Monday, February 9, 2026

SCSNEI-JNU Talk on Getting Published| 12 February

SPECIAL CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF NORTH EAST INDIA
JAWAHARLAL NEHRU UNIVERSITY
 THE BOOK CLUB
Invites you to a Talk on Getting Published
 Speaker: R. Chandra Sekhar, Publisher, Bloomsbury Publishing India
 Date: Thursday, 12 February 2026
Time: 3-5 pm
Venue: Room 324, 3rd Floor, SSS-I, JNU
 ALL ARE INVITED

CFA: 'Problems of Growth', Ischia Summer School on the History of the Life Sciences, 28 June – 5 July, Italy

---------- Forwarded message ---------
**Deadline for applications is Friday 27 February 2026 **

Call for applications 

Problems of Growth: Nineteenth Ischia Summer School on the History of the Life Sciences
Biblioteca Antoniana, Ischia, Italy, 28 June – 5 July 2026


Applications are invited for this week-long summer school, which provides advanced training in history of the life sciences through lectures, seminars and discussions in a historically rich and naturally beautiful setting. The theme for 2026 is 'Problems of Growth'. The deadline is Friday 27 February 2026.

Organizers: Christiane Groeben (Naples, local organizer), Nick Hopwood (Cambridge), Erika L. Milam (Princeton), Staffan Müller-Wille (Cambridge) and the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn

Confirmed faculty: Daryn Lehoux (Queen's, Canada), Dániel Margócsy (Cambridge), He Bian (Princeton), Patrick Anthony (Uppsala), Alison Bashford (UNSW), Hannah Landecker (UCLA), Edna Suárez-Díaz (UNAM), Sabina Leonelli (TU München)

For funding we are most grateful to Cambridge HPS, Cambridge Intesa Sanpaolo Fund, George Loudon, Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Dohrn Foundation, Science History Institute, Centro Etnografico delle Isole Campane, Center on Science and Technology at Princeton University and the Italian Society for the History of Science. 


About the school
The Ischia Summer School on the History of the Life Sciences provides advanced training in a lively international field that offers a long-term perspective on some of the most significant ideas, practices and institutions in the world today. The school, which has a tradition of association with the Naples Zoological Station, was revived in 2005 after a break of two decades and has run every other year since then other than during the coronavirus pandemic. We can accommodate up to 26 graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. The event provides a structured learning experience plus extensive opportunities for participation and interaction. English is the working language and we encourage exchange of ideas across disciplinary boundaries, national cultures and historical periods. Spending the week on an island, staying in the same hotel and sharing breaks and meals maximizes opportunities for exchange. These are enhanced through social events, including a welcome reception and a day trip to Naples, the morning spent learning about the history and current research of the Station, the afternoon free for sightseeing. There will also be a free afternoon to explore Ischia itself.

