[SIGCIS-Members] EuroScience OpenForum, Manchester, July 2016

[James Sumner]

Dear SIGCIS members

With the usual apologies for floating a possibility far too close to the 
deadline:

The EuroScience Open Forum (ESOF) is a two-yearly summit and showcase, 
aimed at the European science community and its "global partners", which 
leans particularly to the engagement of science and engineering with 
policymakers, business and public audiences and tends to be well covered 
by international science journalists.

The next meeting will be happening in Manchester (UK) from Friday 22 to 
Wednesday 27 July 2016, and the University of Manchester is keen to use 
its international networks to develop contributions. Formally, the ESOF 
definition of "science" extends to arts and humanities research of all 
kinds, although the opportunities are unsurprisingly particularly strong 
in fields connected to science, engineering and innovation. Full details 
are at
http://www.esof.eu/

One of the official themes is particularly close to SIGCIS community 
interests:

===
Turing’s legacy - data and the human brain

In the city of Alan Turing we put forward a theme which combines his 
direct legacy in artificial intelligence and the interface of humans 
with machines, together with the wider issues posed by data, online 
information exchange and communication in our society. As major projects 
address the nature of the human brain and our ability to simulate it, we 
ask where this is taking us? In the world of big data, what is the 
significance of the new analytics for scientific and citizen activities? 
What ethical, social and legal challenges are raised? Communication and 
learning as a sub-theme opens up issues of human development.

Suggested issues to explore:

  * Artificial intelligence
  * Mapping the brain
  * Human-computer interface
  * Mathematical logic and computer science
  * Visualisation
  * Big data and behavioural analytics
  * Privacy, security, ethics and integrity
  * The future internet
  * The Internet of Things
  * Communication and learning

===

-- while another theme, "Science in our cultures", has possibilities for 
the history and social studies of IT more broadly.

ESOF seeks speaker panels for relatively brief speaker sessions (75 
minutes, can be doubled) and favours non-traditional formats. The 
challenge, as so often the case with this kind of meeting, is that 
there's a strong requirement for international participation ("the 
proposed speakers/participants within sessions should come from multiple 
countries and overall geographical balance will be sought in the 
programme") but no funding for travel or accommodation, so contributors 
would need to be self-supporting.

Is anyone interested in proposing or contributing to a session? If so, 
please send me details of a possible area of coverage, and I'll do my 
best to co-ordinate.

Submissions do not (as far as I can see) require detailed paper 
information, but the deadline for outline session abstracts is *early on 
Monday morning* (1 June), so I'd need to hear from you by Friday at the 
latest.

All best
James
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