The call for the two new Executive Committee positions

At the conference in Oxford (2024) we agreed to abolish the Publications Officer Role and to create a new role for a Social Media Officer (who would coordinate IACESR communications on platforms like Facebook and Twitter). In addition, we have created a new role for a Student Representative, a current student who would sit on the Executive Committee. Please contact us if you would like to nominate someone for one of these roles (self-nominations welcome!). The deadline is end of January.

The call for conference hosting to the IACESR (2026)

We are now accepting offers for our next in-person conference in 2026. Please get in touch if you are interested in organizing/hosting this event. The deadline is end of March.

Name Change: IACSR to IACESR

We are pleased to announce that we are changing our name to the International Association for the Cognitive and Evolutionary Sciences of Religion. This change better reflects the breadth of our members research and the future direction of the association.

We have updated our website address from iacsr.com to iacesr.com so please update any links or favorites that you might have.

Over the coming weeks we will be updating content on the website and in the longer term we will be updating the wording of our constitution.

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2020 IACSR Conference Cancelled

Dear all,

We hope you are all well and managing in these increasingly difficult times.

We regret to inform you that, given the ongoing and worsening pandemic, the IACSR conference in August has now been cancelled.

The Executive Committee will be considering when/where the next conference will take place and how we might proceed with holding an IACSR business meeting and election. We will be in touch with details of any arrangements as soon as we can.

Best wishes to you and your loved ones.

Sincerely,
Jon Lanman, on behalf of the IACSR 2020 Conference Committee

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2020 IACSR Conference [Cancelled]

updated April 1, 2020

We are very happy to announce that the 8th biennial meeting of the International Association for the Cognitive Science of Religion will take place in Dunedin, New Zealand, on the 22nd and 23rd of August, 2020.  This is immediately prior to the 22nd Quinquennial World Congress of the International Association for the History of Religions (IAHR), which will also be taking place in Dunedin, from 23-29 August, 2020. https://www.iahr2020.kiwi/

For more information and to submit a paper or panel proposal, click here.

We are excited to offer an excellent line-up of keynote speakers, events, and support in the form of student travel awards.

Keynote Speakers:
Prof. Tanya Luhrmann, Stanford University
Prof. Jesse Bering, University of Otago

Student awards:
The IACSR will be offering a limited number of scholarships to cover registration and offset travel costs for students.  More details will be forthcoming.

Call for proposals:
The Cognitive Science of Religion is an interdisciplinary research area. We therefore encourage
empirical and theoretical papers representing the current state-of-the-art research on religion
and cognition from all areas of the humanities, social, and natural sciences.

The call for paper and panel proposals will open on 15 August, 2019.  All proposals will be submitted through our website.  https://iacesr.com/

The call for panel proposals will close on 15 November, 2019.
The call for individual paper proposals will close on 29 November, 2019.
Notifications of acceptance will be sent by 31 December, 2019.

More details to follow.
We very much hope that you can join us for this exciting conference next year.

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2018 IACSR conference

7th biennial meeting of the International Association for the Cognitive Science of Religion will take place in Boston, August 12-16th, 2018. Sponsored by the Center for Mind and Culture, the Modeling Religion Project and the Modelling Religion in Norway Project. More information is coming soon.

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The Computational Foundations of Religious Cognition: A Workshop Hosted by the International Association for the Cognitive Science of Religion (IACSR)
CogSci 2017: London (July 26 – July 29th, 2017)

venue to be specified later

Religion is of global significance, and its study requires explanations from cognitive science. Currently, the cognitive science of religion consists of researchers working in an array of disciplines, employing diverse methods, including, among others: experimental research and modelling in psychology and neuroscience, and historical, archaeological, and comparative studies of religious cognition in anthropology and religious studies. The International Association for the Cognitive Science of Religion (IACSR) seeks to advance the naturalistic and cognitive study of religion by providing settings for productive dialogue across disciplinary boundaries and methodological approaches. This half-day workshop, organized by the IACSR, has three complementary goals: 1) to expose attendees to diverse methodologies for studying the computational foundations of religious cognition, 2) to provide a forum for researchers to present recent empirical findings that bear on our understanding of religious cognition, and 3) to foster new research collaborations.

