Call for Papers: JSCIRES Special issue on Machine Learning

JSCIRES Special issue on Machine Learning

Machine learning, a scientific discipline deals with developing systems which can learn from data and can make decisions by using the knowledge derived from the data. The discipline has been an important pillar of Artificial Intelligence, and has earned considerable attention from researchers worldwide because of its ability to extract knowledge from raw data by using sound statistical principles.

Scientometrics is a domain that performs a quantitative and qualitative assessment of research and scientific progress. The field has earned popularity in last few years owing to the need to measure research outputs at individual, institutional and geographical levels. As a result of this need, different parameters are brought-up and various databases like Scopus, Web of Science and Google scholar are built for computation of these parameters.  The data generated and stored as a result of proliferation of research papers and other scientific activities is vast. Analysis of the data cannot be performed without the intervention of sophisticated tools and techniques. Consequently, the use of Machine leaning algorithms for carrying out tasks like classification, regression, clustering and associations on these databases becomes imminent. The indicators to mark research performance use citation information in a well-defined way. Citations have become a key component in evaluating performance for authors, articles and journals. To evaluate the role of Machine Learning in Scientometrics, ML techniques can help in predicting citation count, can provide useful insights on computing new bibliometric indexes and also, in finding associations among them. The usage of powerful statistical tools like multiple linear regression, convex/concave optimization and gradient ascent/descent algorithms can be explored in scientometric and bibliographic analysis.

The special issue aims to capture the baseline, set the tempo for future research in India and abroad and prepare a scholastic primer that would serve as a standard document for future research. we hope to learn about methods that are applicable to Scientometrics but are not currently used, and also making Computer Science practitioners aware of the interesting problems that complex Scientometric/ Bibliometric data sets provide. We welcome original and unpublished contributions (adhering to the journal format) that discuss new developments in efficient models for complex computer experiments  and data analytic techniques which can be used in Scientometric data analysis as well as related branches in physical, statistical and computational sciences.

Topics: Specific topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Bibliometrics, scientometrics, webometrics, and altmetrics
  
• Computational Intelligence methods in Scientometric data fitting
  
• Econometric Models in Scientometrics
  
• Big data in Scientometrics
  
• Machine Classification methods
  
• Bayesian and Probabilistic models in Scientometrics
  
• Machine Learning tools in Scientometric time series analysis
  
• Interpolation methods for data fitting problems
  
• Influence Modeling
  

IMPORTANT DATES:

• Paper Submissions: June 05, 2018
  
• Acceptance Notification: September 05, 2018
  
• Revised Submission: October 15, 2018
  
• Final Acceptance Notification: November 15, 2018
  
• Camera Ready Submission: November 30, 2018
  

Editors-Special Issue:

Snehanshu Saha, PES University South Campus, Bangalore

Saibal Kar, Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta

Associate Editor-Special Issue:

Archana Mathur, Indian Statistical institute, Bangalore

Click to see Profile of Editors of Special Issue

Further Details about the Issue | Journal of Scientometric Research

DST & JNU celebrating National Science Day 2018, on 28th February

CfPs: DigitalCapitalism2018: The Digital Economy: Ubercapitalism or Post-Capitalism?

Further Details

CfPs: Digital Humanities in India: Contestations, Connections and Collaborations (DHAI 2018) | 1-2 June, Indore

Digital Humanities in India: Contestations, Connections and Collaborations (DHAI 2018) (Digital Humanities Alliance of India) Inaugural Conference

June 1-2, 2018

Jointly organized by IIT Indore and IIM Indore

Call for Papers

In his recent polemical piece, noted academic and cultural critic, Timothy Brennan calls Digital Humanities, a "bust" and declares: "[a]fter a decade of investment and hype, what has the field accomplished? Not much." Brennan's critique of DH, amongst others, is that "[DH] promises to break the book format without explaining why one might want to — even as books, against all predictions, doggedly persist, filling the airplane hangar- sized warehouses of Amazon.com." What remains potently interesting is that Brennan's questioning of DH and its machine-oriented methodology[ies] is itself rooted in an Anglo-American episteme: one that has continuously promoted the "print medium" as the only legitimate paradigm for advancing worthwhile humanistic inquiry. We juxtapose Brennan's provocative piece with the experience of disparate and disruptive forms of DH in India—often an outlier to Anglo-American argument strains— to frame this CFP for the first Digital Humanities Alliance of India (DHAI) Conference in June 2018.

Taking off from Padmini Ray Murray's comment at the Digital Diversity 2015 conference: "your DH is not my DH," the DHAI 2018 conference hopes to critically discuss the possibility of disrupting dominant assumptions about the nature and form of DH. Through a self-reflexive reminder that DH practices are contingent and situated, we would like to explore how postcolonial digital performances are about the need to forge our own (humanistic) practices that may find overlaps but may possibly and necessarily be divergent from Euro-American DH methodologies. Deeply cognizant of the fundamentally different terrains as well as institutional and national histories that shape our experiences in India, the inaugural DHAI conference is committed to deciphering through interrogations, intersections and rigorous deliberations how DH theory and praxis converge (or not), within these physically and discursively diverse spaces.

