Meeting at IMKS regarding course description revision

This Thursday I attended a meeting at Department of Media, Culture and Social Science regarding revision of the course description for the philosophy of science and research methods course that I will be responsible for starting this autumn.

Examiner guidelines revised

This week I revised/corrected the examiner guidelines for "Welfare state and welfare policy"´s home exam (essay).

3 hours of teaching

Last Thursday I taught for 3 hours - summary and exam preparation in "Welfare state and welfare policy".

Supervision

Today I have supervised a fourth student, time 4. Done.

Teaching - welfare state

Today I have taught for one hour, and attended one more hour of teaching, in "Welfare state and welfare policy". Second article by Bo Rothstein...

Supervisions

Today I have completed three fourth-round supervisions. One remaining, another prolonged.

One more peer-review

This winter I have done a peer-review for Biosemiotics.

Peer-review

This Spring I have done another peer-review for Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences.

Popular scientific summary of field work prepared

The last week or so I have prepared a 7 page PDF document with text, images and links that sums up field work on people´s perception of wolves and related animals carried out at various locations in Norway in Spring 2015 as part of the project "Animals in changing environments: Cultural mediation and semiotic analysis", specifically the subproject "Representations (both Problematic and Romanticizing) of Large Mammals, especially Wolves". The document will be distributed and made publicly available shortly.

Dissemination article published by ScienceNordic.com in 2016

The research dissemination article "Researchers: Facts alone are not enough in the debate about wolves", by Benedicte Pentz, appeared on ScienceNordic.com on May 7th 2016. The article features an interview with me on field work carried out in Spring 2015. Similar articles have appeared on uis.no, phys.org and forskning.no.

No grading of Ex.Phil. papers for Department of health studies

I have gotten to know that I will not get to examine any papers in Ex.Phil. for nursing students at Department of health studies this year, since I would be 50% more expensive than alternatives. I have been involved in grading exam papers for them since 2009 (2009-2016).

Feedback provided on application draft

Today I have provided feedback on a PhD application for a colleague at my department.

Google Scholar: 195 citations

In Google Scholar I am now listed with 195 citations (+29 since January 19th count). 2016 publications now stand with a record-high 55 citations (+8 since January), 2017 publications for now with 16 citations (+12). My h-index remains 7 and my i10-index 5.

MAN board meeting

Today I chaired the second board meeting of the new board of Minding Animals Norway. Among other things we made plans for a first Oslo work meeting, and discussed our use of Facebook and other social media.

Course description pending revisions, decision

The course description for the master course on philosophy of science and research methods in the Master in Energy, Environment and Society has not yet been approved by the Dean of Faculty of social sciences, due to formalities. It is now pending some revisions. There are limits to what I can accept and still be responsible for.

Supervision

Today I gave another supervision, 3rd time.

Second Announcement: "From beak to tail – mechanisms underlying damaging behaviour in laying hens and pigs", ISAE 2017 Satellite Meeting

Second Announcement for the ISAE 2017 Satellite Meeting:

"From beak to tail – mechanisms underlying damaging  behaviour in laying hens and pigs"

Organized jointly by the FareWellDock Network and the GroupHouseNet COST Action.

By joining efforts on an interspecies level, we have the opportunity to greatly enhance the understanding of the mechanisms underlying tail biting and feather pecking. Both behaviours are challenging, from an animal welfare and from an economic point-of-view, while in several countries, as well as at the EU level, the ethical justification of tail docking and beak trimming is currently being debated. 

This full-day meeting will be held at the ISAE 2017 congress venue on August 7th , 2017, starting at 9am. The meeting will focus on two main themes: 'Mechanisms underlying the link between health and damaging behaviour' and 'Predisposing factors for damaging behaviour during early development'. Both themes will be introduced by invited experts, followed by short research presentations by participants, and then elaborated on in inter-species discussion groups. In addition, the program will include a networking session, with the aim to facilitate knowledge exchange and future cooperation between researchers working on damaging behaviour in pigs and poultry.

Registration for the meeting will be open until May 15th, 2017. The meeting participation is limited to 80 persons, so early registration is recommended. 

For further information on the programme and venue, and on how to register, please see the "Beak to Tail" homepage or contact: anna.valros@helsinki.fi.

The workshop is sponsored by Topigs Norsvin, RSPCA and COST.

