Today I have had half an article writing day, with a work meeting attended in relation to the refugee-themed article I am co-writing with Maren Sagvaag Retland, "The rights and living conditions of unaccompanied minor migrants in the Schengen Area". This brings the number of writing days so far this Spring up to 9,5, including 6,5 article writing days.
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UTOPISM. *** In the long run, nothing else is realistic. *** Welcome to the English language blog of Morten Tønnessen, Professor of philosophy at University of Stavanger's Department of Social Studies.
Upcoming academic events
Recent research dissemination
- "Hvordan kan filosofi hjelpe oss å forstå miljøkrisen?" (interview in the podcast ReFill, June 2025)
- Alle egg i samme kurv (Ren mat, mars 2024)
- Can ‘degrowth’ solve our ecological, social & economic problems? (Mongabay, January 2024)
- Etikk rundt kloning av dyr (interview in Nyhetsmorgen, NRK1 & P1, July 15th 2025)
- Hvordan er det å være et dyr? (gjestekommentar, Dyrenes forsvarer nr. 4, 2024)
- Ulvejakt (Store norske leksikon)
- Video of "ecosemiotics" conference presentation (25th Gathering in Biosemiotics, Rotterdam, August 2025)
What does "utopian realism" mean?
Brief academic CV
- Awarded "Outstanding young researchers" stipend 2017 (University of Stavanger)
- Chair of local organising committee of 2015 conference by "Animals in changing environments: Cultural mediation and semiotic analysis", main organizer of the Tartu workshops on the semiotics/phenomenology of perception (Feb. 2009), co-organizer of the international conference "Zoosemiotics and Animal Representations" (April 2011), co-founder of the annual Norwegian animal ethics conference (2012-)
- Chair of Minding Animals Norway (2011-2018), President of Nordic association for Semiotic Studies (2017-2023) and Secretary 2011-2017 and 2023-, member of the Executive Committee of the International Association for Semiotic Studies (IASS-AIS) representing Norway (2014-) and the Nordic Association for Semiotic Studies (NASS) (2011-)
- Chair of steering group for Cognitive and behavioral neuroscience lab (Cognitive Lab, University of Stavanger), 2021-2023
- Chair of the board of Center for gender studies (UiS) 2019-2020
- Chair of the UIS Faculty of social sciences´ Doctoral committee 2019-2020
- Doctoral degree from University of Tartu (Department of Semiotics), Estonia. Title of PhD thesis (defended December 15th 2011): "Umwelt Transition and Uexküllian Phenomenology. An Ecosemiotic Analysis of Norwegian Wolf Management"
- Editor-in-Chief of the journal Biosemiotics (published by Springer Nature) July 1st 2013-2020 (Lead EiC 2018-2020). Member of the editorial board 2010-
- Head of department at University of Stavanger’s Department of Social Studies (2021-2023), until Jan. 5th 2023
- Member of Norway´s Council for Animal Ethics (2017-2027) representing animal protection NGOs
- Member of the editorial board of "Wonderful World - Den nordiske festivalen for filosofi og vitenskap" (Kåkå, Stavanger, Norway) 2022-2025; member of program council 2025-
- Member of the editorial board of Environmental and Sustainability Indicators (Elsevier); Associate editor of TRACE ∴ Finnish Journal for Human-Animal Studies ( Finnish Society for Human-Animal Studies); member of the Associate Editorial Collective of the journal Politics and Animals (Lund University), member of the editorial board of Eikon - Journal on Semiotics and Visual Culture (Universidade da Beira Interior), member of international advisory panel for Journal of Quality-of-Life Studies (UPM Press, Malaysia)
- Member of The Greenhouse Center for Environmental Humanities" (University of Stavanger) 2022-
- Member of UiS research program areas "Filosofi og subjektivitet" [Philosophy and subjectivity] 2018-2022 and "The Greenhouse: A Cross-Disciplinary Environmental Humanities Initiative" 2017-2022
- Member of UIS steering group for professional study in psychology 2021-2023