For this first edition of the Annual DHAI conference, we invite academics, scholars, practitioners, artists, students and interested stakeholders to not only propose operational questions like "Does India have the required technological framework and/or the required levels of access provided to different intersectional identities to implement a DH curriculum at the school and university levels?" but also questions of ontology: should knowledge frameworks be substantially reconceptualized keeping in mind technological exigencies and if so, what is the role of the Humanities in developing the contextual (local) theoretical vocabulary? In other words, what are the methodological challenges in decolonizing knowledge structures? Does the Digital matter and does it matter differently in a postcolonial space such as India? 

Paper/Panel topics might include (but are not limited to) those that address:

• Digital Pedagogy
  
• Digital Literacy
  
• New knowledge archives
  
• Cultural heritage work
  
• Digital genealogies
  
• The role of the Digital in Social justice in South Asia
  

Please submit your panel and paper proposals to the conference organisers at dibyadyutir@iimidr.ac.in and nmenon@iiti.ac.in by April 15th, 2018

• Panel proposals (150-200 word abstract). Panels will last for 90 minutes, and it is advisable that proposals allow sufficient time for the presentation of papers as well as discussion.
  
• Independent papers (100-150 word abstract). These will be allocated to suitable panels by the conference organizers.
  

Registration Fees: Rs 2500 for Research Students and Independent scholars.  Rs 5000 for Faculty members.

IIT Indore | IIM Indore | Digital Humanities Research Group

Further Details

Eugene Garfield: Brief Reflections | by Sujit Bhattacharya, Scientometrics, 2018

Eugene Garfield: Brief Reflections

by Sujit Bhattacharya

Scientometrics, 2018, Volume 114, Issue 2, pp 401–407 

Abstract: Eugene Garfield ubiquitous presence in Scientometrics masks to some extent his influential contributions in diverse areas. Taking this as a premise for this study, the article attempts to trace Garfield's contributions in four key domains: In data analytics, in influencing scholars involved in the study of science as an epistemic practice and a knowledge product, his engagement with scholars in developing countries and in innovation & entrepreneurship. The article however provides only a glimpse of his deep engagement in the above domains. The study concludes by arguing for scientometrics to develop strong connect with the different strands of research in science studies and other cross-disciplinary areas which pioneer like Garfield undertook through his writings, developing social networks and creating knowledge products.

Read/ Download Full-Paper

CfPs: Conference on Role and Challenges of Women's Participation in Environment Sustainability and Innovation Policy | 22-23 March

National Conference on Role and Challenges of Women's Participation in Environment Sustainability and Innovation Policy

22-23 March, 2018

Venue: Centre for Studies in Science Policy, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi

Call for Papers

The role and participation of women in environmental sustainability and innovation is one of the most pressing issue to ensure growth and economic development of the society. The challenge is that how to include perspectives and emphatic understanding of women in harvesting of energy, creating clean and smart cities, developing technology driven agriculture, developmental projects, and fostering science, technology and innovation. There is a need to understand and know about impacts of development projects on women in India. The challenges for the participation of women in science, technology and innovation are also significant for this conference. The conference is open to all the stakeholders who are engaged in above areas. The researchers and interested stakeholders are encouraged to submit papers on identified themes.

Themes

• Women and Environmental Sustainability for Agriculture
  
• Women's Participation and Clean Cities
  
• Role of women and Energy Harvest
  
• Women and Environmental Sustainability for Innovation
  
• Local, National and Regional Impact of Development Projects on Women
  
• Women in Science, Technology and Innovation
  
• Sustainability and Women Participation
  

Important Deadlines

Extended Abstract: 9th March

Intimation for Abstract Acceptance: 14th March

Full Paper Submission & Registration: 21st March

Accepted paper author(s) and participants should register online.

Extended Abstract/ Paper Submission: Extended abstract should be at least in 1000 words. The extended abstract should consists of title, clearly indicating the research problem, objectives, research questions/ hypothesis, methodology,tentative results of the research. The extended abstract should be submitted at ncwcssp2018@gmail.com. It should be submitted as word doc file.

Full Paper: Full paper should be written in range of 2500-3000 words in Times New Roman style, Font size 12, Spacing 1.5, APA referencing style by using referencing software. An abstract of 250 word, 6 keywords, name, affiliation, email and address of author(s). Indicate clearly details of corresponding author(s).

Contact

You may send your queries at ncwcssp2018@gmail.com or Contact to Dr. Rajbeer Singh (Coordinator) 011 26704707 | Ashutosh Tiwari (academic assistance) 9013252371 | Vairaj Arjune (academic assistance) 8373986805 | Anjan Chamuah (logistics assistance) 8377826505.

Publication: It is planned to publish the accepted papers in International Journal/ISBN Book volume. 

Online Registration.

Further Details

6th STIP Forum Lecture "Role of AI in Healthcare and Imperatives for India" | 27 Feb. at IHC

6th STIP Forum Lecture 

"Role of AI in Healthcare and Imperatives for India"

by Dr. Anurag Agrawal, Director, CSIR-IGIB

Chair: Dr. Kiran Karnik, Former President, NASSCOM and President, Indian Habitat Centre.  