Invited talks

The Power of Suggestibility: Using Placebo Brain Stimulation Devices to Manipulate Subjective Experience.
Michiel Van Elk, Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam

I once was blind…” Choice Blindness and Religious Attitude Reversals
Ryan McKay, Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway London

Mind the Text – Retracing Mental States and Cognitive Trajectories in Historical and Text-Heavy Data
Kristoffer Nielbo, Digital Text Laboratory & Interacting Minds Centre, Department of Culture & Society, Aarhus University

Workshop will host Peer-reviewed Posters

read Programme leaflet here iacsr_workshop_final

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IACSR at IAPR

The IACSR will also host events in conjunction with the International Association for the Psychology of Religion (IAPR) in Hamar, Norway from August 21-24. At the IAPR meetings, the IACSR will host an invited panel that showcases cutting edge research and the diversity of methods employed by the IACSR membership. The IACSR will also host a reception. We encourage IACSR members to submit their own proposals for posters, papers and panels through the IAPR submission window. In the coming weeks, we will send out additional information through the CSR listserv.

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IACSR Workshop at CSS

IACSR invites members and interested scholars to submit proposals for posters for an IACSR workshop on the Computational Foundations of Religious Cognition. Accepted proposals will be part of a workshop, submitted on behalf of the IACSR, to the Cognitive Science Society meetings to be held in London, July 26 – 29, 2017. http://www.cognitivesciencesociety.org/conference/cogsci2017/

The poster session will take place during the second half of the workshop, after the delivery of three invited talks from leaders in the field. Poster proposals will be anonymously reviewed by members of the Executive Committee of the IACSR. Reviewers will give priority to submissions related to the workshop theme.

Proposals should consist of two pages. The cover page should include the following items ONLY:

1. poster title
2. word count of the proposal
3. all authors’ names
4. all authors’ email addresses (posters with multiple authors should explicitly indicate which of the addresses should serve as corresponding author)

On a subsequent page, the substantive section of the poster proposal should, again, include the title of the poster, an abstract of 300 words or less, and should not contain either footnotes or endnotes or the author’s name(s).

Proposals should be attached as a PDF formatted document in an email with “IACSR 2017” in the subject line, sent to john.shaver@otago.ac.nz. The deadline for submissions is Wednesday, January 18th, 2017.

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IACSR at the AAR

The field of CSR is growing fast. This page is dedicated to keeping you up to date on the newest information coming from the IACSR. For late-breaking news, general information, and publications that are causing a buzz, visit our Facebook Page.

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IACSR at the AAR

Call for Proposals for Presentations at the 2016 meeting of the International Association for the Cognitive Science of Religion (IACSR) in conjunction with the American Academy of Religion (AAR)

November 17-20, 2016 in San Antonio (expected date of session: Friday 18, 2016 TBC).
https://papers.aarweb.org/2016_Preliminary_Program.pdf

The IACSR, which seeks to advance the naturalistic study of religion, invites interested scholars to submit proposals for presentations (lasting no more than 20 minutes) for possible inclusion on the program at its upcoming meeting for 2016 in San Antonio. Submissions are welcome on any topic in the cognitive science of religion. The IACSR recognizes that the cognitive sciences encompass a wide array of disciplines and methods, including, among others, experimental research in psychology and neuroscience, computational modeling, ethnographic, historical, archaeological, and comparative studies of religious cognition, and the survey techniques of the social sciences. Presentations advancing new cognitive theories of diverse religious phenomena are also welcome.

Proposals should consist of two pages. The cover page should include the following items ONLY:

1. presentation title

2. word count of the proposal

3. all authors’ names

4. all authors’ email addresses (papers with multiple authors should explicitly indicate which of the addresses should serve as the one to which all subsequent communications about this submission should be sent)

On a subsequent page, the substantive section of the proposal should, again, include the title of the presentation, should not exceed 500 words, and should not contain either footnotes or endnotes or the author’s name(s). The author’s name(s) should only appear on the cover page.