- Professor in philosophy at University of Stavanger’s Department of Social Studies (100% position, permanent, starting August 1st 2016 (associate professor 2016-2018, professor promotion 7th September 2018))
- Project leader for the Norwegian research group of the research project "Animals in Changing Environments: Cultural Mediation and Semiotic Analysis" (EEA Norway Grants EMP 151, 2013-2016)
- Substitute member for Norway in the Management Committee of COST Action CA 15134, "Synergy for preventing damaging behaviour in group housed pigs and chickens (GroupHouseNet) (2016-2020)
- Vice-Dean of Research at University of Stavanger´s Faculty of Social Sciences (2019-2020)
- Responsible (fagansvarlig) for environmental ethics in Store Norske Leksikon (snl.no)
My profile pages
My doctoral dissertation
Publications available online
- A hundred introductions to semiotics, for a million students: Survey of semiotics textbooks and primers in the world
- Abstraction, cruelty and other aspects of animal play (exemplified by the playfulness of Muki and Maluca)
- Analyse av partiprogrammer for 2013-2017 utført for Dyreetikkonferansen 2013
- Animal Umwelten in a changing world: Zoosemiotic perspectives (Tartu University Press)
- Anticipating the societal transformation required to solve the environmental crisis in the 21st century (2021)
- Anticipation and Change: The 11th Conference of the Nordic Association for Semiotic Studies (NASS XI), Abstract Book
- Biosemiotics virtual issue: Jesper Hoffmeyer’s Biosemiotic Legacy
- Current Human Ecology in the Amazon and beyond: a Multi-Scale Ecosemiotic Approach
- Cutting the Gordian Knot: Two Addictions at the Root of Our Climate Change Problem
- En ny teori om alt? Bokanmeldelse av Drude von der Fehr (red.), Den levende kroppen
- How can the study of the humanities inform the study of biosemiotics?
- Human development, inequality and social risks in Latin-America and the Nordic countries
- Hva Arne Næss kan lære oss om økonomifagets tverrfaglighet (What Arne Næss can teach us about the interdisciplinary nature of economics)
- Introducing biosemiotic ethics
- Introduction to the Special Issue ‘Umwelt Theory and Phenomenology’
- Is a wolf wild as long as it does not know that it is being thoroughly managed? (2010)
- Jesper Hoffmeyer's Biosemiotic Legacy
- Kalevi Kull and the rewilding of biosemiotics. Introduction (2012)
- Karbonfangst i lys av generasjonsrettferdighet
- Kritisk realisme for viderekomne samfunnsvitere (book review)
- Making the Umwelt Bubble of the Modern Synthesis Burst
- Mapping Human Impact – Expanding Horizons: Interdisciplinary Integration (2011)
- Menneskedyret og dets plass i verden (2014)
- Miljøvern for dummies (book review)
- Nosology and semiotics (in Google Books)
- Organisms Reshape Sign Relations (Biosemiotics editorial, 2015)
- Phenomenology and biosemiotics
- Semiotic agency: Science beyond mechanism - back matter (Glossary and index)
- Semiotic agency: Science beyond mechanism - front matter (incl. detailed table of contents)
- Semiotics in the wild: Festschrift in honor of Kalevi Kull on the occasion of his 60th birthday
- Special issue on biosemiotic ethics (Zeitschrift für Semiotik)
- Statistikerens guide til utopia II: En demografisk analyse av øko-visjoner om befolkningsnedgang i det tredje årtusen
- The changing imagery of the big bad wolf (2009/2012)
- The Ethics of Laying Hen Genetics
- The first decade of Biosemiotics
- The nature view held by environmentalists. Attitudes in the Norwegian environmental establishment
- The semiotics of animal representations: Introduction (by Morten Tønnessen and Kadri Tüür, 2014)
- The statistician´s guide to utopia (1): The future of growth (2008)
- Thinking about animals in the age of the Anthropocene (Google Books)
- Towards Synthesis of Biology and Semiotics (Biosemiotics editorial, 2015)
- Umwelt and language (in Google Books)
- Umwelt ethics (2003)
- Umwelt transition and Uexküllian phenomenology: An ecosemiotic analysis of Norwegian wolf management (introduction) (2011)