27th February 2018 at 7 PM

Venue:  Indian Habitat Centre, New Delhi

Call for Participation: JNU GIAN Course "Food for Healthy Planet" | 2-7 April

Food for Healthy Planet: Global Initiative of Academic Networks (GIAN) Course

2-7 April 2018

Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi

Foreign Faculty: Prof. Mohan B Singh, Australia 

Host Faculty: Prof. Ashwani Pareek, SLS; Dr. Rajbeer Singh, CSSP, SSS

OVERVIEW

Food is essential for life. At its most basic level, food is necessary for survival. Millions of people all over the world also rely on food production for their livelihood. There are a number of challenges facing local and global food systems. Close to 800 million people go to bed hungry every night and children are dying from undernutrition and infectious diseases. At the same time obesity, with its associated over-nutrition and micro-nutrient deficiencies, is now considered an epidemic. Consequently, many countries such as India are facing what has been termed the 'triple burden of malnutrition'. Combating the issue requires reforming food policies and reshaping food systems for the promotion of adequate and healthy diets and sustainable and equitable food systems. In 2050, the food system will need to accommodate a growing population that is  predicted to reach 10 billion people. This needs to be achieved with the added pressures of climate change and the competition for arable land with biofuel production. The context of food in society is also undergoing constant change. Globalization, free trade agreements, rising incomes and changing dietary preferences are all impacting on the food system. Furthermore, consumer concerns for animal welfare and the introduction of genetically modified crops mean that the food system needs to continually adapt. It is a commonly held belief that a new food paradigm is required to meet these challenges and to achieve global food security and sustainability. This course will educate students, the scientific community, policymakers, industry representatives, community leaders and the general public on the connections between global challenges, food production and human health in order to foster healthy solutions for a sustainable future.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

Upon completion of the course, participants will:

1. Understand the connections between the natural environment, food production, energy choices and human health, as well as understand the pressures that are being placed on the global food system (i.e. population growth, lack of equity, climate change, resource depletion).
   
2. Have a cross disciplinary understanding of the food system in order to provide broad expertise and contribute to innovation that meets the needs of industry and society.
   
3. Build on society's knowledge about the food-environment-health nexus, and be able to critically evaluate government policies that relate to food production and health, as well as participate in policy debate. 
   
4. Be empowered to make informed decisions about technologies such as genetic modification as well as digital and remote sensing technologies in relation to food production systems.
   

Who Should Attend?

• Students (all levels) and faculty from recognized academic and technical institutions.
  
• Executives, engineers and researchers from manufacturing, services and government organizations including R&D laboratories.
  

Further Details & Online Brochure

Online Registration

New Paper "Institutional Design and Occupational 'Opportunity': The case of shifting cultivators in Nagaland, Northeast India" | by A Saikia & S Bhaduri

Institutional Design and Occupational 'Opportunity': The case of shifting cultivators in Nagaland, Northeast India

by Abhinandan Saikia and Saradindu Bhaduri. In: "Shifting Cultivation Policies: Balancing Environmental and Social Sustainability", edited by Malcolm Cairns, CABI Publishing, London, 2017, ISBN: 9781786391797. 

Download Full-Text PDF 

Call for Papers - CSDATA: "Ice, Snow and Environment Over High Mountain Asia"

Call for Papers: "Ice, Snow and Environment Over High Mountain Asia"

http://csdata.org/en/p/news_detail/65/ 

Hosted by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), published by the Computer Network Information Center, CAS, China Scientific Data (CN11-6035/N, ISSN 2096-2223, http://csdata.org/en/) is a bilingual (Chinese and English) open-access journal publishing data papers of multidisciplinary fields. It comes out as one of China's first-batch network-based serials and is now indexed by Chinese Science Citation Database (2017-2018). The journal is committed to promoting the rapid publication and dissemination of valuable research data. CSDATA hereby announces a special issue on "Ice, Snow and Environment Over High Mountain Asia", which is scheduled for release in December 2018. Submissions are now invited.

Description

As the high-altitude region in middle Asia centering around the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (also known as the Tibetan Plateau), High Mountain Asia (HMA) is a typical area sensitive to climate and environmental changes in the mid-latitudes, affecting the global and regional climate as well as the downstream water, environment and ecology. It is a region of critical concern in the Belt and Road Initiative.

With unique climate and environmental systems, HMA is currently faced with a number of fundamental problems related to global changes, including glacier retreat, snow melting, increased hazard frequency and deteriorating ecology. Its snow, ice and environmental changes have a considerable effect on the downstream areas of China and its neighbouring countries. Therefore, a quantitative description of the snow, ice and environmental changes based on data collected by earth observation techniques (such as ground monitoring, satellite remote sensing and model assimilation) is of important theoretical and practical significance for further understanding and analysis of the environmental changes of HMA and their influences.

Recent years witnessed a surge in the volume of earth observation data, as well as in the number of monitoring and studies on ice, snow and environment based on the satellite data of HMA. This has had considerable effects across the world. This special issue comes out in a way to support the Belt and Road Initiative and its relevant studies and to promote the application  of research data on the ice, snow and environmental changes of HMA. Building upon an earlier issue of "Snow, Ice and Environment Over the Tibetan Plateau" (vol. 2 (2)), the special issue plans to compile and publish datasets on the ice, snow and environmental changes of HMA, aiming to facilitate data sharing and extend data applications.

