CFP: iCog postgrad/early-career cognitive science network inaugural conference

The project of cognitive science is, in the broadest terms, to understand the workings of the mind. Researchers in its constituent disciplines - anthropology, psychology, philosophy, computational intelligence, neuroscience, linguistics - attempt to answer such questions as:

- What is the structure of the mind? Which parts of the mind are innate and which are learned?
- How do we come to perceive the world? What is consciousness, and how is it produced?
- What are emotions and other affective phenomena and how do they work?
- What is the adaptive function of various behaviours and psychological capacities?
- What aspects of cognition are uniquely human, and which do we share with other animals?
- How are we able to understand the minds of others?
- How are concepts formed? How do we acquire language? Does language structure thought, and if
so, how?
- What capacities are involved in various kinds of decision-making and executive function?
- What is moral cognition and how does it work?
- How much variation is there in behaviours, beliefs and psychological capacities cross-culturally?

Despite a good deal of progress on these and other issues in recent decades, current disciplinary boundaries in the majority of British universities, funding agencies, and learned societies make it difficult for those working in one discipline of cognitive science to receive training in the methods of other disciplines, and meet with researchers working on similar issues in other discipline areas. This can be particularly discouraging for postgraduates and early-career researchers whose research does not fit neatly within disciplinary boundaries. Even where interdisciplinary work exists, balanced and reflective collaboration can be difficult to achieve. The iCog network aims to promote dialogue and collaboration between disciplines rather than one-sided conversations, and to raise the profile of cognitive science in the UK. iCog will achieve its aims primarily by organising interdisciplinary conferences and other events.

We invite the submission of extended abstracts for 30-minute presentations or posters.

Submissions are invited from postgraduate and early-career researchers in anthropology, computational intelligence, linguistics, neuroscience, philosophy, psychology, and related disciplines. Presentations should concern how the constituent disciplines can profitably work together and/or case studies of research questions and topics that have benefited or would benefit from interdisciplinary work.

Submission guidelines:
Submissions should be e-mailed to [email protected] with the subject line 'Submission' and include two Word (.doc, .docx) or PDF documents:

1. A cover page containing your name, institutional and departmental affiliation(s), status
(postgraduate, postdoctoral, or early-career researcher), and the title of your paper. Please also indicate for which category (presentation or poster or both) you would like your submission to be considered.

2. A separate file containing the title of your paper and an extended abstract (500-1,000 words), suitable for blind review.

Submissions must be received by midnight on Friday, 20 September 2013.

For more information on iCog, visit i-cog.com or contact [email protected] with any queries.

Registration for the conference will open in October.