cognitive psychology, neuroscience, artificial intelligence, linguistics, anthropology, social sciences, biology and physics - as well as any other discipline with a perspective on the workings of the mind. From the natural evolution of the concepts that formed the building blocks of cognitive science, arose the need for an integrative account of the interaction of the organism with the world, and recent years witnessed the emergence of what is believed to be a paradigm shift in the discipline: enactive cognitive science.
Enactive cognitive science emerges from diverse research interests, and has yet to mature into a discipline on its own. It now faces the challenge of gathering these views and frameworks, which were merely critiques of the classical paradigm, into cohesive research agendas: Enactive cognitive science distances itself from classical cognitivist and computational perspectives, by broadening the current focus on the brain and including the body and its relationship to the outside world.
The objective of the conference is to gather as many researchers as possible, from all disciplines, with an interest in the development and the future of enactive cognitive science.
Venue and accommodation
The conference will be hosted in the unique setting of the Cumberland Lodge, in the Great Park of Windsor. We strongly encourage participants to stay for the night at the Lodge: It is genuinely conducive for these types of meetings, and we hope this will maximize interactions between participants. The Lodge is conveniently located 25 minutes away from Heathrow airport.
We reserved a number of rooms at the Lodge for Monday night, and we are told there will be rooms available for Tuesday night as well. When you register, please do indicate if you will need a room at the Lodge. The Lodge is fully licensed, and we encourage attendees to bring along their favourite music instrument.. :)
Should you require an alternative option, there is plenty of accommodation nearby:
- Bed and Breakfast: http://g.co/maps/8sm44
- Hotels: http://g.co/maps/ndecp
- Accommodation: http://g.co/maps/fgv87
Travel awards
Unfortunately, we are unable to provide financial support for travelling or lodging. However, students who are members of AISB can apply for travel awards. If you are not yet a member of AISB, please refer to the registration page first. Be aware that AISB accepts registration from international individuals.
We are, of course, more than happy to support applications for travel awards that participants would want to submit to their favourite research councils. Please get in touch with us if you are in this position.
Fees
The financial support we receive from the CINN and the EPSRC allows us to fly in invited speakers from around the world, and to subsidise part of attendees participation. The remain cost relates to lodging and catering at the venue. These are as follows:
- Students staying in nearby accommodation: Free (they are asked to make their own arrangements).
- Students staying at the Lodge: £180 (covers lodging and catering for two days)
- Research staff staying in nearby accommodation: £110 (covers catering for the two days)
- Research staff staying at the Lodge: £300 (covers lodging and catering for two days)
On Monday night, we will have dinner at the Cumberland Lodge. Dinner is included in the general fee for people who are staying at the Lodge, but participants who are staying in an accommodation nearby will be charged £40.
Invited keynotes
We have invited a number of people to give keynote talks. Confirmed and booked speakers are:
- Mark Bickhard (Lehigh Univ., USA)
- Fred Cummins (Univ. College Dublin, Ireland)
- Tom Fröse (Univ. Tokyo, Japan)
- Thomas Fuchs (Heidelberg Univ.)
- Kevin O'Regan (Paris 5)
Call for posters and talks
Posters will be on display throughout the whole conference, and submitted talks will complement invited keynote addresses. If needed, attendance certificates will be provided. If you are willing to participate, please send a title and an abstract (max. 300 words) to Dr. Etienne Roesch by January 30th (of course you can send it before that date!), stating whether you would like to present a poster or give a talk, and if you will be staying at the Lodge or make your own arrangements.
Programme
This is a tentative programme to help you plan your trip. A bunch of us will stay on Tuesday night as well, to make early flights on Wednesday.
|
Sunday 26th |
Monday 27th |
Tuesday 28th | |
|
08:30 |
Registration |
||
|
09:00 |
Keynote |
Keynote | |
|
10:00 |
Coffee |
Coffee | |
|
10:30 |
Talks |
Talks | |
|
12:30 |
Lunch |
Lunch | |
|
13:30 |
Keynote |
Talks | |
|
14:30 |
Coffee |
Coffee | |
|
14:45 |
Early arrival and |
Talks |
Talks |
|
16:45 |
Coffee |
Coffee | |
| 17:00 | Talks | Closing keynote | |
| 18:00 | Talks | ||
| 18:30 | |||
| 19:00 | Conference dinner at the Lodge | ||
| 20:30 | Chaired discussion | ||
| 21:30 |