This special issue brings together datasets on "Snow, Ice and Environment Over HMA", and their descriptors. We invite descriptions across a range of topics, including ground observation data (or reanalyzed data products) related to ice, snow and environment over HMA, thematic products from remote-sensing, synthetic analytic data from ground-observation and remote-sensing, assimilated data or data from experimental observations with special objectives. Through the special issue, we hope to promote the exchange and sharing of scientific data on HMA across different yet related fields, with a special focus on the ice, snow, environment and climate over the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau.

Guest Editors

LIU Shiyin, Professor, Institute of International Rivers and Eco-Security, Yunnan University

LI Xin, Professor, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, CAS

WANG Ninglian, Professor, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Northwest University

ZHANG Yinsheng, Professor, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, CAS

LI Zhiwei, Professor, School of Geosciences and Info-Physics, Central South University

QIU Yubao, Associate Professor, Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth, CAS

Guest Secretaries

ZHANG Zhen, PhD, School of Geomatics, Anhui University of Science and Technology

WU Kunpeng, PhD, School of Resources and Environment, Anqing Normal University

Manuscript Preparation

1. Please download the latest template from China Scientific Data (www.csdata.org) as a reference for your paper writing. Manuscripts should contain a full description of the datasets, which includes collection and processing methods, quality assessment and validation measures, and other relevant information that facilitates data interpretation and (re)use.

2. Please prepare the dataset and explicitly describe the property relations of the data before submission. Attention should be paid to the consistency of the paper and the dataset(s) described. Also note that data authors might not necessarily be authors of the paper. Both datasets and their descriptors will be open to public comments during the review process.

3. Please select the column "Ice, Snow and Environment over High Mountain Asia" at submission.

4. Manuscripts should be written in English and Chinese (submission of the English version will be informed after the Chinese version is finalized). Authors will be directed to an accredited repository (www.sciencedb.cn) automatically after successful paper submission.

Submission Due

30 June 2018

Contact

Email of editorial office: csdata@cnic.cn

Contact persons:

KONG Lihua (Director of the Editorial Office): 010-58812761

XI Yan (Editor in Charge)/ZHANG Qingfei (English Editor): 010-58812762

SCIS, SCSS and CIS organises a workshop on ‘Big Data Analytics & Cloud Technology’ | 23 Feb

School of Computational and Integrative Sciences

School of Computer and Systems Sciences and

Communication & Information Services

along with Oracle India

 

organises a workshop on

 

'Big Data Analytics & Cloud Technology'

Date: February 23, 2018

Time: 10:30 am to 1:00 pm

Venue: Auditorium, School of Computer and Systems Science

Programme:
1. Inaugural session by Vice Chancellor, Rectors, Prof. Indira Ghosh, Prof. T.V. Vijay Kumar and Sanjeev Kumar, Director-CIS
2. Brief about Cloud Computing
3. Data Analytics & Big Data Industry Trends
4. Oracle Analytics Solution
5. Oracle Big Data Solution
6. Q/A
 

Call for Proposals: National Workshop on Mind, Consciousness and Beyond: Building on Vedantic Metaphysics | 6 March, New Delhi

National Workshop on Mind, Consciousness and Beyond: Building on Vedantic Metaphysics

Date: 6 March 2018

Venue: CSIR-NISTADS, New Delhi

Invitation for Expression of Interest for participation in Interfacing Science and Traditional Knowledge (ISTK)

CSIR-National Institute for Science, Technology and Development Studies (NISTADS) is a premier policy research organization under Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). In addition to its primary activities on techno-socio-economics, applied policy research and creating technology Proof-of-concept, NISTADS is also engaged in exploratory initiatives to broaden the boundaries of human knowledge. Interfacing Science and Traditional Knowledge (ISTK) is one such initiative as a quest for new knowledge pathways.

ISTK is a highly multi-disciplinary area, and a major challenge is to identify resource persons with expertise/interest in the interface areas between science, metaphysics and other traditional knowledge systems. CSIR-NISTADS is therefore trying to create a resource base of scientists and scholars around various topics in the related area, who would be interested in this exploratory initiative. The resource persons would be included in our mailing list and shall be contacted for participation in specific activities like Workshops and Conclaves related to the initiative. The emphasis is on exploratory knowledge; religious or religio-political issues are NOT included. To join the initiative kindly register at http://nistads.res.in/metsci/vedsci.php?rid=2, or e-mail at vedsci@nistads.res.in. As a part of this initiative, CSIR-NISTADS, in collaboration with National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS), Bengaluru is organizing a Discussion Meeting on 'Mind, Consciousness and Beyond: Building on Vedantic Metaphysics' to enhance our understanding of mind, consciousness and related topics in the backdrop of the current scientific knowledge and major challenges and methodologies (objectivity, repeatability, verifiability, etc.).

Thematic Areas

• Holistic Health: Mind-body system, Ayurveda, Yoga, Naturopathy, Wellness.
  
• Applied Sciences/Engineering: Agriculture, Construction, Materials, Chemistry.
  
• Mind-Psychology: Behavioral Science.
  
• Consciousness-Knowledge: Existence, Manifestation.
  
