Facebook event page for 5th research seminar of Minding Animals Norway

Here is the Facebook event for the 5th research seminar of Minding Animals Norway, with the theme  "Forskningsseminar: Mor og barn i dyreriket - menneskenes interaksjon" [Mother and child in the animal kingdom - human interaction], which takes place at NMBU, Ås, on Saturday December 5th. The program has been composed by Benedicte Brun (Minding Animals NMBU).

Bachelor students in child welfare informed about work with bachelor thesis

Today I informed bachelor students in child welfare about the organization of work with the bachelor thesis next Spring. Perhaps 30 students were present, for half an hour or so.

Another election for the UiS board lost

Today the election for the board of University of Stavanger ended, and the results have been communicated to candidates. Among temporarily employed education and research staff, I got 11 of 71 votes not including blank votes, or in other words 15% of the votes. This makes me 2nd deputy representative in the board 0101.2016-31.07.2017, given that there were three candidates and that I came in 3rd place.

Paper on mother/child relations to be presented at MAN´s 5th research seminar

On Saturday December 5th I will present my paper "Mor og barn-relasjoner hos ulv og andre rovpattedyr, og hvordan disse (ikke) tas hensyn til" [Mother and child relations among wolves and other carnivore mammals, and how these are being respected] during Minding Animals Norway´s 5th research seminar, which takes place at NMBU (Ås).

6 hours of teaching in UiS EVU course - 19 this week

Today I taught for 6 hours (8.30-14.45) in the course "Philosophy of science and health care ethics" (course code FXPSH100) at UiS EVU, Måltidets hus - 3 hours of presenting, and 3 hours of commenting students´ presentations. The topic was ethics. Altogether I have now taught for 19 hours these last three days. The course is thus half-way to the finish line.

Umwelt review article submitted

Today I have submitted "The biosemiotic glossary project: Umwelt" to Biosemiotics, on behalf of Riin Magnus, Carlo Brentari and myself, after we finished editing/revising it.

7 hours of teaching in UiS EVU course

Today I taught for 7 hours (8.30-16.00) in the course "Philosophy of science and health care ethics" (course code FXPSH100) at UiS EVU, Måltidets hus - 4 hours of presenting, and 3 hours of commenting students´ presentations. The topic was ethics.

UiS board elections: Endorsed by Øyvind Foss

Øyvind Foss, former pro-rector at the Stavanger University College (the precursor to UiS), recently posted the debate article "Morten Tønnessen bør velges til UiS styret" [Morten Tønnessen should be elected to the UiS board] at the University of Stavanger´s debate pages. I really appreciate his endorsement.

Debate on research productivity - UiS board elections

A couple of days ago I posted "Vi må ha ambisjoner for forskningen!" [We need ambitions for research!] on the University of Stavanger debate pages, in reply to a post by Svein Tuastad, "59 poeng" [59 [publication] points]. Yesterday he replied, with the post "Kulturforklaringa" [the culture explanation].

UiS board elections

This news story from the webpage of University of Stavanger links to the elections for the board of UiS, which are taking place these days.

Umwelt review article finished

On Monday this week I finished a full draft of the review article "The Biosemiotic Glossary Project: Umwelt", which I am co-writing with Carlo Brentari and Riin Magnus. It is now being checked by my co-authors before we submit.

6 hours of teaching in UiS EVU course

Today I taught for 6 hours (9.30-16.00) in the course "Philosophy of science and health care ethics" (course code FXPSH100) at UiS EVU, Måltidets hus. The topic was introduction to ethics and how to prepare an academic presentation.

Three UiS election-related open meetings attended

On November 18th, Wednesday this week, I attended all three open meetings at University of Stavanger in relation to the upcoming elections of representatives for the UiS board. While I was an attendee only during the meetings for permanent scientific staff and administrative staff, I was one of the candidates presented during the meeting for temporarily employed education and research staff. Attendance varied from ca. 25 during the other two meetings, to 9 during "my" meeting.

Available by telephone during exams

Tuesday 17th of November I was available by phone during the UiS Business school Examen Philosophicum Multiple Choice exam. The same was the case the day before, for Department of media culture and social sciences.