Introduction to the theme
Growth affords hope and attracts fear. Balanced growth feeds populations, fuels prosperity and imparts purpose to individual and collective lives. The unfettered growth of cells, pathogens, parasites and populations threatens physiological, economic and ecological collapse. Even balance may be a problematic ideal: norms of flourishing and beauty have guided discrimination by vaunting harmonious over retarded, excessive or monstrous growth. The sustainability of life on Earth, attempts 'to change the story of cancer' and the politics of human diversity: growth is at the heart of them all. Yet compared with other vital processes, notably inheritance, development and reproduction, growth in the life sciences has lacked status and attention. This summer school provides an opportunity to explore knowledges and practices of growth between antiquity and the present day while bringing together problems usually kept apart.
For Aristotle, vegetative growth was the lowest function of the soul and for that reason fundamental to plants, beasts and humans. Unlike fire, vegetative growth had a natural limit. Where minerals grew by external accretion or juxtaposition, living beings had the distinctive ability to expand by assimilation of nutrients from the inside out, whether organ by organ or from a preformed seed. Surgeons tried to remove those tumours, cankers and warts that resulted from an imbalance of humours among other causes. Generation, which was hard to imagine in mechanical terms, was often framed as a special form of growth. Late medieval philosophers brought together generation, projectile movement and the accumulation of capital as sharing the same basic problem, how a movement severed from its mover could continue to produce. In a balanced world, gain in one part was compensated by loss elsewhere. Large animals, according to Aristotle, produced fewer offspring, and the relative growth of one organ entailed the diminution of another. At Italian universities during the Renaissance, these ancient ideas were taken up and reformed by scholars including Girolamo Fabrici d'Acquapendente, Andrea Cesalpino and Marcello Malpighi in attempts to reground the systematic study of nature and naturalize growth and development.
By contrast, it seems, modern approaches to growth, in biology as in economics, aimed for an overall increase—in size, in number of individuals and in productivity. As the ultimate source of economic progress the physiocrats postulated an inherent capacity of nature to reproduce. Naturalists like Lazzaro Spallanzani located the same reproductive and regenerative capacities in minute parts that made up animal bodies. But proper growth was also reckoned to occur within certain limits. In the principle of population, Thomas Robert Malthus expressed the limit set for the potentially geometric growth of human numbers by the merely arithmetic growth of food supplied from the land. More generally, in the hands of the population biologist Raymond Pearl the S-shaped curve came to capture the colonization of a new space, with slow initial acceleration towards exponential growth and then deceleration as environmental resistance increased and the 'carrying capacity' was reached. Based on computer simulations of the catastrophic consequences of runaway population and economic growth, the Club of Rome's bestselling report The Limits to Growth (1972) is a point of origin for debate over 'degrowth' and 'sustainable growth'.
Classical discussion of growth within organisms had been informed by the canons of beauty appropriate to each stage of life, with more attention to proportion than size. Beginning in the eighteenth century, longitudinal measurements of human growth aligned with demands for military manpower and projects of social reform. Measurement fed debate over the roles of heredity and environment. On the one hand, anthropometry ultimately produced distinct growth equations for groups defined by age, sex and race. Unbalanced growth was associated with monstrosity and other ways of falling short of the white, male model. On the other, failure to grow became an index of deprivation, most obviously, as physiologist Angelo Mosso argued, in the stunting of factory children. Eugenicists, notably criminologist Cesare Lombroso, were concerned with imbalance at the level of populations.
Standards justified clinical intervention in pathologies of growth. James Tanner, who led the Harpenden study into growth through puberty into adulthood, pioneered the treatment with growth hormone of children who looked set to miss out on the advantages of height. Since the 1980s ultrasound measurements of fetuses have identified growth restrictions on an ever larger scale. Yet even after major surveys from Turin to Nairobi, it is controversial to what extent the standards should be universal or tailored to demographic groups.
In the nineteenth century the knotty issues involved in defining individuals that were explored productively at the Stazione Zoologica di Napoli made growth hard to distinguish from maintenance and reproduction. An influential formulation held that reproduction represented growth beyond the individual limit. From the 1860s embryonic development was discussed in terms of the differential growth of parts. Inspired by D'Arcy Thompson's On Growth and Form (1917), Julian Huxley set an agenda with Problems of Relative Growth (1932) and the notion of allometry, or the shape-changing growth of a part at a different rate from the organism as a whole. Mechanisms could be studied in ontogeny or changing patterns traced in phylogeny. In a famous essay, 'On being the right size', J.B.S. Haldane proposed that 'Comparative anatomy is largely the story of the struggle to increase surface in proportion to volume': more complicated forms enable the larger sizes that maintain body temperature at lower metabolic rates.
Within a species, tissues and organs must somehow 'know' when to stop growing. The cell theory framed organismal growth as the division and expansion of these elementary parts. Cancer, the disease that made biomedicine, came to be understood as a pathology of malignant growth. Research elucidated factors, not least growth factors, notably nerve growth factor discovered by Stanley Cohen and Rita Levi-Montalcini, that promoted, regulated and interfered with cell division. Alongside chemotherapies, weedkillers were developed that acted by causing rapid, uncontrolled growth. Synthetic auxins, the hormones that regulate cell division and expansion in plants, became notorious as the defoliant Agent Orange used by the British in the Malayan Emergency and the United States in the Vietnam War.
This sketch raises large questions. Should understandings and practices of growth be seen as having first sought balance, then promoted unlimited increase before recognition of the costs of growth called the whole framework into question? Or did gospels of growth acknowledge the need for some balance? Should we grasp growth as a modern or capitalist imperative, a potentially relentless power and a creative one through the transformation of quantity into quality? Or is a reason for its neglect in reflection on the life sciences (as distinct from economics and agronomy) that growth implies mere increase in size or number while the truly remarkable changes have seemed to result from qualitative alterations? Reflexively, reservations about growth apply to knowledge, too; simply accumulating data has seemed inadequate when we might need a whole new paradigm. A long-term theme and implicated in urgent problems, growth in and around the life sciences provides a rich field for historical deliberation and for trade between disciplines.

Programme
The school starts with registration and a reception on the afternoon of Sunday 28 June, and ends after dinner the following Saturday night. Departure is on Sunday 5 July. Lectures last for up to 30 minutes in one-hour slots, leaving at least 30 minutes for discussion. Seminars focus on pre-circulated texts. Groups of students will prepare each one with the seminar leader.

Daryn Lehoux (Queen's, Canada)
Lecture: Aristotle on nutrition, growth, residues and seed
Seminar: The 'faculty' of growth in Galen
 
Dániel Margócsy (Cambridge)
Lecture: Soil, vermin and ghosts: The limits to growth in agriculture and medicine in early modern Europe and Indonesia
Seminar: Humans and horses: Theorising size in early modern European Medicine
 
He Bian (Princeton)
Lecture: Growth and regeneration in early modern Chinese thought
Seminar: Growing empire, coining new names: Manchu as a language for flora and fauna nomenclature
 
Patrick Anthony (Uppsala)
Lecture: Toward a history of extractive sciences—and the end of the mineral frontier
Seminar: From bio-geography to necro-geography: Sciences of life and death during the Circassian genocide 
 
Alison Bashford (UNSW) 
Lecture: Growth, limits and the afterlife of Malthus
Seminar: Fertility decline and modernity's great deceleration: Where is reproduction/population in degrowth scholarship?
 