- Umwelt transitions: Uexküll and environmental change
- Understanding subjecthood and experience (correspondence, Biosemiotics, 2024 - read-only)
- Visjon 2040: Fra overlagt rovdrift til Utopi Buane
- Wasted GDP in the USA
- Welfare in Latin America and the Nordic countries – editorial notes
- Where I end and you begin: The threshold of the self and the intrinsic value of the phenomenal world
- Wolf land (2010)
Existentialist electronica
Past academic events (2023-2025)
- Invited speaker at the colloquium/conference «After Nagel: Science and the phenomenology of animals subjects” (Radhoud university, the Netherlands, March 6-7th 2023)
- "Wasted growth?" Presentation in the HDRO research seminar (for the Human Development Report Office, UNDP), March 21st 2023 at 11 am EST
- Keynote speaker at the conference “Contemporary Umwelt Analysis: Applications for Culture and Ecological Relations” (18th-19th of April, 2023, University of Tartu, Estonia)
- The Greenhouse Research talk: Morten Tønnessen: «Semiotic agency – science beyond mechanism» (HG N-105, UIS Ullandhaug campus, Wednesday 26 April 2023 14:15–15:30)
- WONDERFUL WORLD - den nordiske festivalen for filosofi og vitenskap (Stavanger, June 1-4th 2023)
- Official opening of Cognitive lab (May 30th, University of Stavanger)
- Har dyr fri vilje – og derfor rettigheter? Wonderful world, Saturday 3rd of June 2023 at Loftet, Tou, Stavanger, Norway
- Fremtidsmennesket? Wonderful world, Thursday 1st of June 2023 at Scene 2, Tou, Stavanger, Norway
- Cognitive Semiotics Seminar: "Phenomenological triangulation in the study of humans and animals as subjects of phenomenology – perspectives from cognitive semiotics and biosemiotics" (Lund university & Zoom, June 1st 2023)
- 13th conference of the Nordic Association for Semiotic Studies: "Feeling – Skill – Knowledge" (Helsinki, Finland, 7–9 June 2023)
- 23rd Gathering in Biosemiotics (University of Copenhagen, July 31st - August 4th 2023)
- Invited speaker at Henrik Steffens conference (Stavanger, September 8-9th 2023)
- Plenary speaker at AISV-IAVS 2023 - 13th Conference of the IAVS-AISV: Visual Semiotics & Agency (Universidad de Bogotá Jorge Tadeo Lozano, Bogotá, Colombia, September 28-30, 2023)
- International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies 21st Annual Conference: "Toward a People First Economy: A World to Win" (Rotterdam, 21-25th August 2023)
- (Un)Common Worlds III Human-Animal Studies Conference (University of Oulu, University and Derby and online October 4-6th 2023)
- Presentation in Lund university´s Cognitive Semiotics Seminar: "If looks could kill: The human ecology of visible and overlooked worlds in the perspective of Umwelt phenomenology" (Thursday November 16th at 3-5 p.m.)
- Dyreetikkonferansen 2023: Er kjærlighet nok? Når omsorgen for dyr går galt (Litteraturhuset, Oslo, 12. desember 2023)
- Conference “The active forces of development and semiotic agency (Developmental and semiotic agency)" (Institute of Scientific Information for Social Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences (INION RAN), Moscow, Russia and online April 10th 2024)
- Guest lecture "The Anthropocene: Alpha and omega?" (Instititum Studiorum Humanitatis, Alma mater Europaea (AMEU–ISH), Ljubljana, Slovenia, May 14th 2024)
- Two guest lectures, including "Semiotic agency and the Anthropocene" (University of Trento, Trento, Italy, May 9th and May 10th)
- Twenty-Eighth Annual Meeting of the International Association for Environmental Philosophy (IAEP), virtual conference, May 22-24th 2024
- Commentator at Einar Duenger Bøhn´s talk "Jaktens etikk og filosofi" (Wonderful world, Stavanger, May 30th 2024)
- Commentator at Rupert Sheldrake´s talk "Is the Universe Conscious?" (Wonderful world, Stavanger, May 30th 2024)
- Panel discussant, "Panpsykisme – brobygger mellom materie og bevissthet?" (Wonderful world, Stavanger, May 31st 2024)
- WONDERFUL WORLD - den nordiske festivalen for filosofi og vitenskap 2024 (Stavanger, May 30-June 2 2024)