Exam questions composed

Not long ago I took part, in a secondary role, in composing exam questions for University of Stavanger´s Department of social studies in Examen Philosophicum (course code SVEXPHIL10), for the home exam.

441 Multiple Choice exam papers graded

Today and yesterday I have "graded" (approved/not approved) 237 exam papers in SVEXPHIL4 and 204 exam papers in SVEXPHIL6, altogheter 441 Multiple Choice exam papers in Examen Philosophicum. The latter was graded for Department of media culture and social sciences, the former for UiS Business School.

Open meetings today on UiS elections

News story at the webpage of University of Stavanger: "Husk allmøter i dag med kandidatene til ansattes represententanter i UiS' styre" [Remember open meetings today with the candidates for employees´ representatives in the board of UiS]. I am running for the position for temporarily employed education and research staff.

The open meetings were also announced yesterday (see news story).

Debate article: Where now for the University of Stavanger?

I have just composed the debate article Hvor nå for UiS? [Where now for the University of Stavanger?], which has been posted on the debate pages of UiS. Amongst other things I write that UiS should in the future be organized as an independent foundation rather than as a public university under the government.

"Mentions of animals" chapter revised

Today I have finished revising the book chapter "A critical reading of mentions of animals in Norwegian political party programs" (see also previous posts).

IACS 2 to be held in Lublin, Poland - CFP out now

The Second Conference of the International Association for Cognitive Semiotics (IACS) will be held June 20-22, 2016 at Maria Curie-Sklodowska University, Lublin, Poland. Abstract deadline is January 10th 2016, for other deadlines see the conference webpage.

Invited plenary speakers include Maxine Sheets-Johnstone and Eva Jablonka.

UiS news story on candidates for UiS board; open meetings to be held November 18th

Here is the official UiS news story presenting (or rather listing) the candidates for the board of University of Stavanger. Open meetings where the candidates will present their electoral programs will be held on Wednesday November 18th. The meeting for temporarily employed education and research staff will be held at noon.

See also:

17 candidates for the UiS board election

Multiple Choice exam questions finalized

Today I have, in dialogue with course coordinator Cato Wittusen, finalized the exam questions for the Multiple Choice exam in Examen Philosophicum at UiS Business School (SVEXPHIL4) and Department of Media, Culture and Social Sciences (SVEXPHIL6) in Bokmål, Nynorsk and English.

17 candidates for the UiS board election

Today the deadline for nominating candidates for the board of University of Stavanger  expired. In the category of temporarily employed education and research staff, I am one of three candidates, along with Clemens Furnes (currently 1st deputy representative) and PhD scholar Sanne Lorentzen. Ten people are nominated as candidates for permanent faculty, four for administrative staff. Altogether there are thus 17 candidates, three of whom will be elected as permanent members of the UiS board, and six as deputy members.

Two 1-on-1 meetings

Yesterday I attended two 1-on-1 meetings at University of Stavanger´s Department of social studies, concerning my role as teacher in Examen Philosophicum, and course coordinator for bachelor thesis in child welfare. The first concerned Multiple Choice exam questions etc., the other important dates for the next semester.

Webpage of Norwegian animal ethics conference updated

This weekend I updated the webpage of Dyreetikkonferansen, the Norwegian animal ethics conference, with info on this year´s conference (December 4th, Oslo). I also updated the video subpage, with links to videos of last year´s conference.

8 hours of teaching, only interrupted by fire alarm

Today I taught for 8 hours in Examen philosophicum at UiS Business School (SVEXPHIL4, lecture and 3 seminars) and Department of Media, Culture and Social Science (SVEXPHIL6, lecture). Today´s topic was rationality theory.

Oh, and the fire alarm went off.

Outline of Special issue of Zeitschrift for Semiotik on biosemiotic ethics

I have just, with Jonathan Beever and Yogi Hendlin, finished a 3 page outline of our Special Issue of Zeitschrift for Semiotik on biosemiotic ethics.

9th newsletter of Minding Animals Norway

The 9th newsletter of Minding Animals Norway was distributed Wednesday this week. This was the first issue not to be edited by me - but by Frodde Bakke Bjerkevik and Gunnar Kornberg. The issue included the call for this year´s annual meeting.