Hannah Landecker (UCLA)
Lecture: The butcher's philosophy: Transmuting knowledge of life into knowledge of growth in modern agriculture and medicine
Seminar: Practical approaches to working with visual documents: Exploring cases and patterns in an industrial trade journal archive
 
Edna Suárez-Díaz (UNAM)
Lecture: Geographies of malnutrition: The clinic, the lab and the committee
Seminar: Traditions of knowledge and intervention: Studying malnutrition and mental development in the land of Zapata
 
Sabina Leonelli (TU München)
Lecture: Growing data crops: Extractivism and agriculture
Seminar: Colonial trends in agricultural data sharing
Public lecture: Intelligenza ambientale: Come usarla per salvare il pianeta

Cost
The fee for students is €400 each, which includes hotel accommodation and all meals for the week. Students need to pay for their own travel to Ischia. The directors will consider requests to waive the fee for accepted students unable to raise the money themselves, when supported by a detailed financial statement and a letter from their department head.

Applications
Applications should be sent by email to <administrator@ischiasummerschool.org> and should include, please:
• a statement specifying academic experience and interest in the course topic (max. 300 words),
• a brief CV,
• a letter of recommendation.
The deadline for applications is midnight CET on Friday 27 February and applicants will be notified of the outcome by 13 March 2026.

Applications are invited for Namaste Governor Acharya Award 2026

NAMASTE GOVERNOR ACHARYA AWARD 2026

Applications are invited for five NAMASTE GOVERNOR ACHARYA AWARD 2025-26 from the PhD students of different Centers/Schools of JNU working on different aspects of research (e.g. political, social, ecological, environmental, gender, poverty, health, geography, literature, biodiversity, etc.) and welfare of the Eight States of North East India.
The applications should fulfill the following criteria:
1. The applicant must have got his/her PhD synopsis approved, between 1st January 2025 to 31st December 2025.
2. The applicant can submit, in addition, any other publications on North East India.
3. The applicant has to provide documentary evidence of the work done on North East India.
4. Those who have received this award in previous years will not be eligible.
  • Duly filled and signed application forms along with necessary documentary evidences must reach the office of the Special Centre for the Study of North East India (SCSNEI) on or before 15th February 2026, 5:00 pm.
  • For any clarification, kindly contact Ms. Asha Joshi, SCSNEI/SSS-I, Room no.416, 4th floor, SSS-1, JNU. Contact no: 0ll-26704786, Email Id: scsnei@jnu.ac.in. For detailed information kindly visit SCSNEI Web page at JNU website (https://www.jnu.ac.in/scsnei) or contact the Office of SCSNEI.

Wednesday, February 4, 2026

FDP on Systematic Review, Meta-analysis, Bibliometrics, and Responsible AI in Scientific Research | 16-22 February; Kolkata, India

FDP on Systematic Review, Meta-analysis, Bibliometrics, and Responsible AI in Scientific Research
Date: 16-22 February 2026
Venue: Institute of Development Studies Kolkata, Salt Lake, Kolkata, West Bengal, India

The Institute of Development Studies Kolkata (IDSK), the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI), Kolkata, and Presidency University, Kolkata jointly invite applications from scholars, faculty members, and postgraduate students from all disciplines for a seven-day Workshop-cum-Faculty Development Programme on Systematic Review, Meta-analysis, Bibliometrics, and Responsible AI in Scientific Research, scheduled for 16–22 February 2026.
Objectives:
The programme is designed to strengthen the methodological competencies of early-career researchers in systematic review, meta-analysis, and bibliometric techniques, with a focus on open-source analytical environments. It integrates training in scientific writing, research integrity, and responsible AI to support transparent and high-quality scholarly communication. Participants will receive hands-on training in data management, analysis, and visualisation. The curriculum introduces structured and reproducible review methodologies aligned with PRISMA standards, including protocol development, advanced search strategies, data extraction, critical appraisal, effect size estimation, and research mapping. Training will incorporate R- and Python-based workflows, VOSviewer, Biblioshiny, ASReview, and other open platforms to promote openness, reproducibility, and robust research practices.
Target Participants:  This intensive, hands-on, and methodology-driven programme is designed to strengthen participants' competencies in PRISMA-aligned systematic reviews, meta-analytic techniques, and bibliometric research mapping, using open-source tools and reproducible workflows. A distinctive feature of the FDP is its strong emphasis on Responsible AI, research integrity, and transparent scholarly communication, addressing contemporary challenges in evidence synthesis.The workshop is intended for the faculty members, doctoral researchers, and postgraduate students including those preparing for doctoral enrolment, as well as independent researchers across STEM fields, medicine and public health, social sciences, business studies, and interdisciplinary domains. Librarians, information professionals, data stewards, and practitioners engaged in evidence synthesis, research evaluation, or research support services are also encouraged to apply. No prior experience is required, although basic familiarity with research design will be helpful.

Intake Capacity: 30 (Thirty)
How to Apply:
Applications must be submitted through the following link: https://forms.gle/4rCQbHPHty6mZoeC7. Selected applicants will be required to pay the registration fee (Payment details will be shared with selected participants in due course).  Registration Fee: INR 4,499/- for Faculty and Working Professionals; INR 3,999/- for Scholars, Students, and Others. What we provide: Workshop Kits; Tea/coffee and Lunch on all seven days; Certificate of participation. Note: Participants should bring their own laptops. Accommodation: Participants must arrange their own accommodation; however, assistance in getting nearby options can be provided upon request.