- 24th Gathering in Biosemiotics, Bloemfontein, South Africa (University of the free state, 17-21 June 2024 - hybrid)
- ISQOLS 22nd Annual Conference, “Human Happiness and Wellbeing in an Uncertain World” (Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, 25–28 June 2024)
- Plenary speaker at IACS-5 "Crisis of meaning" (Lund, Sweden, August 15-17th 2024)
- Fourth World Congress of Environmental History, “Transitions, transformations and transdisciplinarity: Histories beyond history” (University of Oulu, Finland, 19-23 August 2024 - hybrid)
- "Har økonomer for stor makt over økonomifeltet?" (Panel, Kåkånomics 2024, October 23 2024, Stavanger)
- Kåkånomics 2024 (23.-26. oktober 2024, Stavanger)
- Academic seminar: Ethics in a time of animal crisis (University of Stavanger, November 22, 2024)
- Dyreetikkonferansen 2024: Er du bevisst dyrs bevissthet? (Litteraturhuset, Oslo, 20. november 2024)
- Henrik Steffens-forelesningen 2024, by Alice Crary: "All justice is animal justice" (University of Stavanger, november 21, 2024)
- Langsikt-seminar: Hvordan få mest mulig velferd for pengene, med Morten Tønnessen (Oslo, November 21, 2024)
- anel "Drømmen om verdensrommet", Wonderful Tour 2025 (Vitenfabrikken, Sandnes, March 5th 2025)
- Research talk after screening of "Life and Other Problems" (Odeon cinema in Stavanger, April 23rd 2025)
- "Kan Norge bli et økosentrisk demokrati?" (panel discussion), (Stavanger, May 31st, at Wonderful world festival)
- "Kom Mars du skjønne milde" (May 30th at Wonderful World festival, Stavanger, Norway)
- Commentator: "John Ellis: Teorien om alt - fysikkens hellige gral?" (Wonderful World, Stavanger, March 28th 2025)
- Panel discussion: «Er alle egentlig bare én person?», introduction by Hedda Hassel Mørch (Tou, Wonderful World, March 30th 2025)
- WONDERFUL WORLD - den nordiske festivalen for filosofi og vitenskap 2025 (May 29-June 1 2025, Stavanger, Norway)
- The 14th conference of the Nordic Association for Semiotic Studies along with the 15th Annual Lotman Days, “Creativity – Complexity – Intelligence“ (Tallinn, Estonia, June 11–13, 2025)
- The 25th Annual Gatherings in Biosemiotics (Erasmus University Rotterdam, Netherlands, August 25-29th 2025)
- 23rd Annual Conference of the International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies (ISQOLS 2025), “Redefining Progress: Achieving Sustainable Well-being for All” (Luxembourg July 22-25th 2025)
- Cognition and Evolution in Historical and Social Research (Lund university, September 23-24th, 2025)
- First opponent at ph.d. defence of Margrethe Voll Storaas (Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, Oslo, Norway, October 17th, 2025)
- Dyreetikkonferansen 2025 (Oslo, 17. november 2025)
- Research seminar: "Phenomenology and Research", with Scott Churchill (University of Stavanger, Nov. 19th 2025)
Past academic events (2020-2022)
- “…just as alluring as instructive…” Henrik Steffens’ Concept of Nature in Science, Humanities and Arts around 1800 (University of Copenhagen, October 7-9, 2021)
- 15th World Congress of Semiotics: Semiotics in the Lifeworld (Thessaloniki, Greece, August 30-September 3, 2022)
- 20th gathering in biosemiotics (digital conference organized by Palacký university, Czech Republic, November 27-29th 2020)
- 21st Gathering in Biosemiotics (July 26-29th 2021)
- 22nd Gathering in Biosemiotics (Olomouc, Czech Republic June 27-July 1, 2022)
- 50 % seminar (mid-way evaluation) of Emilie Bryne, University of Stavanger September 30th 2020
- Dyreetikkonferansen 2020 (Norway´s Animal ethics conference 2020) - held digitally September 24th 2020
- Dyreetikkonferansen 2022 (Oslo, November 16th 2022)
- International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies 18th Annual Conference (live joint-session webinar August 25-28, 2020)
- ISQOLS 2021 CONFERENCE “Quality-of-life and Adaptation in a Virulent World” (August 25-27, 2021)
