13th European Skeptics Congress

Myksyk

Hi Mods, hope this is ok ...

The 13th European Skeptics Congress is being hosted by the Irish Skeptics Society in Dublin in September this year.

You can register for the Congress on our site and see all the details of the weekend including a list of the speakers.

We hope to see as many of you there as possible.

Dades

Thanks Myksyk. Sounds interesting.
Hope nothing bad happens on the 13th conference.

Feel free to bump this as any relevant dates get closer.

Myksyk

Thanks. Will bump as appropriate!

Zombrex

The Atheist wrote:

Hope nothing bad happens on the 13th conference.

rofl

Sangre

Myksyk wrote:

The 13th European Skeptics Congress is being hosted by the Irish Skeptics Society in Dublin in September this year.

I don't believe you.

Asiaprod

The Atheist wrote:

Hope nothing bad happens on the 13th conference.

Not a chance, our Robin will whip them into order:). I hope someone here does go and can fill us in later on what transpired.

Zillah

It'd make a great onion headline:

"Uproar from community as Sceptics Conference is scheduled to take place on 'cursed' date".

Myksyk

Bumping ... plus update

Preparations for the 13th ECSO congress to be hosted by the Irish Skeptics Society are well under way and we are looking forward to a stimulating event from Friday Sept 7th to Sunday Sept 9th next.

The conference theme is “The Assault on Science: Constructing a Response” and we are delighted to have gathered together such an impressive lineup of national and international speakers. As well as presentations from ten invited speakers there will be a range of free papers that have been selected by the conference committee.

We were all deeply shocked and saddened by the recent sudden death of one of our keynote speakers, Barry Beyerstein. We are pleased however to announce that Barry’s wife Suzi and daughter Lindsay will attend the congress. Lindsay will present a paper on behalf of her Dad that will consider the distinctions between science and pseudoscience, a topic which greatly interested Barry and on which he intended to speak.

Dr Ben Goldacre, well known writer of the Bad Science column in the Guardian newspaper, is among the invited speakers and will receive the Robert P. Balles prize from the USA based Committee for Skeptical Inquiry at the congress.

Another invited speaker, Professor Vic Stenger, will present two papers. One will address the misrepresentation of quantum mechanics by alternative practitioners and “gurus” such as Deepak Chopra while the other will be based on his latest book “God: The Failed Hypothesis: how science shows that God does not exist” which was recently in the New York Times bestseller list.

Among the Irish presenters we are proud to have Professors John Crown and David McConnell and Dr Brian Hughes. They will consider challenges within medicine, genetics and health psychology respectively.

Professor Willem Betz from the University of Brussels will address the issue of CAM (Complementary and Alternative Medicine) propaganda with particular reference to attempts to influence the European Parliament and the World Health Organisation.

This is but a small sample of what to expect and a detailed programme with titles and abstracts will be published shortly.

We want this to be a successful and invigorating congress and look forward to lively presentations and debate. We will host an opening reception on the Friday evening and the congress dinner on Saturday evening. This is a great opportunity to hear and to meet prominent scientists and skeptics from across Europe and further afield and we would urge you to register as soon as possible to contribute, through your presence, to what is sure to be a memorable occasion.

MooseJam

Myksyk wrote:

God: The Failed Hypothesis: how science shows that God does not exist

sorry for going off topic but is this available in bookshops here ?

Myksyk

MooseJam wrote:

sorry for going off topic but is this available in bookshops here ?

Yep, spoke with someone yesterday who bought it in Hoggis Figgis.

Myksyk

Sangre wrote:

I don't believe you.

I like the way you're thinking!!

Myksyk

Here's a link to the programme for the Congress.

Scofflaw

Just remembered that this is on this Friday!

forgetfully,
Scofflaw

Myksyk

That's right!!! Look out for an article on it in this Friday's Irish Times by Shane Hegarty.

lookinforpicnic

I couldn't make it myself... how was it?

Myksyk

It went very well. We had 145 delegates at the congress and we were very pleased with the quality of the speakers and talks. We will be looking at making the lectures available thru podcast or some other means. I particularly enjoyed Massimo Pigliucci and John Crown.

Scofflaw

Myksyk wrote:

It went very well. We had 145 delegates at the congress and we were very pleased with the quality of the speakers and talks. We will be looking at making the lectures available thru podcast or some other means. I particularly enjoyed Massimo Pigliucci and John Crown.

Someone was asking me about the 'neutrality' of Shane Morris in respect of GMO - any comment?

cordially,
Scofflaw

lookinforpicnic

Myksyk wrote:

It went very well. We had 145 delegates at the congress and we were very pleased with the quality of the speakers and talks. We will be looking at making the lectures available thru podcast or some other means. I particularly enjoyed Massimo Pigliucci and John Crown.

cheers

Myksyk

Scofflaw wrote:

Someone was asking me about the 'neutrality' of Shane Morris in respect of GMO - any comment?

cordially,
Scofflaw

Shane Morris attended in a personal capacity and was not, according to himself, funded by anyone. I actually misseed his paper and can't comment on it. Our own nuetrality was also questioned being asked in email whether we were being funded by Big Pharma to have Morris attend . . . seriously! We may organise a talk/debate on this area as, like climate change, I think it requires a substantial assessment of both sides to begin to come to informed opinion.