Participants are encouraged to come with a research idea and leave with a near-submission-ready manuscript, supported through structured protocol development, advanced search strategies, data extraction, critical appraisal, effect size estimation, and visualization. Selected participants will also have the opportunity to contribute chapters to an edited volume with Routledge/Springer, subject to scholarly quality and thematic alignment.

Last date for application: 06 February 2026

Wednesday, January 28, 2026

CfPs: International Conference on "Youth Narratives and Cultural Practices Across the Globe in the 20th and 21st Century" | 28–30 October, JNU New Delhi


Centre of Spanish, Portuguese, Italian & Latin American Studies

School of Language Literature & Culture Studies
Jawaharlal Nehru University
 is organising an International Conference on
Youth Narratives and Cultural Practices Across the Globe in the 20th and 21st Century
28–30 October 2026
JNU, New Delhi 
CALL FOR PAPERS

Youth, at present, occupies a major demographic share around the world, especially in the developing nations. Their role has been crucial in the realisation of ideologies, governance, economics and socio-cultural contexts in earlier centuries as well but more so in the 20th and 21st century. Literature, cinema, music, digital media, art, activism, and everyday cultural expressions produced by and about young people have consistently articulated experiences of inequality, justice, aspiration, resistance, and belonging. This international conference seeks to examine these youth narratives and cultural practices from a global and comparative perspective, situating them within the broader framework of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

From the greatest and silent generation who lived through the great depression and the two world wars, to the baby boomers who protested against the Vietnam war, all found solidarity and strength through cultural expressions. While the earlier navigated the challenges of their times and popularized jazz and swing music, the latter led to the creation of "Summer of Love". On the other hand, Gen X subtly paved its way through MTV culture. The millennials who constitute the largest generation group and are the connection between the Gen Z, Gen Alpha, Gen Beta and the earlier generations, articulate their aspirations, anxieties, and political consciousness through alternative public platforms like graffiti and street play. The later generations are born equipped with the smartness of the gadgets and know that the solution to a problem is just a click-away. They have created a whole virtual ecosystem of expression, activism, mobilisation wherein this ecosystem is one of the sites of movements. Across the world, youth movements have consistently emerged across hierarchical intersections of social belonging, some examples are the 2013 Gezi Park Protests in Turkey, Sunflower Student Movement of Taiwan and 2019 student rebellion in Hong Kong. 

The culture and literature that developed around these generations have overlapping tropes that hint at the universality of human development. While the cultural practices and perspective of each of the generations are different, the common denominator is their resilient approach and the hope with which they navigate the challenges. They have been instrumental in shaping social consciousness, collective memory, and future imaginaries. The Mexican Tlatelolco movement, the French Revolution, the Cuban revolution, the Emergency in India, Arab Springs are some popular examples. Their aspirations and articulations influence civil society, government, and human rights discourse. The sustainable development goals adopted by the United Nations are a manifestation of this influence. 

Youth are actors of change and resistance and the recent youth-led protests in Nepal, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Philippines, Peru, Argentina are examples of their awareness and power. The conference will provide an interdisciplinary platform for scholars to analyse youth-led cultural practices as sites of informal learning, social critique, civic engagement, and ecological consciousness. It will examine both historical and contemporary case studies, enabling an internationally situated dialogue between twentieth-century youth movements and twenty-first-century digital and transnational youth cultures.

The conference is premised on the understanding that sustainable development is not solely a technocratic or economic endeavour, but also a deeply cultural and narrative process. Youth cultures play a crucial role in interpreting social realities, questioning dominant development paradigms, and imagining alternative, more inclusive and sustainable futures. By foregrounding youth voices and cultural expressions from diverse regions of the world, the conference aims to explore how issues such as education, gender equality, social inequality, urban sustainability, climate action, and peace are negotiated, represented, and transformed through narrative and culture, as such the conference invokes the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations. 

In particular, the conference will look at six SDGs- 4 (Quality Education), 5 (Gender Equality), 10 (Reduced Inequalities), 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), 13 (Climate Action), and 16 (Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions). The conference aims to contribute to broader academic and policy discussions on youth engagement, cultural sustainability, and inclusive development. It seeks to demonstrate how youth narratives and cultural practices can inform more socially grounded, culturally sensitive, and supplement sustainable development frameworks. To realise this aim applicants should preferably situate their papers in alignment with at least one of the SDGs mentioned contextualised within sub-themes listed below. 