- ISQOLS 2022 conference: "Quality-of-Life for Resilient Futures: Sustainability, Equity, and Wellbeing" (Burlington, Vermont, USA August 3-6, 2022)
- Opponent at Juan Mendoza-Collazos´ ph.d. defence of the thesis "Agency and Artefacts: A cognitive semiotic exploration of design" (Lund university, Lund, Sweden, December 17th 2022)
- Panel discussion "Nesten et menneske?" at documentary film festival Human rights, human wrongs (Oslo, February 27th 2020)
- Presentation of ideas from the book "Semiotic agency: Science beyond mechanism" (with Alexei Sharov) at the Biosemiotics Glade (online, April 16th 2021 at 4 pm. CET)
- The XII conference of the Nordic Association for Semiotic Studies, “Meaning in Perception and the Senses” (Vilnius University, 5–7 November, 2021)
- Workshop "Animal (Pre-)History, Agency and Legacy" (digital workshop, University of Bielefeld, Germany, May 10-12th 2021)
- Workshop (Network for welfare research): Welfare and migration (Stavanger January 28, 2020)
Past academic events (2017-2019)
- Final dissemination meeting of GroupHouseNet (COST action) (Paris, France, December 10th 2019)
- Popular science lecture - tirsdagsforedraget: Mennesket som global art (Museum of Archaeology, Stavanger, Norway, November 5th 2019)
- Kunnskapstørst (popular science lecture): Hadde Arne Næss rett om miljøkrisen? (Måltidets hus, September 19th 2019, Stavanger - Forskningsdagene)
- Dyreetikkonferansen 2019: Menneskets mest avlede venn? Dagens husdyravl i etisk lys (Oslo, Norway November 21st 2019)
- 14th world congress of semiotics (Buenes Aires, Argentina, September 9-13th 2019)
- International Human Science Research Conference 2019: Joy, suffering and death - understanding contrasting existential phenomena in the lifespan (IHSRC 2019, Molde University College, Norway, June 24-28th 2019)
- 19th annual gathering in Biosemiotics (Moscow, Russia, July 1-5th 2019)
- Terra: Complex relations and dependencies on the Earth (New frontiers in environmental philosophy 2), University of Tromsø, Norway, June 6-7th 2019
- 11th conference of the Nordic Association for Semiotic Studies (NASS XI, Stavanger, Norway 2019)
- Professor promotion talk (summer closure event, Department of social studies, UiS, June 21st 2019)
- 6th international code biology conference (Friedrichsdorf, Germany, June 4-6th 2019)
- Workshop on welfare research held by Network for welfare research, University of Stavanger (Sola Strandhotel, Sola, Norway, April 30th 2019)
- 6th OECD World Forum on Statistics, Knowledge and Policy, "The future of Well-being" (Incheon, South Korea 27-29 November 2018)
- 18th gathering in biosemiotics (Berkeley, California - US, 17-20 June 2018)
- “Semiotics of hybrid natures: anthropogenic ecosystems, multimodalities, transformed Umwelten” (Tartu, Estonia, November 8-10th 2018)
- 1st gathering for "Jakt i endring" network (Oslo Science Park 5-6th June 2018)
- 2018 OECD Social Policy Forum - Social policy for shared prosperity: Embracing the future (Montréal, Canada, May 14th 2018)
- Welfare research seminar at Universidad de la Habana, Cuba (January 24-25th 2018)
- Minding Animals Conference 4 (Mexico city, January 17-24th 2018)
- First WID.world conference (Paris, France, 14-15 December 2017)
- 6th Norwegian Animal Ethics Conference (Oslo, November 21st 2017))
- Minding Animals Norway research seminar 2017 (Oslo November 20th 2017)
- Stakeholder workshop held by GroupHouseNet (Skopje, Macedonia - June 8th 2017)
- Session "Biosemiotics in dialogue" at 13th World Congress of Semiotics (Kaunas, Lithuania, June 2017)
- NoSP 2017, the 15th annual conference of the Nordic Society for phenomenology, entitled "Phenomenology and the body- Contemporary perspectives" (Trondheim, Norway - 15-17 June 2017)
- Guest lecture in UiS master course «Miljø- og vannhistorie - Et historiografisk perspektiv», March 20th 2017
- Guest lecture at University of Oslo´s Department of criminology and sociology of law, in "Grønn (øko-global) kriminologi" (Oslo, February 23rd 2017)
- 13th World Congress of Semiotics (Kaunas, Lithuania, 2017)
