Debating Research Together - Explorations in the excellence and shoddiness in how we in academia engage in cross-cutting scholarly debates

Scholarly discussions and debates are an essential part of research practice. As researchers, we discuss each other’s work in seminars, when acting as peer reviewers, and much of scholarly writing is done in critical conversation with previous work. These discussions and debates are pivotal in fostering scholarly excellence. Yet, we all know that the style and tone of such conversations do not always present academia in the best of lights. The conditions for having genuine, insightful conversations of constructive criticism are further made more difficult when they are to transgress different disciplinary languages and cultures. Here, the difficulties present in academic debates and conversations mirror those in public debates, where different viewpoints struggle to create a fruitful and respectful debate climate.

Registration is closed

Streaming link (open on Monday).

Program
We begin the symposium Monday December 6th with coffee and sandwiches at 09.30 outside the Humanities Theatre.

Day 1: Debating Research Together

Confirmed speakers:
Karen Tracy, Professor Emerita in Communication, University of Colorado, Boulder
Lambros Roumbanis, Associate Professor of Sociology, Stockholm University
Marie Cronqvist, Associate Professor of Journalism and Media History, Lund University
Ulrike Schnaas, Educational Developer at the Division of Quality Enhancement, Uppsala University
Alex Csiszar, Professor of the History of Science, Harvard University
Tora Holmberg, Vice-rector at the Disciplinary Domain of Humanities and Social Sciences at Uppsala University
Claes-Fredrik Helgesson, Director at CIRCUS, Uppsala University

Day 2: Should we just accept this dismal state of public debate? Or can academia constructively contribute to improve on the present societal condition?

Confirmed speakers:
Michal Krzyzanowski, Professor of Media and Communication Studies, Uppsala University
Laura Arikka, Chief Executive Officer at Dialogpaus, Finland
Marie Cronqvist, Associate Professor of Journalism and Media History, Lund University
Ann-Katrin Bäcklund, Office director at Pufendorf Institute for Advanced Studies

The symposium hosts a mix of presentations and discussions and brings together insights from several fields such as sociology, history of science, and media and communication studies as well as experts on the practices of public debate.

The symposium will be streamed live online, the link will be posted a few days before the event on this web page.