 

Themes and sub-themes

Youth and Politics

Youth as Agents of Political Transformation in the 20th and 21st Century

Student Movements and Democratisation: Comparative Perspectives from Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Europe

Youth Activism in the Age of Precarity: Unemployment, Inequality, and Political Expression

Campus Politics and the Making of Public Intellectual Culture

Youth and Literature

Literary Representations of Youth in Novels and Short Stories

Coming-of-Age Narratives across Cultures: A Comparative Study

Youth, Identity and Migration in Global Literature 

Literature as Social Memory: Writing Youth Movements and Student Struggles

Youth and Cinema

Cinematic Depictions of Youth Cultures in Global Cinema

Counterculture, Rebellion and the Youth Hero on Screen 

Streaming Platforms and the New Visual Aesthetics of Youth

Cinematic Portrayals of Youth Identity, Rebellion, and Desire 

Youth and Music

Hip-Hop, Rock, Folk, and Indie Cultures: Youth Music Movements Worldwide

Digital Music Cultures and the Globalisation of Youth Taste

Music as Resistance and Identity

Youth and Social/Digital Media

Influencers reach and outreach defining Young Publics

Digital Youth Cultures

Memes, Movements, and Online Political Expression

Digital Citizenship and Youth Participation in Public Debate

Youth and Alternative Expressions

Graffiti, Street Art, and the Politics of Public Space

Eco-Activism, Slow Living, and Minimalist Youth Movements

Spiritual Alternatives: Neo-mysticism, Yoga Subcultures and New-Age Youth Groups

Embodied and Performance-Based Expressions

Who Can Participate? Scholars, educators, policymakers, practitioners engaged in, but not limited to, the field of Literature, Cultural Studies, Sociology, History, Media and Film Studies, Anthropology, Gender Studies, Urban Studies, Environmental Humanities, and Development Studies. 

Conference Highlights: The conference will have keynote and plenary speakers from academia, industry and government. It will have roundtable discussions, workshop, as well as a cultural program and exhibition. 

Format: Hybrid mode 

Language (Abstract): English (Compulsory) & any one of these (Spanish, Hindi, Portuguese, Italian, French, Russian) 

Language (Paper Presentation): English, Spanish, Hindi, Portuguese, Italian, French, Russian. 

Publication: Details of the same will be updated on the webpage. 

Important Dates (keep checking webpage for updates)

Abstract submission: 30th March 2026

Acceptance notification: 30th April 2026

Last date for registration: 30th June 2026

Last date for full-paper submission: 30th August 2026

Abstract Submission: Click here for Youth Conference Abstract Submission

Thursday, January 22, 2026

Re: Call for Abstracts | STS Graz Conference 2026

Reminder I

Dear Colleagues,

This is a gentle reminder to submit your abstract for Session ID-23: "Green Hydrogen Energy Transitions in the Global South: Pathways, Potentials, and Challenges" at the STS Graz Conference 2026.

The session invites interdisciplinary contributions examining green hydrogen and low-carbon energy transitions in the Global South, with a focus on governance, policy, resource dependencies, equity, and just transition pathways.

The conference will be held in a hybrid format, allowing for both onsite and online presentations.

·         Abstract submission deadline: 27 January 2026

·         Full paper submission deadline: 16 June 2026

Abstracts should be 400–600 words, include up to five keywords, and contain authors' contact details. Submissions must be made via the official conference portal.

If your research aligns with the session's themes, we warmly encourage you to submit your abstract before the deadline. We look forward to your contributions and to an engaging discussion at STS Graz 2026.

Warm regards,
Sanoj, Independent Researcher, India sanoj156@gmail.com

Dwarkeshwar Dutt, Consultant, School of Public Policy, IIT Delhi dwarkeshwar@gmail.com

 

On Tue, Dec 16, 2025 at 12:38 PM anup kumar das <anupdas2072@gmail.com> wrote:
Call for Abstracts | STS Graz Conference 2026
📅 Abstract deadline: 27 January 2026
📄 Full paper submission: 16 June 2026.
We cordially invite abstract submissions for the session titled ID-23 "Green Hydrogen Energy Transitions in the Global South: Pathways, Potentials, and Challenges" at the STS Graz Conference 2026.  As countries in the Global South develop their green hydrogen production capacities, pertinent questions concerning sustainability, industrial development, technological dependence, and equitable energy futures gain importance. This session will critically examine governance frameworks, resource dependencies, equity concerns, and its global to local implications for green hydrogen transitions in the Global South. We welcome contributions from scholars, policymakers, and practitioners who engage with the above themes.
Abstracts should be 400–600 words, include a maximum of five keywords, and contain authors' contact details. Submissions must be made through the online form. If you have any questions or require further information, please do not hesitate to contact us.
With Best Regards                                                                
Sanoj and Dwarkeshwar                                                             
Email Address: Sanoj- sanoj156@gmail.com                  
Dwarkeshwar - dwarkeshwar@gmail.com                                                  

Wednesday, January 21, 2026

Call for Abstracts: 6th IPPN Conference | Bengaluru, 1-4 June 2026

Dear All,

I hope this email finds you well. I am writing to share the Call for Papers for the 6th India Public Policy Network (IPPN) Conference, hosted by the National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bengaluru, 1-4 June 2026.

The call for abstracts is now open, and the deadline for submitting conference abstracts is January 31, 2026.

I am also convening a panel titled "NR36. Bridging Innovation and Inclusion: Governance Challenges in the Digital Age." The panel invites papers on accountability, data governance, and responsible innovation in the context of emerging technologies, with a focus on India and the Global South.