- 10th conference of the Nordic Association for Semiotic Studies (Kaunas, Lithuania - 26-30 June 2017)
Past academic events (2015-2016)
- 4th Norwegian research seminar of "Animals in changing environments: Cultural mediation and semiotic analysis" (University of Stavanger, Norway, December 15-16th 2016)
- Management Committee meeting and Work Group meetings in COST project GroupHouseNet (Belgrade, Serbia - November 10-11 2016)
- Annual meeting of Minding Animals Norway 2016 (Oslo November 23 2016)
- 5th Norwegian Animal Ethics Conference (Oslo November 23rd 2016)
- IVSA (The International Visual Sociology Association (IVSA) 2016 (Lillehammer, Norway, June 22-24)
- 16th Gathering in Biosemiotics (Prague, Czech republic, summer 2016)
- Phenomenology and beyond: 14th annual conference of the Nordic Society for Phenomenology (University of Iceland, Reykjavík, 21–23 April 2015)
- Seminar on Alice Crary´s Inside Ethics (University of Stavanger, Norway, April 25th 2016)
- 3rd International Conference in Code Biology (Urbino, Italy, May 24-28th 2016)
- Vargsymposiet 2016 (Vålådalen - Sverige, 7-9/3 2016)
- Concluding symposium for Centre for cognitive semiotics - "Hyr människan blev ett så annorlunda djur" (Lund University, Sweden, December 17th 2015)
- 5th research seminar of Minding Animals Norway (Ås, December 5th 2015)
- Norwegian Animal Ethics Conference (Dyreetikkonferansen) 2015 (December 4th 2015, Litteraturhuset, Oslo)
- General Meeting of Minding Animals Norway (Oslo, December 4th 2015 at 4pm)
- Seminar: "Hva er galt med naturen?" (Bærum kulturhus, October 21st 2015)
- NASS IX: Semiotic (un-)predictability (Tartu, Estonia, August 17-20th 2015)
- Animals in the Anthropocene - Human-animal relations in a changing semiosphere (Stavanger, Norway, September 17-19 2015)
- 15th International Gathering in Biosemiotics (Copenhagen, Denmark, June 30 - July 4 2015)
- Verdikommisjonen debate meeting at Kåkå - Kverulantkatedralen (Stavanger, Norway, June 4th 2015 at 19)
- 3rd research seminar of "Animals in changing environments: Cultural mediation and semiotic analysis" (Stavanger, Norway, June 5, 2015)
- 2nd International Conference in Code Biology (Jena, Germany, June 16-20 2015)
- Lecture on deep ecology (Regional Arena for Samtidsdans, Sandnes kulturhus April 9th 2015)
- Dyreverndagen (Norwegian Animal Protection Day) (Oslo, March 21st 2015, dogA)
- Minding Animals 3 (Delhi, India, January 2015)
- Guest lecture "Menneskeveldet - menneskets globale økologiske hierarki" (University of Oslo, February 11, 2015)
Past academic events (2012-2014)
- 11th Annual Meeting of the Nordic Society for Phenomenology (Copenhagen, Denmark, April 18-20 2013)
- 12th World Congress of Semiotics (Sofia, Bulgaria, September 16-20th 2014)
- 1st International Conference in Code Biology (Paris, France, May 21-23 2014)
- 1st International Conference on Interactivity, Language and Cognition (Odense, Denmark - September 12-14, 2012)
- 1st Norwegian research seminar of the research project "Animals in changing environments: Cultural mediation and semiotic analysis" (Stavanger, Norway - December 13th 2013)
- 27th International Summer School for Semiotic and Structural Studies (2012 - June 8-12, Imatra, Finland)
- 2nd research seminar of "Animals in changing environments: Cultural mediation and semiotic analysis" (Stavanger, Norway, October 14, 2014)
- 3rd Research Seminar of Minding Animals Norway (Oslo, August 23 2013)
- 4th research seminar of Minding Animals Norway (Oslo, September 5 2014)
- 5th Symposium of the Nordic Wittgenstein Society, "Wittgenstein and Phenomenology" (Stavanger, Norway, May 30-31 2014)
- Arne i 100 (100-year anniversary of Arne Næss - Oslo, Norway, January 27 2012)
- Art exhibition "Utenfor sirkelen" (MUST- Museum Stavanger), March 6th-June 15th 2014
- Book launch: Festschrift to Guri Larsen et al (Oslo, Norway, February 26th)
- Book launch: Norwegian HAS anthology (Domus Nova, Oslo, May 15 2013)
- Book presentation: The Semiotics of Animal Representations (Framing nature conference, April 29th 2014, Tartu - Estonia)
