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The Scientific Conference : Past, Present and Future
October 18, 2021 - October 22, 2021
The Scientific Conference: Past, Present, and Future
The Scientific Conference : Past, Present and Future
18-22 October 2021
Lorentz Center, Leiden
Monday 18 October 2021
09:00 – 10:00 Arrival, registration
10:00 – 10:15 Welcome by Lorentz Center
10:15 – 10:30 Opening by organizers: Welcome and explanation of objectives and way of working workshop
Part I – devoted to discussing conference histories with interested non-historians
Day chair: Cyrus Mody
The point of the trialogues and following discussions is to identify our different fascinations with the conference phenomenon. Participants come to this workshop from widely different backgrounds, so we are likely to have different interests and perspectives with overlaps and separations. Let’s map out that terrain.
In each trialogue, two conference historians briefly present their work which they have precirculated to their discussant. The discussants have been asked to articulate what they find interesting about the papers, how the papers connected to their own work (perhaps presenting that briefly), and what new questions the papers opened up in their view. In these sessions, this is more important than giving feedback on how to improve the papers.
trialogue 1
10:30 – 10:45 Laura Forster
10:45 – 11.00 Sven Widmalm
11:00 – 11:20 discussant: Emily Henderson
11:20 – 12:00 open floor
12:00 – 13:00 walk talk
13:00 – 14:00 Lunch @Snellius restaurant
trialogue 2
14:00 – 14:15 Georgiana Kotsou
14:15 – 14:30 Waqar Zaidi
14:30 – 14:50 discussant: Jorrit Smit
14:50 – 15:30 open floor
15:30 – 16:00 Coffee/tea break
16:00 – 17:00 General discussion: what do we learn from conference history? (led by day chair)
17:00 Wine and cheese
Tuesday 19 October 2021
Day chair: Kenneth Bertrams
In today’s version of the trialogues, we will have the open floor discussions at the end in the form of a fish bowl meeting. The three trialogue participants start out in the middle seats, but yield their place to whoever else has something to contribute to the discussion.
The point of the general discussions at the end is to collect the harvest from the preceding two days. The first question revolves around what (others think) historians can contribute to the understanding of conferences and their issues. The second question is geared toward sketching possible research questions for the future.
trialogue 3
09:00 – 09:15 Jenny Beckman
09:15 – 09:30 Thomas Mougey
09:30 – 09:50 discussant: Alexandra Supper
09:50 – 10:30 open floor fish bowl
10:30—11:00 Coffee/tea break
trialogue 4
11:00 – 11:15 Jessica Reinisch
11:15 – 11:30 Geert Somsen
11:30 – 11:50 discussant: Henriette Jensenius
11:50 – 12:30 open floor fish bowl
12:30 – 14:00 Lunch @Snellius restaurant
trialogue 5
14:00 – 14:15 Charlotte Bigg
14:15 – 14:30 Mariana Deball
14:30 – 14:50 discussant: Mareike Smolka
14:50 – 15:30 open floor fish bowl
15:30 – 16:00 Coffee/tea break
16:00 – 16:45 General discussion 1: what do we learn from conference history? (led by day chair)
16:45 – 17:30 General discussion 2: what are promising research agendas? (led by day chair)
18:00 – 21:00 Workshop dinner
Wednesday 20 October 2021
09:00 – 10:30 drafting plans for future work (following yesterday’s General discussion 2) – in subgroups
10:30 – 11:00 Coffee/tea break
11:00 – 12:30 harvesting feedback for specific papers and collection as a whole (following yesterday’s General discussion 1) – in subgroups
12:30 – 14:00 Lunch @Snellius restaurant
14:00 – 14:30 goodbye to some participants, welcome to others
Part II – devoted to workshopping contributions to a special issue
The discussions in the workshops are not primarily meant to improve individual papers but to seek cross-fertilization and coherence. We should exchange ideas about what we find exciting in each other’s papers, what we recognize in our own work, and what ties could be strengthened or elaborated. We can use the Lorentz Center’s whiteboards and other equipment to jot down our ideas before discussing them.
In the editors’ meetings following each paper discussion session, the four special issue editors translate this and more into Individual feedback for each author.
special issue workshop 1
14:30 – 16:00 discussion papers 1-3
16:00 – 16:30 Coffee/tea break
16:30 – 17:30 editors’ meeting
Thursday 21 October 2021
knowledge exchange meeting
09:30 – 11:00 op-eds – in subgroups
11:00 – 11:30 Coffee/tea break
11:30 – 12:30 walking tours / website
12:30 – 14:00 Lunch @Snellius restaurant
special issue workshop 2
14:00 – 16:00 discussion papers 4-6
15:30 – 16:00 Coffee/tea break
16:00 – 16:30 discussion paper 7
16:30 – 17:30 editors’ meeting
Friday 22 October 2021
special issue workshop 3
09:00 – 10:30 discussion papers 8-10
10:30 – 11:00 Coffee/tea break
11:00 – 12:00 editors’ meeting
taking stock and wrapping up
12:00 – 13:00 looking back/looking ahead: grander vistas
13:00 – 14:00 Lunch @Snellius restaurant
14:00 – 15:00 to-do lists for all of us
15:00 goodbyes