Panel details and submission information are available at the following link:

https://www.ippapublicpolicy.org/conference/6th-india-public-policy-network-conference/panel-list/26/panel/bridging-innovation-and-inclusion-governance-challenges-in-the-digital-age/1973

I have attached the Call for Papers document for your reference and circulation.

Thank you very much for your support.

Warm regards,
Neha Sehra

---

Other Panels

Wednesday, January 14, 2026

UNWDF Webinar on Commit to Data on the Road to Riyadh | 20 January at 15:30 IST

UN World Data Forum Webinar on Commit to Data on the Road to Riyadh

Tuesday 20 January at 15:30-16:30 IST / 11:30-12:30PM CET

Register for the webinar.


As part of the Road to Riyadh toward the 2026 UN World Data Forum this November, the UN Statistics Division, together with the General Statistics Authority of Saudi Arabia, Open Data Watch, and PARIS21, will host a webinar on the UNWDF's Commit to Data. Launched at the 2024 UN World Data Forum in Medellín, Commit to Data brings together governments, international organizations, civil society, and the private sector around concrete commitments to strengthen data systems and data use. This webinar will share updates on the initiative, highlight existing and new commitments, and provide the latest information on how to get involved, including the call for session proposals deadline of 26 January.


Speakers 

  • Shantanu Mukherjee, Acting Director, United Nations Statistics Division

  • Dr. Fahad Aldossari, President, General Authority for Statistics of Saudi Arabia (GASTAT)

  • Shaida Badiee, Managing Director, Open Data Watch

  • Johannes Jütting, Executive Head, PARIS21

  • Amelia Greaves, Senior Program Manager, Equality Insights, International Women's Development Agency

  • Professor Samuel Annim, Director, African Centre for Statistics, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa

  • Ian Rutherford, Statistician, UN Statistics Division

Tuesday, January 13, 2026

CfPs: STI for Social Good: Adapting Policy, Society and Industries for Sustainable Development | 22–24 July, Malaysia

STI for Social Good: Adapting Policy, Society and Industries for Sustainable Development

22–24 July 2026 | Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia

https://umevent.um.edu.my/ICONSTS2026

The global call for sustainability demands more than innovation—it requires the strategic alignment of science, technology, and innovation (STI) with societal needs, policy agendas, and industrial transformation. The International Conference on Science, Technology and Society 2026 seeks to catalyze a dynamic dialogue between academics, policymakers, and thought leaders to explore how STI can advance social good in the face of climate change, inequality, and rapid technological change. This conference offers a critical space for cross-sector dialogue and policy-relevant knowledge exchange, bridging research with real-world impact across Asia and the Global South. We invite empirical studies, conceptual papers, and policy briefs that examine the evolving intersections of science communication, public engagement, and STI policy for sustainable development. The conference welcomes interdisciplinary contributions that address the following themes: We especially encourage participation from early-career scholars, government think tanks, and regional innovation or science policy agencies.

Conference Themes

1. Science Communication 

  • Science Literacy: Measurement, Evaluation and Monitoring

  • Science Communication and Public Engagement for Sustainable Development

  • Science Communication Industry Development (e.g., STEM Education, Science Fiction)

  • Impact Assessment for Science Communication

2. Innovation Ecosystems 

  • Technology Development and Management

  • Science, Technology and Innovation Policy

  • Economics of Science, Technology and Innovation

  • Blue Economy

  • Green Economy

3. Socio-Cultural Deliberation & Science Diplomacy 

  • Global Public Deliberation in Science and Technology,  Knowledge Pluralism and Policy Interface (the O.D.E.SS.I. stream)

  • Action Research for Sustainable Development

  • Ethics and Social Values in STI

  • History and Philosophy of Science

Submission deadline: 1 February 2026

Call for Abstracts: Global Public Deliberation in Science and Technology: Knowledge Pluralism and the Policy Interface | 22–24 July, Malaysia

Call for Abstracts
Global Public Deliberation in Science and Technology: Knowledge Pluralism and the Policy Interface
Abstract length: up to 250 words
Submission deadline: 1 February 2026
 22–24 July 2026 | Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia
 
In 2025, an international group of academics and civil society partners jointly called for a new Odyssey—O.D.E.SS.I. (Open, Deliberative, Enabling, Sensible & Sensitive, and Innovative)—for public engagement in science and science diplomacy, responding to growing challenges of epistemic fragmentation, governance asymmetries, and declining public trust at science–policy interfaces.
 
The International Conference on Science, Technology and Society 2026, taking place 22–24 July 2026 in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, has established a dedicated conference stream titled 'Global Public Deliberation in Science and Technology: Knowledge Pluralism and the Policy Interface', building on the O.D.E.SS.I. framework.
 
This stream is envisioned as a space for critical engagement, conceptual extension, and empirical exploration of global public deliberation. We warmly invite abstract submissions (maximum 250 words) from scholars, policymakers, practitioners, and civil-society actors seeking to critique, deepen, and expand O.D.E.SS.I. and broader practices of global public deliberation in science and technology.
 