Exam document and assessment guidelines prepared

Today I have prepared the "exam document" for the home exam in "Welfare state and welfare policies", with assessment guidelines.

References to my work in co-authored manifesto article

Some of my work is referred to (p. 15) in a manifesto article which I have co-authored:

Favareau, Don, Kalevi Kull, Gerald Ostdiek, Timo Maran, Louise Westling, Paul Cobley, Frederik Stjernfelt, Myrdene Anderson, Morten Tønnessen and Wendy Wheeler 2017. How can the study of the humanities inform the study ofbiosemiotics? Biosemiotics 10(1). DOI: 10.1007/s12304-017-9287-6 (published online April 8th 2017).

The references are to:

Beever, J., & Tønnessen, M. (2013). "Darwin und die Englische moral": the moral consequences of Uexküll’s umwelt theory. Biosemiotics, 6(3), 437–447.

Tønnessen, M. (2003). Umwelt ethics. Sign Systems Studies, 31(1), 281–299.

Tønnessen, M. (2009). Signs grow – But should they? Semioethics and the dominant semiosis of Homo sapiens sapiens (= Meditationes Semioticae I). Hortus Semioticus, 4, 81–84.

Tønnessen, M., & Beever, J. (2014). Beyond sentience: Biosemiotics as foundation for animal and environmental ethics. In J. Hadley & E. Aaltola (Eds.), Animal ethics and philosophy: questioning the orthodoxy (pp. 47–62). London: Rowman & Littlefield International.

von Uexküll, J. (2013). Darwin and the English morality. Translation of "Darwin und die Englische moral", Deutsche Rundschau 173: 215–242. (trans.) M. Tønnessen, (Ed.), J. Beever. Biosemiotics, 6(3), 449–471.

Two research articles to be added to compulsory readings

I have just suggested a couple of research articles to add to the compulsory readings in Examen Philosophicum at Department of social studies - Næss and Polanyi. To be approved by study coordinator, who requested such changes (namely to existing supplement text books with a few research articles) as a follow-up to NOKUT´s evaluation of the department´s bachelor studies in social work and child welfare.

"How can the study of the humanities inform the study of biosemiotics?" published online

The manifesto-like article referred to below has just appeared online.

Favareau, Don, Kalevi Kull, Gerald Ostdiek, Timo Maran, Louise Westling, Paul Cobley, Frederik Stjernfelt, Myrdene Anderson, Morten Tønnessen and Wendy Wheeler. How can the study of the humanities inform the study of biosemiotics? Biosemiotics 10(1). DOI: 10.1007/s12304-017-9287-6 (published online April 8th 2017).

Planning meeting on Skopje GroupHouseNet stakeholder workshop

I have just taken part in a planning meeting of GroupHouseNet (Synergy for damaging behaviour in group housed pigs and chickens) in relation to our planned stakeholder workshop in Skopje, Macedonia, on June 7th.

Updated Brief Academic CV

I have updated 4-5 points in my Brief Academic CV, see the right-hand margin of this blog.

To teach philosophy of science and ethics course for The Norwegian Air Ambulance Foundation/UiS

I have now clarified with University of Stavanger´s Department of health studies and Stiftelsen Norsk Luftambulanse [The Norwegian Air Ambulance Foundation] that I will be responsible for the course "Philosophy of science and health care ethics" this autumn. This is the second time I will be giving this course, as part of the master program Pre-Hospital Critical Care. This time around, the course is offered by Department of health studies, and I will be paid by The Norwegian Air Ambulance Foundation.

Joining UiS program area on welfare research

I have joined the University of Stavanger program area for "Velferdstenesteforsking" [welfare services research], which is headed by Siv Oltedal.

Supervision

Today I offered another supervision, second out of three times.

New philosophy of science course designed

Last night (sic) I finished the totally revised course desciption for the "Philosophy of science and research methods" course I will be responsible for as part of University of Stavanger´s new "Master in Energy, Environment and Society", starting this autumn. Includes 13 compulsory readings.

3 hours of teaching - political philosophy

Today I taught for 3 hours in the course "Welfare state and welfare policies", on autonomy and paternalism.

CRIStin reporting for 2016

For 2016, I (initially) registered 33 entries in CRIStin, including 11 that I supposed would result in publication points. My 2016 reporting is available here, my overall reporting in CRIStin (some 153 entries) here.

Supervision

Today I supervised three students, round three.