• Habitat Science: Architecture, Construction, Maintenance.
  
• Evolution: Emergence of Life, mind, intelligence, consciousness, Transcendence.
  
• Mathematics and Computation.
  
• Evolution: Emergence of Life, mind, intelligence, consciousness, Transcendence.
  
• Intelligence and Machine Intelligence.
  
• Methodology and Philosophy: World Views, Verification and Falsification.
  

Agenda and Further Details

Online Submission of Proposal

CfPs: Reflections on Writing: A Two-day Conference | 27-28 April, Ashoka U., Sonepat

Reflections on Writing: A Two-day Conference 

27-28 April 2018

Organized by ​Centre for Writing and Communication, Ashoka University, Sonepat

"Interdisciplinarity is not the calm of an easy security; it begins effectively (as opposed to the mere expression of a pious wish) when the solidarity of the old disciplines breaks down -- perhaps even violently, via the jolts of fashion -- in the interests of a new object and a new language neither of which has a place in the field of the sciences that were to be brought peacefully together..." Roland Barthes,  Work to Text 

Call for Papers

The work that we do in universities, has been, and will remain a central question. In this conference organized by the Centre for Writing and Communication at Ashoka University, we seek to make this question more definite by foregrounding writing as the work that is done in universities.

The answer to this question takes many different forms, and in each instance, they are imbued with political destinies as varied as the disciplines, pedagogies and methods that populate a university. However, as the Centre for Writing and Communication, we understand writing to be both the background and centre of the work across the Arts, the Sciences and the Social Sciences.  From the writing of papers, thesis, books articles, commentaries supplemented at all times by notes made for our readings and lectures, mails, suggestions and ideas jotted onto the written works of colleagues and students; university life is framed by writing. This activity conditions the possibility of inculcating, producing and disseminate knowledge. Though this direction of thought has already received much scholarly attention, the contemporary state of affairs has brought about many transformations to this problem. New concerns, new medias and new claims have transformed the tenor and terrain of the questions we've dealt with, namely – why we write, what we write and how we write.  

For the conference Reflections on Writing, CWC requests graduate students and researchers (M.A., M.Phil., Ph.D) across the disciplines belonging to the Arts, the Sciences and the Social Sciences for papers that focus on their activity of writing, irrespective of their research objects and disciplines. The papers can take any form be they analysis, meditations, commentaries, glosses or critiques. The papers should be 2500 words long.

These papers could utilize concepts such as, but not limited to, a) Text; b) Speech; c) Image; d) Gesture; e) Practice to present their thoughts.

These concepts above contain the matter about which we write and also through which we write. They can be taken in isolation or in any aggregation to reflect on how the world that we write about becomes present to us and others. The humanities and their relationship to texts, the social sciences and their relationship to the field and the archive, and even the sciences that with or without a technological apparatus observe, note, register and record – are derivations of writing that allow us to recognize, constitute and disseminate the knowledges that are the charge of these disciplines.

Of critical interest are:

• The ways in which writing places a sanction (permission and prohibition) on what we may understand, speak or say. (Inculcation)
  
• The ways in which we write our objects of research and how we put them into words. (Production)
  
• The ways in which writing determines the possibility for the recognition of knowledge as truth. (Dissemination)
  

Submission Guidelines

Send your abstracts to cwc@ashoka.edu.in no later than midnight, 8th March, 2018. Please keep in mind the following:

• The abstract should be no more than 300 words.
  
• Please mention Reflections on Writing in the subject line of your email.
  
• Please make sure that the abstract is attached with the email in a word document, and is not in the body of the email.
  
• Please mention your name, contact information, and institutional affiliation (if any) clearly in the attached file.
  
• The deadline for the submission of the final paper is 18th April, 2018. The paper should not exceed a 2500-3000 word limit.
  

Further Details

CfA: Summer School on Democratic Innovations | August 2018, Brussels

Call for Applications

2nd ECPR Standing Group Summer School on Democratic Innovations in Europe and in the EU

27-31 August 2018, Brussels (Belgium)

The weaknesses of representative democracy, the recurring problems in the process of political representation, and the partial failure of government accountability led to an increasing discontent of citizens towards political institutions and politicians. One solution to address this 'democratic malaise' has been the adoption of different democratic innovations (e.g. direct democracy, dialogue-oriented procedures) aiming to foster the effective inclusion of citizens in political decision-making. Over the last three decades democratic innovations gained momentum throughout the world both in terms of rules and use. This summer school seeks to provide students with a fuller understanding of democratic innovations. The courses follow a student-centred approach and will discuss in detail their effects on communities, structures, systems, policies and citizens' participation. It aims to identify and assess the benefits, disadvantages, functioning and challenges of democratic innovations in contemporary representative democracies. To achieve these objectives, the summer school will combine a broad array of theoretical approaches (made available to students in the reading package of every course) with methodological and empirical perspectives in every course (i.e. a hands-on approach). The sessions are divided in five days of teaching that alternate between the three major types of innovations: direct democracy, dialogue-oriented, and mixed. Students will be encouraged to actively participate in a series of applied exercises that will reveal the complexities of democratic innovations.

