30 September 2011
Scottish Word and Image Group wins international conference for Dundee
A University of Dundee-based group has successfully bid to host a prestigious international conference, which will bring around 300 delegates from across the world to the city in 2014.
The Scottish Word and Image Group (SWIG), fronted by the University’s English programme, will host the next Triennial Conference of the International Association for Word and Image Studies (IAWIS). Previous triennials have been held in venues such as Montreal, Philadelphia, Paris, Amsterdam, Hamburg and Zürich.
This major, bi-lingual, conference, which takes place in English and French, provides the University with the opportunity to showcase the cutting edge inter-disciplinary work being done at Dundee. It will also bring a significant economic boost to the city, with up to 300 academics set to descend upon Dundee for the four-day event.
The conference theme is 'Riddles of Form: Exploration and Discovery in Word and Image', and it will examine the representation of science and technology in text, poetry, art, film, print and digital media. SWIG members were able to draw upon Dundee’s history and reputation in both sciences and arts when persuading the organisers that the University is the perfect venue for the next event.
Dr Keith Williams, who delivered SWIG’s pitch during the most recent triennial in Montreal last month, said the conference also afforded the opportunity to make more concrete the links between Life Sciences and Humanities at the University.
'I was genuinely overwhelmed by the unanimous warmth and enthusiasm with which the proposal was greeted by the committee,' he said. 'They were particularly impressed by the activeness of SWIG, by the attractions of Dundee as a venue, and by the reputation of Dundee as a centre of excellence for science given the theme we pitched to them.
'They were also struck by the creativity and inclusive nature of the theme. I am sure this conference will bring huge intellectual rewards and international kudos to the School, University and City.'
The conference theme will invoke Dundee’s scientific and cultural history through the foundational work of D’Arcy Thompson and Patrick Geddes, polymathic thinkers of ongoing international reputation, as well as appealing to science in the broadest sense of the word.
Dr Williams added that, potentially, this is intended as incorporating every kind of human knowledge, enquiry and analysis, and how it is conceptualised, conducted or communicated through all forms of verbal and visual media.
SWIG also hopes to collaborate with Dundee Contemporary Arts, the McManus, and Dundee’s Science Centre, along with other local bodies to host a series of special exhibitions and film programmes.
It will also result in several substantial international publications and feature in journals. The IAWIS/AIERTI Committee will be attending SWIG’s next annual conference in 2012, to meet with the local committee to plan ahead and assess Dundee, its facilities and location.
The 2014 Triennial will be a high-profile event, with four packed days of panels and keynote talks, plus a day of trips and special events. Speakers will also have the option to present either in English or French. All documentation, website pages, etc, will similarly be in both languages.
The secretary of SWIG, Dr Chris Murray, added, 'We are very excited by this, although we view it as a win for the University, not just for SWIG. We will be looking to involve the whole School of Humanities and the wider institution, including Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design and Life Sciences.
'This is a golden opportunity to bring together the diverse subject areas and expertise of the School of Humanities and other subject areas in a common interdisciplinary project, as well as to showcase the rich literary, artistic, scientific and popular cultural history of the University and the City.'
For more information about the project, please contact either k.b.williams@dundee.ac.uk or c.murray@dundee.ac.uk.
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