- Dyreetikkonferansen 2012: Dyret bak maten og mennesket bak forbrukeren (Oslo, Norway, September 21, 2012)
- Dyreetikkonferansen 2013: Dyrs natur under press - hvordan vi former ville dyr i vårt bilde (Oslo - Norway, August 22 2013)
- Dyreetikkonferansen [Norwegian Animal Ethics Conference] 2014: Fiskelykke (Trondheim, Norway, August 20th 2014)
- Eighth Conference of the Nordic Association for Semiotic Studies (NASS): Sign Evolution on Multiple Time Scales (Aarhus, Denmark - May 29-31 2013)
- First International Association for Cognitive Semiotics (IACS) Conference (Lund, Sweden, September 25-27, 2014)
- Framing Nature: Signs, Stories, and Ecologies of Meaning - EASLCE (Tartu, Estonia, April 29th-May 3rd 2014)
- Gatherings in Biosemiotics 13 (Castiglioncelli - Livorno, Italy, June 4-8 2013)
- Gatherings in Biosemiotics 14 (London, June 30 - July 4, 2014)
- Gatherings in biosemiotics 12 (Tartu, Estonia, July 17-22, 2012)
- General Meeting of Minding Animals Norway (Oslo, August 23 2013)
- General Meeting of Minding Animals Norway (Oslo, September 22, 2012)
- General Meeting of Minding Animals Norway (Oslo, September 5 2014)
- Guest lecture on early human Umwelt (Lund, Sweden, October 24 2013)
- Guest lecture: "Menneskeveldet - menneskets globale økologiske hierarki" (Oslo, Norway, October 23 2013)
- Language and Life workshop (Tartu, Estonia, July 15, 2012)
- Meeting of the editorial board of the journal Biosemiotics (at 14th Gathering in Biosemiotics, London July 3rd 2014)
- Minding Animals 2 (Utrecht, July 4-6, 2012)
- Minding Animals Norges forskningsseminar 2012: Dyr, menneske og mat: Dyreetikk i landbruket (Oslo, Norway, September 22, 2012)
- Presentation of the journal Biosemiotics (at 14th Gathering in Biosemiotics, London July 3rd 2014)
- Reading at opening of art exhibition "Utenfor sirkelen" (MUST- Museum Stavanger), March 6th 2014
- Seminar on methodology of ecosemiotics (Tartu, Estonia - November 28-29, 2013)
- The Semiotics of Animal Representation (edited collection, editors Morten Tønnessen and Kadri Tüür - published in June 2014, Rodopi)
- The research seminar "Biosemiotics and study of culture" (Tartu, Estonia, July 16, 2012)
- The symposium “Nordic Semiotic Paradigms – NASS 25 years: Where do Cognitive, Bio- and Existential Semiotics Meet?” (Imatra, Finland, June 9, 2012)
- The workshop Agency in Health Care: Phenomenology and Experience (Stavanger, Norway, April 15 2013)
- Workshop: "Humanimals: Examining Histories and Productions of Animal-Human Relationships" (Oslo, September 26-27 2013)
- Workshop: The Rhetoric of Human-Animal Relations (Oslo, May 29-30, 2012)
- §112: Oljeavhengighet og klimakrise, climate change debate/panel discussion (Tou Scene, Stavanger, Norway, October 14th 2014)
Past academic events (-2011)
- 10th World Congress in Semiotics (Spain, September 22-26, 2009)
- 52nd research seminar of the Scandinavian Research Council for Criminology: Globalization in criminology (Hønefoss, May 10-12, 2010)
- 6th European Society for Environmental History (ESEH) conference (Turku, 28 June - 2 July, 2011)
- Christianssand Protestfestival 2011 (Kristiansand, Norway, September 3-9, 2011)
- Climate change: Global Risks, Challanges and Decisions (Copenhagen, March 2009)
- Defence of doctoral thesis at the University of Tartu, December 15th 2011
- Den nasjonale konferansen om rovvilt, beitedyr og samfunn (Hamar, Norway, 31 Oct - 1 Nov, 2011)
- First World Congress on Environmental History (Copenhagen, August 4-8th 2009)
- Gatherings in Biosemiotics 10 (Braga, Portugal, June 22-27, 2010)
- Gatherings in Biosemiotics 9 (Prague, June 30th - July 4th 2009)
- Gatherings in biosemiotics 11 (New York, June 21-26, 2011)
- Kriminalpolitisk seminar (Oslo, November 11th)
- Lecture on the global species in criminology seminar (Oslo, October 19, 2011)
- Minding Animals Oslo: Shared Worlds (October 14-15, 2011)
- Minding Animals Uppsala: Zooethnographies (Uppsala, October 17-18, 2011)
