Dear ISSR Member,
I do hope you and yours are keeping well, and I apologize for getting this to you a bit later than normal. I completed a move over the weekend but could not get my internet activated until today. Since COVID began the rental prices in Toronto have fallen (yet strangely property sales are continuing to set records) quite drastically, so I took the opportunity for my partner and me to secure a good home for us. Now that I am settled, I am happy to bring you this month’s newsletter.
This month’s newsletter is quite short, as many of us are quite busy right now. ISSR’s newsletter is supplied primarily by you, our members. If there is anything you come across that would be of benefit to our international community, please share it with me at admin@issr.org.uk. I would also especially welcome receiving news from our members from non-English-speaking countries. This is a great tool for sharing important work on science and religion from different perspectives and different traditions. Also, our blog is put out around the 15th of each month and is written by our Fellows. If you have a blog idea (about a new book, research, reflections, etc.) you may contact me for that as well.
ISSR Matters:
This announcement serves as an extension and final call for nominations for ISSR’s second annual Book Prize on Science and Religion. Prizes will be given for the best three books published in the field of science and religion in 2019 or 2020, one for each of the following categories: Popular, Professional, or Academic. Some general guidelines:
- Nominations must be of titles published in 2019 or 2020.
- Books must be written by a single author, or two authors together, but not more.
- Self-nominations are welcome, but please send along a PDF copy with your nomination, and prepare your publisher to ship review copies to me soon should your title advance in the prize process.
- Please include a short description/rationale for the nomination in your email.
- Books may be written in any language.
- All nominations must be sent to me no later than 08 March.
The intention of the prizes is to understand ‘religion’ broadly and to seek excellence in both content and communication. We will seek to reward books that make a major contribution to the field, especially if they have the potential to take the field in new directions. We expect that one of the three books will be suitable for a general audience (‘the public’), one for an academic audience, and one for a professional audience (e.g. ministers/pastors, or school teachers). There will be three financial prizes of £500 for the winning authors (each financial prize can be shared in the event of there being two co-authors) presented to the winning authors at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion (AAR).
Lectures and Webinars:
The Institute on Religion in an Age of Science (IRAS) is having their monthly webinar series, Science, Religion, and Society on Thursday, March 25, featuring Dr. Audrey Kitagawa, immediate past chairperson of the Board for the Parliament of World Religions on the topic of “The Vital Breath: Saving Our Sacred Rainforests” on March 25, 2021, at 4:00 p.m. central/5:00 p.m. eastern. Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_65gHMSy3QLyetCHWsR-84g
The International Network for Science and Belief in Society (INSBS)
INSBS has a second call for abstracts or panel proposals for their upcoming conference, “STEMM and Belief in Diverse Contexts: Publics, Praxis, Policy and Pluralism”, taking place online from 7-9 July 2021. The deadline for submissions is 12 March 2021. Details can be found on their website here.
Last month I posted that INSBS would be launching their funding for their Regional Networks grant. To accompany this launch, they will be offering applicants the opportunity to pose questions, specifically about the scheme only, to our expert team on 5 March 2021. Places are limited and will be on a first come first served basis and will be scheduled for a maximum of 10 minutes each. We currently have appointments available between 9am and 10am or between 4pm and 5pm (UK time). If you are planning to apply for this round of funding and wish to make an appointment to discuss your proposal, please contact Paula Brikci at p.e.brikci@bham.ac.uk with details of the question you would like to ask, and to arrange a Zoom call.
As always, if you have any questions or anything to share for next month’s newsletter you may send it to me at admin@issr.org.uk.
All best and stay well,
Anthony K Nairn
ISSR Administrator