​Target audience: 

The summer school is primarily open to PhD students, research master students and master students from Political Science, Sociology, European Studies, International Relations or related areas. A limited number of practitioners may participate as well. The summer school will accommodate a maximum number of 25 participants. 

​Fee and costs: 

Thanks to the support of the ECPR, the Standing Group on Democratic Innovations, and the organizing universities and partners, the registration fee amounts to only 100 € and covers accommodation, meals, coffee breaks, and all teaching activities in Brussels from Monday (27 August) till Friday (31 August). Participants are responsible for their own travel to and from Brussels.

How to apply: 

Interested applicants should fill in the form available at https://deminnov.wixsite.com/summerschool no later than 1 April 2018 and ideally before as applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

Further information about the content, schedule and instructors is available at https://deminnov.wixsite.com/summerschool

 - - - - - - - - - - 

Dr. Marina Lindell, webmaster for the Standing Group on Democratic Innovations

http://standinggroups.ecpr.eu/democraticinnovations/ 

info@democraticinnovations.net

Research Symposium on Digital Transitions in Cultural and Creative Industries in India | 27-28 February, New Delhi

Research Symposium on Digital Transitions in Cultural and Creative Industries in India

27-28 February 2018

Organisers: LabEx ICCA, Université Paris 13, UNESCO New Delhi, Centre for Social Sciences and Humanities (CSH), Centre d'études de l'Inde et de l'Asie du Sud (CEIAS), and the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS), India

Venue: Conference Room, UNESCO New Delhi 

Concept Note

Digital technologies involve, accompany and provoke changes in the structuring of industrial sectors. How are they more particularly transforming the creation, production, distribution processes in cultural and creative industries? What are reconfigurations and challenges associated with the rise in power of actors from the industries of communication and information? What are the new stakeholder strategies, economic models and power relationships involved? Does digital have the effect of empowering the smallest actors / self-employed / freelancers or on the contrary does it allow large players to relieve themselves of the promotion, production costs on individual creator?

A growing interest in fields such as digital humanities, new media, digital cultures and the Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums (GLAM) sector is another important development here. The rise of a number of digital initiatives in arts and humanities practice, research and teaching has also brought up significantly the question of new skills or expertise required in these fields. The need for digital literacy and 're-skilling' to adapt to new forms of arts and humanities practice in a digital environment has often come with much criticism, as it is viewed as an effort towards vocationalisation and professionalization of these disciplines, a result of the changing mandates of the university and higher education in general. How do we then productively engage with these questions of skill, expertise and labour that goes into the building of new digital industries, which are often located within and at the periphery of academia and creative practices? Importantly, how can concerns about a perceived conflict of creativity and industry be addressed as these transformations take place rapidly with the advent of the digital is an important point of focus.

A critical exploration of the prevalent discourse around creative industries would offer ways of identifying what could be the different forms of digital creative and cultural industries developing in India, and how they problematize for us questions of cultural expression, knowledge production, creativity and labour. The conflation and overlap of both 'cultural' and 'creative industries' and the location of these terms within a larger discourse around policy, economic development, livelihoods and rights, takes on different dimensions post the digital turn. In the context of initiatives like Digital India, and efforts to consolidate an IPR regime, the implications of policy reforms for creative work, especially that performed within informal/underground economies and in the cultural heritage sector are many. These discussions would inform and draw from the ongoing efforts in fostering of a digital economy in India, and the many ways in which it determines cultural production in the rest of the world.

Topics that will be addressed at the symposium include, but are not restricted to:

- Digital turns and transformations in cultural and creative industries

- Media infrastructure, digital platforms, and changing landscape of actors

- Digital transitions in the Indian news industry

- Online/offline lives of creative industries and media consumption

Presented by the Labex ICCA and the Center for Internet and Society (CIS), the symposium will gather Indian, French, and international specialists in the cultural industries, new media and technology, information and communication sciences, and social sciences but also professionals and industrial actors in the cultural and artistic sectors. The event is driven an ambition to promote the creation of an interdisciplinary and inter-institutional Franco-Indian research network to initiate, develop and share research on cultural industries in India and more widely in South Asia.

Online Registration

Further Details 

Three Scholarship offerings for UNU-MERIT‏'s Evidence-Based Policy Research Methods (EPRM) course

Three Scholarship offerings for UNU-MERIT‏'s Evidence-Based Policy Research Methods (EPRM) course.

Application Deadline: 21 March 2018

​

Further Details  

Call for Applications: SAU Residential Summer School 2018

Residential Summer School on Epistemes for Conceptualising the Contemporary

Dates: 5-12 June, 2018 (Tentative) 

Venue of the School: Outside Delhi (Venue to be finalised)

Organized by Department of Sociology, South Asian University, New Delhi

Call for Applications

Is 'the present' apriori, pregiven or predefined? One would think not. The present is constituted through a process, which determines how we arrive at it. The past, the way we evolve and the way social relations get formed makes the present what it is. However, our quotodian experience tells a very different tale. We are constantly faced with this belief that history, the constitutive processes or the idea of arriving at the present are irrelevant and a subsequent belief is forwarded that the present in which we exist is an all conclusive inevitablity, unavoidable and given as our immutable fate. This, in turn, has prompted a tendency of forsaking of the very fundamnetal principles of social sciences while establishing and even celebrating disciplines that live in the moments, non reflexive, non critical in nature. These new disciplines are constantly prodding us to agree to and abide by what is at offer without any questioning. Take for example how technology and its corollary are proferred without a moment of reflection on the ideology on which it bases itself or the historical context out of which it emerges. The idea of process and evolution as inevitable components of human existence are then intentionally ignored.

