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Ogmius Newsletter

S&T Opportunities

DISCCRS III Symposium
September 10 - 17, 2007
Hawai'i Island

DISCCRS (pronounced "discourse") targets recent Ph.D. graduates to catalyze international, interdisciplinary understanding and collaborations across the natural and social sciences, humanities, mathematics, engineering and other disciplines related to climate change and its impacts.  Funding from NSF supports symposium participant costs, the DISCCRS website and an electronic newsletter. Symposia are currently funded for 2007 and 2008.  Recent Ph.D. graduates from all disciplines and countries are invited to join the DISCCRS network and apply to be a DISCCRS symposium scholar.

Thirty-six recent Ph.D. graduates will be competitively selected to present their research in both oral and poster format and participate in the week-long symposium. Four scholars will be invited to serve as mentors for the group, and Stanford Professor Stephen H. Schneider has recently assented to serving as one of the mentors. A representative from the U.S. National Science Foundation will be invited to describe programs and funding opportunities. Strategies for collaborating across disciplines will be introduced and practiced in the context of developing an interdisciplinary research proposal. Techniques for communicating with non-specialist audiences will also be addressed.

Eligibility: Ph.D. requirements completed April 1, 2004 - March 31, 2007 in any discipline related to climate change and impacts.

Application Deadline: April 30, 2007

Participant Costs: Funding is provided for symposium airfare, housing and meals.

For more information contact:
Susan Weiler, weiler@whitman.edu.  See also the poster.

Supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation through grants to Whitman College (EAR-0105201, C.S. Weiler PI) and University of Oregon (EAR-0435719. R.B. Mitchell PI).  Jointly sponsored by the following societies: AAG, AERE, AGU, AMS, ASLO, ESA, ESS-ISA.

Debating Science

Debating Science is a graduate education program that teaches the skills of ethical public discourse and their application to issues in science and technology, and explores the ethical, scientific, and social dimensions of climate change, biotechnology and nanotechnology.  Debating Science is an intensive 4-day summer workshop in Missoula, Montana, followed by an online discussion course which provides travel support, board, and lodging for participants.  It is sponsored by the National Science Foundation and features keynote lectures by outstanding scholars in the fields of philosophy of technology, environmental economics, environmental philosophy and ethics, the policy history of global climate, biotechnology, and nanotechnology.

We are looking for graduate students who are inspired by their own research but who are also interested in exploring the social, political, and philosophical context of that work, and who are committed to sharing science with nonscientists in the genuine hope for a better world.

For more information and to apply, please click here.

Ethics in Science and Environmental Politics
Ethics of Climate Change
CALL FOR ESSAYS

Major consequences of climate change are now predictable to a reasonable degree of scientific certainty. Many of these consequences will be experienced within the next 100 years - on time scales relevant to emergency preparedness, medical responses, infrastructure alteration, financial investments, treaty negotiations, etc. These changes will impact the globe, geographically, socially, politically and economically. Leaders of institutions concerned with law, business, medicine, science, sociology, politics and religion will face the brunt of these changes. In the face of these challenges, their actions must be honorable, moral and ethical.  The observation that citizens in poor countries often choose practices that are more environmentally sound than their counterparts in rich countries is a moral and ethical conundrum.

Clearly, much more can be done at the level of the individual citizen.  To stimulate discussion of these issues, Inter-Research Science Center is sponsoring seven essay contests. The authors of winning essays will receive US $1000.00 and their articles will be published in Ethics in Science and Environmental Politics (ESEP). The ESEP issue in which these articles appear will be made available online as an Open Access document – anyone with access to the Internet will be able to read it.  There is one contest in each of the following disciplines:

  • Economics/Business
  • Law
  • Medicine
  • Environmental sciences
  • Engineering
  • Philosophy/Religious studies
  • Political Science

Essays within these broad subject areas should focus on climate change, and particularly on ethical issues. Please refer to the “White Paper on the Ethical Dimensions of Climate Change” for background and guidance.  These contests are open to graduate students (post Bachelors) at any certified university or college. Proof of student status (e.g. photocopy of a valid student identification card; letter from thesis advisor) must accompany submitted manuscripts.

Essays can be a maximum of 6000 words (excluding references and figure legends) and must include the corresponding author’s name, academic institution, street address, telephone number and e-mail address. Multiple authors – who would split the prize evenly - are permitted. All essays must be submitted as digital PDF or WORD files, and should be prepared following the guidelines detailed here. Indicate clearly under which discipline your essay falls.  Essays must be submitted, via e-mail to esep-submissions@int-res.com - by 0000 hrs GMT on 3 September 2007. All essays will be reviewed by a panel of experts. The winners will be notified by 30 November 2007. Runner-up essays that pass the peer review process will also be published in ESEP.