Notre Dame Institute for Advanced Study

This year the NDIAS is making it easier than ever to participate in our annual conference remotely. That means even if you cannot make the trip out to the University of Notre Dame for this year’s phenomenal conference lineup, you can still take part in the conference sessions and engage the discussants over the web.

You will be able to watch the conference sessions LIVE by clicking here to view the conference feed via Web Simulcast. You can even ask questions of the conference presenters and commentators — simply ask your questions in the Comment fields at the bottom of the appropriate Event pages. If the session Chair and Moderator deems the question appropriate, they will ask the question during the session’s Discussion. We encourage all of our virtual participants to ask questions early and often. On those same Event pages, click the photos or names of the Presenters, Chairs, or Commentators for their biographical information.

You can also find biographical information of the discussants, along with a complete conference schedule and additional information on the Notre Dame Institute for Advanced Study by clicking here for a 3D Flash version of the conference schedule.

Click here for the schedule of this April’s NDIAS conference, “Public Intellectualism in Comparative Context.” (PDF)

You can also find a non-PDF version of the schedule by clicking the “Conference Schedule” menu tab above.

Public Intellectualism in Comparative Context: Different Countries, Different Disciplines

April 22 – 24, 2013

This international conference, hosted by the NDIAS in McKenna Hall at the University of Notre Dame, will focus on the roles played by public intellectuals—persons who exert a large influence in the contemporary society of their countries by virtue of their thought, writing, or speaking—in various countries around the world and in their different professional roles. Leading experts from multiple disciplines will come together to approach this elusive topic of public intellectualism from different perspectives.

The conference will include interdisciplinary discussion of ideas presented as well as less formal opportunities for scholarly discourse and interaction. Each session includes a 40-minute presentation, a 20-minute commentary from another scholar in the field, followed by 40 minutes of questions and discussion of the presentation. This engaging and interdisciplinary approach differs from conferences in some disciplines, offering a unique opportunity to engage other scholars in ways that transcend disciplinary boundaries and providing participants new perspectives and ideas.

Click here for conference poster with speakers and titles of presentations.

Travel and hotel information can be found here.

The Notre Dame Institute for Advanced Study (NDIAS) supports research that is directed toward, or extends inquiry to include, ultimate questions and questions of value, especially as they engage the Catholic intellectual tradition.

The Institute has an open agenda, permitting scholars to pursue outstanding research in all areas. It will, however, have two interrelated emphases intended to help shape discourse and discovery at Notre Dame and within the wider academy.

• First, the Institute encourages fellows to reflect on the broad questions that link multiple areas of inquiry — questions that often escape scholars enmeshed in the everyday and sometimes narrow practices of their own disciplines.

• Second, the Institute offers artists, professionals, scholars, and scientists an opportunity to explore the relationship between the descriptive (the world as it is) and the normative (the world as it ought to be).

The Institute provides researchers with the opportunity to engage not only in analysis but also in evaluating what should be done. Fellows are encouraged to include questions of value in their analyses, to examine how their findings might contribute to the advancement and implementation of ideas, and to think through the implications of present behavior for the future of the world. The Institute cultivates collaboration and the contemplative ideal that is an essential factor in both the Catholic intellectual tradition and the progression of scholarship.

The Institute will further its goal of fostering engaging thought on significant issues by hosting a major annual conference. The conferences include scholars from some of the most renowned universities and institutions in the world as presenters and participants. This year’s conference will take place from April 22-24, 2013 and will examine the role of “Public Intellectuals in Comparative Context.”