Whatever words/concepts we put in use, therefore, do not necessarily carry the same significance today as it did in the past as their very signification has undergone a change and evolved. These changes and evolutions have been effected by diverse factors, many variables, the politico-economic, cultural or even geographical imperatives. For instance, could we say the term 'revolution' as used by Karl Marx carries the same signification as when the Birla Ambani Report (arguing for privatising education) used the term? Or that the notions of 'time' during the feudal order and during the neoliberal order denote the same signification of 'time'? The phrase 'time is money' could not have rendered a meaning of import to human lives in a pre-capitalist society but today this phrase is understood most easily across the globe. The very 'time' itself tells us stories of different 'times' – the economy, politics and culture – and how those times inferred and understood certain concepts and ideas and for what reason.

The present has redefined the ideas and concepts, many a times, completely subverting the signification in many instances than what the concepts and words originally had. Ironically this subversion is not always towards challenging the hegemonic discourse but rather is the other way round – destroying the possibilitiy of an alternative to be imagined, a ploy of the hegemonic forces to usurp and coopt the transcending potential of these words and ideas for their own benefit and further their rule. The way discourses are framed and new meanings communicated to the vast mass of people and eventually as they appear to us/are presented to us, they are assumed to be the only possible meaning of the term. It is, therefore, of vast importance to understand the socio-economic and cultural processes that went/ goes into making of the processes that give us meanings. The summer school, 2018, takes on this challenge and will make an effort in this direction to unravel the history and politics of why and how epistemes are engendered.

The summer school will discuss the contested categories of time, space, wage, work, rebellion as a starting point to make sense of how our understanding transforms, how cognition is a construct that travels across time and space.

Participants: There would be twenty-six (26) participants in total for the Summer school. The participants would be selected on the basis of following rigorous selection criteria:

• The participants must apply by 20th February, 2018 with (1) one page note on their interests and (2) how the course is relevant to their ongoing work.
  
• All applications to be electronically sent at saurlssummerschool[@]gmail.com
  
• Shortlisted participants will be informed by 28th February, 2018. The shortlisted candidates will have to submit a write up of around 2500-3000 words, which also make use of/reflect on/engage with the categories and concepts of the course. While writing their piece they must follow the stylistic details provided by the organisers by 25th March, 2018. The final list of shortlisted candidates will be released by 1st week of April. The candidates will work on the same write up informed by the discussions during the course and submit the final version at the end of the course at the venue.
  
• The organisers will bear the cost of the accommodation and fooding while the participants fulfilling the above process will also be provided partial travel support.
  
• Participation is open to people from all walks of life.
  

Please contact Mr Atul Chandra at saurlssummerschool[@]gmail.com. Tel No: +91-9555434486 for further information.

Further Details

CFP - 23rd Science and Technology Indicators conference - September 12-14 | Leiden, The Netherlands

Call For Papers:

23rd Science and Technology Indicators conference - September 12-14, 2018. Leiden, The Netherlands.

Website: http://sti2018.cwts.nl

 

In collaboration with the European Network of Indicator Developers (ENID), the 2018 STI conference will be held during 12-14 September 2018 in Leiden (The Netherlands). This edition will have a special focus on the discussion of "indicators in transition" as a driving force for more comprehensive, broader and socially oriented forms of Science, Technology and Innovation indicators and evaluations.

 

We welcome contributions on the general topics covered by the conference as well as contributions to the special tracks.

 

• Contributions on, but not limited to, the following general topics:

 

• Altmetrics & social media (theoretical foundations, validation studies, Data sources, etc.)
• Careers in science (Gender and diversity, careers outside academia, early career researcher experience, etc.)
• Indicators of Science and Technology (responsible use of indicators, societal impact of research, systemic and behavioral effects of indicators, etc.)
• Innovation (gendered innovations, public-private interactions, industrial R&D dynamics, etc.)
• Open Science (Open access, Open data, Open science and the academic reward system, etc.)
• Research evaluation (responsible research evaluation, methods in research evaluation, case studies, etc.)
• Research integrity (policies promoting research integrity and their effects, misconducts in scientific , publishing, studies of other types of misconduct in research, etc.)