5th Minding Animals research seminar to be held in Ås

At the recent board meeting of Minding Animals Norway (MAN), it was decided MAN´s 5th research seminar, which will be held Saturday December 5th, will be held in Ås, not in Oslo as said earlier. The seminar will take place at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, in  association with Minding Animals NMBU.

See also:

Board meeting of Minding Animals Norway chaired

Minding Animals Norway board meeting chaired; date and place of GM, research seminar

General Meeting of Minding Animals Norway to be held December 4th in Oslo

At the recent board meeting of Minding Animals Norway (MAN), it was decided that the General Meeting of MAN will be held in Oslo on Friday December 4th at 4 pm (not December 5th as earlier said). It was later decided the meeting will take place at the restaurant Funky Fresh Foods.

See also:

Board meeting of Minding Animals Norway chaired

Minding Animals Norway board meeting chaired; date and place of GM, research seminar

COST-action "GroupHouseNet" approved; to operate 2016-2019

The COST-action "GroupHouseNet", a research network (acronym for "Synergy for preventing damaging behaviour in group housed pigs and chickens"), has been funded. The network will coordinate research on various measures that can improve animal welfare for pigs and poultry in animal husbandry.

I have been involved in the application, and will now likely become one of the members of the COST-action´s Management Committee, which will consist of up to two members from each participating COST country. The network will be in operation for some 4 years, 2016-2019.

COST is short for European Cooperation in Science and Technology.

Minding Animals Conference 4 to be held in Mexico City

As was announced in the latest bulletin (#30) of Minding Animals International, which was recently distributed, Minding Animals Conference 4 will be held in Mexico city, in July 2018.

Anthropocene book introductory chapter finished

Last Friday I finished the introductory chapter to Thinking about animals in the age of the Anthropocene, "Introduction: Once upon a time in the Anthropocene", co-authored with Kristin Armstrong Oma.

Staff meeting attended

Today I have attended the staff meeting of University of Stavanger´s Department of social studies. The topic for discussion was the upcoming reorganising of faculties etc.

4 hours of teaching

Today I have taught for 4 hours at University of Stavangerś Department of social studies (2 seminars, topic: political philosophy).

Two UiA Head of Department job applications

This weekend I applied for the positions as Head of Department of University of Agder´s Department of Natural Science and Department of Religion, Philosophy and History.

Election of UiS rector: Boyesen reelected by wide margin; almost 10% voted blank

Marit Boyesen has been reelected as rector of University of Stavanger, with a surprisingly big share of the vote, see news story of the UiS webpage. Dag Husebø (43) will be pro-rector.

Altogether the two got 800 votes, while the challengers Einar Marburg and Gro Johnsen got only 420 votes. Boyesen´s margin of victory was especially big among administrative staff, here she won 3-1 (while she won about 2-1 among research and teaching staff, and 3-2 among students).

No fewer than 126 out of 1346 votes, or 9,4 %, were blank.

See also:

Election of UiS rector: Why I vote blank

Rector candidates debating in UiS debate forum

Open meeting with Marnburg and Johnsen attended

Two candidates for UiS rector

Board meeting of Minding Animals Norway chaired

Thursday last week I chaired a board meeting of Minding Animals Norway. Among the topics were possible proposals for revised Statutes, including membership arrangements, and our upcoming research seminar.

6 hours of teaching

Today I have taught for 6 hours. First a lecture in Examen Philosophicum at UiS Business School (SVEXPHIL4) / Department of Media, Culture and Social Science (SVEXPHIL6), and then two seminars in Examen Philosophicum at Department of Social Studies (SVEXPHIL10). 

The topic for the lecture was hermeneutics; the topic for the seminars political philosophy.

Second Biosemiotics editorial published online: "Organisms reshape sign relations"

Our second editorial in Biosemiotics has appeared online, and is freely available as PDF. Reference:

Sharov, Alexei, Timo Maran and Morten Tønnessen. Organisms reshape sign relations. Editorial. Biosemiotics 8(3). Published online October 16th (DOI 10.1007/s12304-015-9251-2).

Book manuscript submitted; new book title

I have just submitted 30 files to Lexington Books - the edited collection work-titled Animals in the Anthropocene, edited by me, Silver Rattasepp and Kristin Armstrong Oma, and now titled Thinking about Animals in the Age of the Anthropocene.