Call for Papers: SCSNEI-JNU National Seminar on "Empire, Frontier and the Agrarian World"

Call for Papers
12-13 March 2026
Organized by:  Special Centre for the Study of North East India, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi

Concept Note
Empire building in the 19th century led to a range of transformations in spaces which were construed as frontiers. A significant element in this regard pertained to the encounters and transformations that came to characterise the agrarian world of such spaces. Focusing on the Northeast frontier of British India, this Seminar (Webinar) aims to explore how imperial expansion in the region brought about a range of transformations in the region's agrarian world. For instance, some of this includes new forms of land classifications and land relations; revenue structures; agrarian technologies; village systems; practices of resource regimes; labour relations; plant capitalism; animal, labour and transport; insects; diseases; imperial knowledge production to forms of anti-colonial resistances; cultural representation of and by the agrarian world; as well as social transformations that impacted, and also restructured, existing social, moral and ecological ideas and understandings. The trans-regional networks and mobilities that characterized the socio-economic and moral lifeworld of different communities of the region were also significant aspects in the changing agrarian world of the region in the 19th to mid-20th century. In addition to the above dimensions, this Seminar (Webinar) is also interested in exploring the entanglements of agriculture and trade under imperial conditions, practices and representations of cash economy as well as new forms of commodity practices, the scale and role of imperial opium economy among different agrarian communities of the region, agrarian transformations in the foothills during the period, agrarian cycles and the social reproduction of village under imperial conditions, and agrarian relations and new ideas and practices of identity. This Seminar (Webinar) not only aims to engage with the rich body of existing studies on the agrarian world of the region during the period, but also with new research that not only provides important insights at specific spatial or social level, but also open up understanding wider regional and global trajectories. The National Seminar (Webinar), "Empire, Frontier and the Agrarian World", focusing on the period from the 19th to mid-20th century, organized by Special Centre for the Study of North East India, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, invites scholars at various stages of their careers, including advanced PhD scholars, to submit abstracts that engage with some of the above issues and concerns. Some of the broad themes which the Seminar (Webinar) aims to engage with, but not limited to, are as below:
•    Agrarian knowledge and technology
•    Empire, frontier, and the agrarian world
•    Colonialism, village economy and agrarian policies
•    Plant capitalism (rice, jute, tea, opium, rubber, silk, etc.)
•    Forms of labour: human and non-human
•    The agrarian world of the peasant
•    Agriculture, transport, mobility
•    Trade, market, agents, institutions
•    Commodities, frontier
•    Diseases, medicine and the agrarian world
•    Hunting, forests, and the agrarian world
•    Agrarian practices, region, global
•    Writing, telling and representing the agrarian
Interested scholars may kindly send in their abstracts of 300 words, along with a brief bio, by 31 January 2026 to the following email addresses: manjeetbaruah@gmail.com; lipokmardzuvichu@gmail.com. The selected abstracts will be notified by 06 February 2026. For abstracts that have been selected, a working paper of 3000-4000 words will be due by 27 February 2026 for pre-circulation.

Saturday, January 10, 2026

FDP on Systematic Review, Meta-analysis, Bibliometrics, and Responsible AI in Scientific Research | 16-22 February; Kolkata, India

FDP on Systematic Review, Meta-analysis, Bibliometrics, and Responsible AI in Scientific Research
Date: 16-22 February 2026
Venue: Institute of Development Studies Kolkata, Salt Lake, Kolkata, West Bengal, India

The Institute of Development Studies Kolkata (IDSK), the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI), Kolkata, and Presidency University, Kolkata jointly invite applications from scholars, faculty members, and postgraduate students from all disciplines for a seven-day Workshop-cum-Faculty Development Programme on Systematic Review, Meta-analysis, Bibliometrics, and Responsible AI in Scientific Research, scheduled for 16–22 February 2026.
Objectives:
The programme is designed to strengthen the methodological competencies of early-career researchers in systematic review, meta-analysis, and bibliometric techniques, with a focus on open-source analytical environments. It integrates training in scientific writing, research integrity, and responsible AI to support transparent and high-quality scholarly communication. Participants will receive hands-on training in data management, analysis, and visualisation. The curriculum introduces structured and reproducible review methodologies aligned with PRISMA standards, including protocol development, advanced search strategies, data extraction, critical appraisal, effect size estimation, and research mapping. Training will incorporate R- and Python-based workflows, VOSviewer, Biblioshiny, ASReview, and other open platforms to promote openness, reproducibility, and robust research practices.
Target Participants: The workshop is intended for the faculty members, doctoral researchers, and postgraduate students including those preparing for doctoral enrolment, as well as independent researchers across STEM fields, medicine and public health, social sciences, business studies, and interdisciplinary domains. Librarians, information professionals, data stewards, and practitioners engaged in evidence synthesis, research evaluation, or research support services are also encouraged to apply. No prior experience is required, although basic familiarity with research design will be helpful.
Intake Capacity: 30 (Thirty)
How to Apply:
Applications must be submitted through the following link: https://forms.gle/hKRUBYJVZDYBRFvv8 . Selected applicants will be required to pay the registration fee (Payment details will be shared with selected participants in due course).  Registration Fee: INR 4,499/- for Faculty and Working Professionals; INR 3,999/- for Scholars, Students, and Others. What we provide: Workshop Kits; Tea/coffee and Lunch on all seven days; Certificate of participation. Note: Participants should bring their own laptops. Accommodation: Participants must arrange their own accommodation; however, assistance in getting nearby options can be provided upon request.
Important Dates
  • Last date of submitting application: January 25, 2026
  • Last date of making payment: January 28, 2026

