The 41st Altenberg Workshop in Theoretical Biology, with the theme Sociocultural EvoDevo: Cultural Neurobiological Inheritance Systems (CNIS) was held at the KLI, Klosterneuburg Austria, from 18-21 June 2024. This workshop was organised by Isabella Sarto-Jackson (KLI) and Daniel O. Larson (California State University). It brought together world-renowned scholars from multiple fields including neurobiology, anthropology, evolutionary developmental biology, social psychology and human development.

The 42nd Altenberg Workshop in Theoretical Biology was held at the KLI from 8th to 11th October 2024. The topic for this edition, organised by Joeri Witteveen and Federica Bocchi of the University of Copenhagen, was "Aims, Norms, and Values in Scientific Classification for Biodiversity Conservation". The workshop brought together 14 scholars from Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, India, New Zealand, Spain, South Africa, UK, and USA, spanning the biological sciences, social sciences and humanities, and working on aspects of classification and categorization in taxonomy, biodiversity science and conservation biology. The workshop was co-funded by the KLI and the research project “Tackling the Conservationist’s Dilemma,” sponsored by the Independent Research Fund, Denmark. (Click on title to read more.)

On 7th November 2024, the KLI hosted a symposium to launch Evolution Evolving, a book authored by KLI member Kevin Lala (University of St. Andrews), along with Tobias Uller (Lund University), Nathalie Feiner (Lund University), Marcus Feldman (Stanford University) and Scott Gilbert (Swarthmore College), and published by Princeton University Press. Evolution Evolving highlights the role of developmental processes in evolution, drawing upon new findings in areas such as evo-devo, epigenetics and symbiosis. The title of the book, according to the authors, alludes both to the evolution of the evolutionary process over time, as well as to the fact that evolutionary theory is evolving, which this book hopes to make a contribution towards. (Click on title to read more.)

The 7th European Advanced School in the Philosophy of the Life Sciences (EASPLS) was held at the KLI from 9th to 13th September 2024. The EASPLS is a biennial event that brings together PhD scholars and early career researchers alongside experienced and renowned academics in a carefully curated format, aiming to facilitate professional training, ignite research collaborations, and drive intellectual growth through engagement. The event is organised by a consortium of institutes in Europe working at the forefront of Philosophy, History and Social studies of the Life sciences. This year's edition was led by Leonardo Bich (University of the Basque Country), Lucie Laplane (IHPST, CNRS/Université Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne), Matteo Mossio (IHPST, CNRS/Université Paris 1) on the topic, “Explanation and Evidence in Biology and Medicine”. Lectures revolved around philosophical debates on explanation and evidence in the life sciences, analysing the existing strategies, evaluating their strengths, weaknesses, and mutual relations. (Click on title to continue.)

The 4th Meeting of the Vienna Science Studies Laboratory was held yesterday afternoon in the cozy ambience of Das Café in Vienna. The paper that was selected for this reading group’s discussion was Kelly et al. 2014 (The integration of social, behavioral, and biological mechanisms in models of pathogenesis). In a lively discussion, most participants contributed interesting points on various aspects of the paper, especially around the concepts of ‘lifeworlds’ and 'mixed mechanisms' in explaining diseases. (Click on title to read more on this report!)

The 5th Meeting of the Vienna Science Studies Laboratory was held yesterday afternoon in the cool ambience of Das Café in Vienna. The paper that was selected for this reading group’s discussion was Anderson, W., 2004. Natural histories of infectious disease: Ecological vision in twentieth-century biomedical science. Osiris, 19, pp.39-61.

KLI Colloquium: Tarja KNUUTTILA (University of Vienna), 5 March, 5.00 pm.

To better understand certain phenomena in brain disorders such as Parkinson's disease, Marco Treven argues that we need to look beyond the brain.

KLI fellow Rongkun Liu's knowledge-to-action projects in China illustrate how hybrid knowledge systems can enhance community resilience to socio-ecological changes.

Bernhard Strauss, co-editor of Rethinking Cancer: a New Paradigm for the Postgenomics Era, talks about theory change, the KLI Altenberg workshop, highlights of the book chapters, and exciting new steps.

Project Presentation: Flavia FABRIS (University of Exeter), 4 December 2018, 3.00 pm

New book of The Vienna Series in Theoretical Biology by Jeffrey H. Schwartz. Contributors from a range of disciplines consider the disconnect between human evolutionary studies and the rest of evolutionary biology.

In an interview with Hari Sridhar for the Reflections on Papers Past project, Gerd Müller shares the backstory of his well-known 2007 paper "Evo-devo: extending the evolutionary synthesis" published in Nature Review Genetics. The paper, written about 25 years after the field emerged, surveys evo-devo's research agendas and theoretical impulses at the time, and explores the implications of evo-devo findings for evolutionary theory. In the years following its publication, it served as a kind of trigger for the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis, which developed over the next decade. (Click in title to read more)

What lies behind the making of a scientific paper that challenges the very foundations of a field? In a candid interview with Hari Sridhar, Kevin Lala tells the back story of one such paper "The extended evolutionary synthesis: its structure, assumptions and predictions" published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B in 2015, and reflects on the paper's influence today, nearly 10 years after it was published. Read this interview on the Reflections on Papers Past website, which is a treasure trove of fantastic conversations with authors of well-known and influential papers in the field of Ecology and Evolution. (Click on title to continue.)

Laura Menatti has been invited to give a talk for the ROTO lecture series, evaluating on the concept of salutogenic environments for medicine and healthcare.

Round table & mini science camp with George PERRY (Penn State University) about human evolution and ecological impacts of human activity.

Join us for the panel discussion at the ISHPSSB Meeting 2019 in Oslo: Wednesday, 10 July 9.00 am – 10.30 am

Laura MENATTI (KLI), 2024-04-04 15:00 (CET). To join our colloquium please register with Zoom

The 2023 spring-summer KLI Colloquium series will resume in March, with a great line-up of speakers from the KLI and beyond.

The 2023-24 fall-winter KLI colloquium series will resume in October with a great line-up of speakers.