- SI of Hortus Semioticus 'Semiotics of nature'
- Semiotics of Perception - special issue of BIOSEMIOTICS (vol. 3, no. 3 - December 2010)
- Seventh Conference of the Nordic Association for Semiotic Studies (May 6-8, 2011)
- Spatiality, memory and visualisation of culture/nature relationships: theoretical aspects (Tallinn, October 22-24th 2009)
- The 60th International Congress of Phenomenology (Bergen, Aug. 10-13, 2010)
- The course ´Semiotics and phenomenology´ (Department of Semiotics, University of Tartu, 11-13 April and 16-18 May 2011)
- What's wrong with nature? (2008)
- Workshop: Animal Minds (2009)
- Workshop: The Ecology of Perception. Landscapes in Culture and Nature (2009)
- Workshop: The History, Philosophy and Future of Ethology (Sydney, Australia, February 19-21, 2011)
Some related academic links
- Biosemiotics (journal)
- Center of Excellence in Cultural Theory
- Cognitive and behavioral neuroscience lab (UIS)
- Concerned Scientists Norway
- COST Action "Synergy for preventing damaging behaviour in group housed pigs and chickens (GroupHouseNet)" (official COST page)
- COST Action "Synergy for preventing damaging behaviour in group housed pigs and chickens (GroupHouseNet)" (webpage)
- Department of Semiotics (Tartu Ülikool)
- Department of Social Studies (UiS)
- Dynamical zoosemiotics and animal representations (project)
- Dyreetikkonferansen
- Environmental and Sustainability Indicators (journal)
- Homepage of David Rothenberg
- Homepage of Jonathan Beever
- International Association for Cognitive Semiotics (IACS)
- International Association for Environmental Philosophy (IAEP)
- International Association for Semiotic Studies (IASS-AIS)
- International Society for Biosemiotic Studies
- International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies (ISQOLS)
- International Society of Code Biology
- Jakob von Uexküll Centre (Tartu)
- Journal of comparative social work
- Minding Animals International
- Nordic Network for Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies (NIES)
- Politics and animals (journal)
- Store Norske Leksikon
- Subscribe to biosemiotics mailing list
- The Greenhouse - an environmental humanities initiative at UiS
- The Nordic Association for Semiotic Studies
- The Nordic Society for Phenomenology
- TRACE ∴ Finnish Journal for Human-Animal Studies
- Umweb's zoosemiotics portal
- University of Stavanger (UiS)
- Velferdstenesteforsking (UiS)
- Wellbeing Economy Alliance
- Wonderful World festival
- Zeitschrift für Semiotik
Current research fields
- Agency
- Biosemiotics, ecosemiotics and zoosemiotics
- Child welfare, social work
- Climate change, environmental change
- Deep ecology (as developed by Arne Næss)
- Domestication, socialisation, habituation
- Economic history
- Ecophilosophy
- Environmental ethics, biosemiotic ethics
- Environmental history
- Environmentalism, activism
- Epistemology
- Human development
- Human-animal studies (including politics and animals)
- Inequality
- Ontology
- Phenomenology (including eco-); Uexküllian phenomenology
- Philosophy of economics
- Philosophy of science (especially biology)
- Political philosophy
- Quality of life, subjective welfare, happiness
- Quality-of-life studies
- Semiotic economy
- Umwelt theory
- Welfare research
- Wolf ecology and wildlife management
Further academic interests
- Demography
- Economy (especially historical, and future)
- Existentialism
- Political philosophy
- Pre-hospital critical care
- Semiotic threshold
- Technology studies
Blog archive in PDF
Blog Archive
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- #9,5
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- 91 exam papers graded
- Online semiotics workshop for University of Oran1 ...
- Writing plan for Spring 2026 completed
- Book review on research methododology now online
- #0,5; writing plan for Spring 2025 almost finished
- Summing up the work year 2025
- Academic readings 2025; most read authors
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