Workshop on AI in Research: Tools, Trends and Techniques | 27 January

Workshop on AI in Research: Tools, Trends and Techniques |  27 January 2026
Registration Form: forms.gle/8knrdqDaLVcoyeEn8

Thursday, January 8, 2026

New Issue Online | Journal of Data Science, Informetrics, and Citation Studies, 2025, 4(3)


Journal of Data Science, Informetrics, and Citation Studies
Vol 4, Issue 3, 2025

Table of Contents

Research Articles

Artificial Intelligence in Radiology: Global Research Trends and Insights (2000-2025) | Mohammed Awadallah Musa Ahmed, Esameldeen Babikir
Author Productivity and Lotka's Law in Nursing Research Output as Mirrored in the Nursing Journal of India, 2010-2024 | Susanta Koley
Thirty-Five Years of Research on Climate Change, Sustainability, and Emergency Management: A Scientometric and Visualization Approach | Muthuraj Anbalagan
Research Output and Impact in Data Science and Informetrics: A Bibliometric Study of JDSICS (2022–2024) | Debdas Mondal
Mapping Research Dimensions of IJPER Journal (2008-2024): A Bibliometric Study Using Scopus Data | Madhu S, Pradeep H K, Chaman Sab M
Bio-bibliometric Study of Gali Madhavi Latha, A Pioneering Female Geotechnical Engineer behind the World's Highest Railway Bridge at Chenab | Susanta Koley
Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis of Highly Cited Papers from India on Academic Libraries Research during 2001-2024 | Brij Mohan Gupta, Manoj Kumar Verma, Mallikarjun Kappi, Manorama Tripathi, Ghouse Modin Nabeesab Mamdapur
Web Footprint of Charlie Chaplin: A Webometric Exploration of Online References and Cultural Memory | Debdas Mondal
Evidence from Unpaywall on Open Access Adoption among Indian Researchers | Sana Zia
Scientometric Portrait of Dr. S.V. Kamat: A Distinguished Defence and Material Scientist | Anand R Sarode, Vaishali S Khaparde
Spatial Vulnerability in Weavers Settlement in India: A Bibliometric Study | Ar. Nupur, Mayank Mathur, Ruchita Gupta
Application of Artificial Intelligence in Social Sciences Research in India: A Bibliometric Analysis | Shipra Awasthi , Brij Mohan Gupta, Raju Vaishya, Manorama Tripathi
Tracking Scientific Attention on Kaziranga National Park: A Bibliometric Study | Pranjal Deka, Mukut Sarmah
Webometric Analysis of Indian State Tourism Websites | Ekta Singh, Sibi P.S

Transforming Information and Learning Resource Centres (ILRCs) with Immersive Technologies for the Future of Learning | Beeresh N Gundur, Duragappa, Manjunath Kaddipujar

Journal of Data Science, Informetrics, and Citation Studies
About: Journal of Data Science, Informetrics, and Citation Studies (J Data Sci. Info. Citation Studies) ISSN: 2583-5440 (Online) is a Diamond Open Access journal that publishes peer-reviewed articles online. It is peer-reviewed in a double-blind manner. The journal publishes articles in all of scientometrics' subfields, including patent studies (techometrics) and web-based studies (webometrics). Additionally, it publishes articles that analyse country/regional/sectoral/sectoral research, innovation, and entrepreneurial ecosystems using science-technology-innovation indicators. Frequency: Triannual (3 issues per year).

New Article "Jugaad as Small Science: The 'e-Rickshaw' Conundrum in Delhi" by S Jain and S Bhaduri

Jugaad as Small Science: The 'e-Rickshaw' Conundrum in Delhi 
By Shekhar Jain and  Saradindu Bhaduri;  Journal of History of Science and Technology, 2025, 19(2).
Abstract: The emerging discourse on "small science" and "slow science" broadens the scope of the STS scholarship by problematizing the question of scale in doing science. It claims that small science is not only about doing things at a small scale, but also about doing different things. The scholarship shares space with the emerging frugal innovation scholarship, which advocates for humane technologies with a greater degree of simplicity, decentralised control, greater customisation possibilities, and participation of "laypeople" in the making of these technologies. However, these innovations are, at times, criticised for not being based on (idealised) "science." We draw upon philosophical, and historical studies on scientific methods to relook at the claim of absent science in jugaad. We take a scaled up jugaad transportation technology developed by laypeople in the informal economy in the city of Delhi for the analysis. We find that jugaad is an outcome of a carefully designed search process, aided by alertness of mind, knowledge about immediate material and knowledge environment, and a preference for accessibility and affordability in creating new technologies. It involves reuse, repurposing, and improvisation. The paper raises broad questions about how jugaad operates, achieves legitimacy, and survives public scrutiny, to create a space for, a more human-centred, "jugaad-science".