 

• Special tracks (convenors and a brief description of the special tracks can be found in http://sti2018.cwts.nl)

 

1. A closer look into corporate science and publishing
2. Challenges in establishing macro-level effects of macro-level interventions
3. Reproducibility in scientometrics
4. Research assessments as participatory explorations on content, missions, methods and indicators
5. Assessment of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) – beyond indicator development
6. Studies in the sociology and history of the sciences, social sciences, arts and humanities
7. Scientific and technological novelty: impact and determinants
8. Determining and steering research quality in practice: the institutional research perspective
9. Open scholarship
10. Public-private interactions in business innovation
11. Challenges of social media data for bibliometrics
12. Rethinking the research agenda on the internationalization of the scientific workforce

 

Submission types:

 

• Short paper (max 3,000 words) with a comprehensive description of a completed study
• Poster (max 1,000 words) with an abstract of the study

 

Schedule of dates and submission deadlines

 

• Deadline for submissions: April 1, 2018
• Notification of acceptance: June 15, 2018
• Early-bird registration: June 15 – July 15, 2018
• Conference: September 12 - 14, 2018

 

 

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STI2018 organising committee

Centre for Science & Technology Studies (CWTS)

University Leiden

PO Box 905

2300 AX LEIDEN

Visiting Address

Willem Einthoven Building

Kolffpad 1

2333 BN Leiden

The Netherlands

e. mailto:STI2018@cwts.leidenuniv.nl

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Call for Papers: 16th Globelics Conference 2018 | 24-26 October | Accra, Ghana

16th Globelics Conference 24-26 October 2018 CSIR-Science and Technology Policy Research Institute (STEPRI), Accra, Ghana  The Globelics International Conference 2018 The 16th Globelics Conference will be held in Accra, Ghana, hosted by the CSIR-Science and Technology Policy Research Institute (STEPRI) at Mensvic Grand Hotel in collaboration with Africalics. Ghana is the fourth African country after South Africa, Senegal and Ethiopia to host the GLOBELICS annual Conference. This presents an opportunity to showcase Ghana, a politically stable country, which is currently undergoing a number of transformations to modernise its economy and create jobs. There is a government agenda to create an industry in every district to generate jobs and improve livelihoods especially in the rural areas. The output of the Conference is expected to contribute immensely to the options of the government in achieving this flagship project dubbed "one district one factory". The conference will combine plenary sessions, presentations of research papers in parallel tracks, thematic panel sessions, special sessions, poster presentations, symposia and exhibition on industrial research in Ghana and Africa, as well as innovative start-ups presentations, sightseeing and cultural tours. Conference Theme The main Conference theme for Globlelics 2018 is Innovation, Economic Growth and Sustainable Development: Strengthening Institutions for Greater Relevance, Effectiveness and Inclusivity. The conference invites papers addressing the role of different types of actors such as the State, local or traditional authorities, global networks, universities and research institutions, private sector, non-governmental organisations / civil society organisations and media in generating innovation, building capacity and strengthening institutions for sustainable development and inclusive growth. In particular, it aims to explore new approaches to understand innovations and institutional transformations within countries, across different economic sectors, and different operation level (macro, meso and micro), without losing sight of contextual gender disparities. The conference will also consider the need to tackle new challenges related to innovation and capacity building in addition to inclusive development in knowledge and political systems. The conference also welcomes papers studying how development policies can be implemented at different levels and across different countries to innovate out of emerging crisis of climate change, "resource curse", youth unemployment, poverty, health and gender inequalities. Conference Tracks Accepted papers will be organized around parallel paper tracks encompassing the following sub-themes: Science, technology, innovation and the sustainable development goals: Policy and Practice Agricultural innovation systems: Addressing the poverty challenge University relationships with industry, policy and society: the developmental university Intellectual property rights, open innovation and development National, regional and local innovation systems Renewable energy: innovating inclusive and resilient infrastructure Sectoral innovation systems: technology policy and catch-up Creative industries, smart cities and sustainable urban development Trade, FDI, value chains and innovation networks Entrepreneurship, youth employment and innovation management The role of innovation in overcoming the resource curse: prescriptive models for sustainable growth Innovation for Inclusive development: Indigenous knowledge, informal economy and micro and small enterprises The gender dimension of innovation and development Improving the quality of life: Sustainable healthcare, water and sanitation innovation systems Empirical methodologies, data requirements, indicators, different approaches and methodologies Paper submission We encourage scholars in the scientific institutions, universities, private enterprises and public sector institutions to take this opportunity to present their work to leading scholars in the field of innovation and development. We especially encourage young researchers to submit papers in the relevant sub-thematic tracks. Papers for oral presentations and poster presentation must be written in English, and the selected ones must be presented at the conference in English. Submission of full paper (in PDF) not exceeding 12,000 words (including notes, tables, appendices, list of references, etc.) should be made from February 26th, 2018 via the online submission form available here. Papers must be submitted no later than April 1, 2018. The selection of papers is based on a peer review process that focuses on relevance, academic quality and originality. Globelics reserves the right to use available software to control for plagiarism and to take appropriate action in such cases. Travel Support Faculty members and PhD students from developing countries with accepted papers to the conference can apply for travel support. Application for travel support must be submitted at the same time as submission of paper (not later than April 1, 2018). Further information on procedure for application of travel support is available, here. Important Dates:  Call for papers  January 19, 2018  Open for submission of papers                          February 26, 2018  Deadline for submission of papers  April 1, 2018  Acceptance notification  May 14, 2018  Deadline for application for travel support  April 1, 2018  Response to applicants for travel support  May 15, 2018  Conference registration  June 15, 2018  Conference registration deadline  July 15, 2018  Last date for upload of final version of paper  September 15, 2018 Contact Details: For further information on the conference organization please consult our website. If you have any questions that cannot be answered using the website, please send an e-mail to: info@globelicsconference2018.org Further Details