Dear Colleagues

Apologies for cross postings.  Please find attached information on an international conference that I hope will be of interest to you. 

The 'Talking Biotechnology: Reflecting on Science in Society' will be held in Wellington, New Zealand, from 29 November to 2 December, 2005.

The conference seeks to explore how the discourse and dialogue surrounding the development of biotechnology has evolved and how that evolution has impacted, or might impact, upon society. There is much interest and much concern over 'modern' biotechnology and the way in which the science could and is changing our agricultural, nutritional, medical and health sectors in particular. What are, or will be, the ramifications of the way we have constructed our early 21st century version of modern biotechnology? The conference will include papers that address the theory, policy and practice of biotechnology related discourse.

We have eleven keynote speakers confirmed, including Barry Bozeman, Michael Elmes, Rob Evans, Robert Heath, Alan Irwin, Jenny Kitzinger, Aroha Mead, Judy Motion, Christopher Newell, Gerard Goggin, and Brian Wynne.

Abstracts are invited for presentations and papers that address the theory, policy and practice of biotechnology related discourse in areas such as:
§     social and cultural impacts of biotechnology
§     the creation of biotechnology expectations
§     perceptions of risk of biotechnology
§     sustainability concepts in biotechnology
§     stakeholder discourse and interactions
§     biotechnology 'expertise' and 'knowledge'
§     social studies of biotechnologists, science entrepreneurship and biotechnology commercialisation
§     communicating about biotechnology
§     news media representation of biotechnology and associated debates
§     stakeholder influence on regulatory and intellectual property issues
§     literary and creative treatments of biotechnology

Abstracts should be between 500 and 1500 words, and include the institutional affiliations and email addresses of all authors. If the abstract cites published work, please include a list of references in the abstract. Please also provide 3-5 keywords for allocating your abstract to a conference theme.

Abstracts should be submitted by 1 May 2005 by email to Bill Doolin at [log in to unmask] Please save your abstract as a Word document using the corresponding author's surname to form the filename.doc.

Corresponding authors will be notified about the acceptance of their abstract by 1 June 2005. For an abstract to be listed in the conference programme at least one of the contributing authors must register and attend the conference.

Authors who have their abstract accepted have the option of submitting a full paper by 31 August 2005. Full papers will be assembled in a CD ROM Proceedings. Full papers will also be considered for publication in a number of journal special issues currently under negotiation.

For any enquiries regarding the abstract submission process, please contact Bill Doolin ([log in to unmask]).

Further details about the conference are available from the conference Website at www.vuw.ac.nz/talking-biotechnology, where you can also register to receive email updates.

Please feel free to circulate this to any colleagues/email lists that might be interested in this multi/inter/cross disciplinary event.

Regards
Bill

Professor Bill Doolin
Auckland University of Technology
Private Bag 92006
Auckland
New Zealand

Phone: 64 9 917 9999 extn. 5807
Fax: 64 9 917 9629
Mobile: 64 21 774127
Email: [log in to unmask]