• FORTHCOMING EVENTS

Colloquium: The Fictionalisation of Science in Great Britain

March 2011

I) Overview

• It is only in the last three or four decades that relationships between Literature, Culture and other areas of Humanities, on the one hand, and Natural Sciences on the other, have been considered a suitable subject for academic discussion and research. Within this context, particular emphasis has been given to the cultural consequences of Darwinian evolution, a subject which has already been approached by some of the members of the Research Group. The present group researchers includes members of an earlier group which, several years ago, was involved in a project dealing with the reception of British evolutionism in Portugal between the 1860's and the early twentieth century, under the auspices of CEAP (Centro de Estudos Anglo-Portugueses).
• In 2010, after agreeing to bring an earlier project on "British Political Thought and Practice" to a close, the present Research Group defined the guidelines for a new Project entitled "Scientific Thought and Culture in Great Britain (19th and 20th centuries)", concentrating on the following areas of research:

1. British scientific theories and discoveries and their relationship with the cultural domain
2. Science, Literature and the Visual Arts
3. Science and the Media in the 20th century
4. Science Fiction

II) Main Goals for the coming three-year period (2011-2013)

• 1. To organise a number of sessions on "Scientific Thought and Culture in Great Britain" expounded and discussed among the members of the Research Group.
• 2. To further develop the work and discussions which arose out of the series of lectures given between April and June 2010, under the title "Science and Culture in Great Britain".
• 3. To organise three Colloquia to be held at FCSH or an alternative venue on the following subjects: "The Fictionalisation of Science in Great Britain" (2011); "Man, Science and Life" (2012); and "Scientific Myths in Great Britain" (2013).
• 4. To collaborate with the Faculdade de Ciências of the Universidade de Lisboa, more specifically in the Masters Degree seminar on the "History of Science", led by Prof. Henrique Sousa Leitão.
• 5. To deliver a number of lectures as part of the Masters Degree seminar on the "History of Science".
• 6. To examine the role played by the BBC in the familiarisation of Literature and Science.
• 7. To encourage further cooperation between members of this Research Group and colleagues at the Universidade do Porto.
• 8. To provide the necessary support and advice to the three Doctoral students who are members of the Research Group.
• 9. To encourage new members to carry out research for masters' degree dissertations and/or doctoral theses related to the research threads which are being investigated by the Group.
• 10. To publish a collection of papers presented in the 2010 lecture series and the March 2011 colloquium.
• 11. To publish individual articles related to the themes of Projects to be published in journals at home and abroad.