Proposals should be attached as an MS Word file in emails with “IACSR submission” in their subject lines to be sent to the IACSR Publications Officer, Claire White at clairejwhite81@gmail.com.

You should receive receipt of your submission within 5 working days.

The deadline for submission is August 1st, 2016. 

Successful proposals will be notified by September 1, 2016.

Questions about proposals should be directed to Claire White at clairejwhite81@gmail.com

Please note that you must be an existing IACSR member to participate in the conference sessions, or you can register. Membership costs 30 USD (15 USD for students).

https://iacesr.com/Membership.html

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IACSR 2016 at UBC, Vancouver

Our 2016 conference program is now available for download!

6th biennial meeting of the International Association for the Cognitive Science of Religion Vancouver, August 22-24, 2016.

Sponsored by the Centre for Human Evolution, Cognition, and Culture (HECC), and the Cultural Evolution of Religion Research Consortium (CERC), funded by the Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC)

Keynote speakers:
Joseph Henrich, Harvard University
Cristine Legare, The University of Texas at Austin

Featured panel:
Hacking the mind: Using computer models to study religious minds in silicon sponsored by the Institute for the Bio-Cultural Study of Religion

Student awards:
The IACSR will sponsor two student awards. The best paper and the best poster submitted by a student will each receive free registration and accommodation at the Sheraton Wall Centre.

Submissions:
To submit a proposal for a paper, panel, or poster, please email our Secretary General, Dimitris Xygalatas with your full affiliation and an abstract of no more than 250 words.
All submissions will be peer-reviewed.

The deadline for submissions is March 31, 2016.

The Cognitive Science of Religion is an interdisciplinary research area. We therefore encourage empirical and theoretical papers representing the current state-of-the-art research on religion and cognition from all areas of the humanities, social, and natural sciences.

accommodation The conference will take place at the Sheraton Vancouver Wall Centre Hotel, 1088 Burrard St. To get the special rates reserved for attendees, go to www.starwoodmeeting.com/Book/HECC

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Past Events at the 2015 AAR in Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Official IACSR sponsored panels are marked with ***

For more information see the AAR program guide HERE.

Title	Date & Time	Location	Program Code
Theory in a Time of Excess: What the Cognitive Science of Religion Is (And Is Not)	Friday, 2:00 PM–3:50 PM	Hilton-311 (Level 3)	P20-215
Theory in a Time of Excess: Of Cognitive Science, Bricolage, and Brandom	Friday, 4:00 PM–5:50 PM	Hilton-311 (Level 3)	P20-314
Morality Without Religion: Empathy, Fairness, and Prosocial Primates	Saturday, 9:00 AM–11:30 AM	Hyatt-Regency (Ballroom Level)	A21-118
Cross-Cultural and Cognitive Approaches to Changes in Sense of Self	Saturday, 4:00 PM–6:30 PM	Hilton-Grand Ballroom C (Level 2)	A21-313
Current Approaches to Religious Cognition***	Sunday, 10:00 AM–12:30 PM	Marriott-M102 (Marquis Level)	P22-109
Religion, Emotion, and Cognition	Sunday, 3:00 PM–4:30 PM	Marriott-International 9 (International Level)	A22-265
How We Got This Way: Cognitive and Evolutionary Approaches to Religious Ideology	Monday, 1:00 PM–3:30 PM	Hilton-Crystal CD (Level 1)	A23-221
Critical Perspectives on the Cognitive Science of Religion	Monday, 4:00 PM–6:30 PM	Hilton-401-402 (Level 4)	A23-321

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IACSR 2014 at LEVYNA, Brno, Czech Republic

The IACSR 2014 conference was held in Brno, Czech Republic, hosted by the LEVYNA lab at Masaryk University. It was a great success and we look forward to a productive and busy 2015.