RegistrationRegistration open now! Become an IRAS member and receive a reduced rate
Call for papersProposals for short academic papers on the announced Conference topic or on other facets of interactions between science and religion are invited: deadline February 17, 2024. Use the proposal format linked below.
If you see this announcement beyond the deadline, please approach Conference Co-Chair Maynard Moore at emaynard8@yahoo.com to see whether there is still an opening for a proposal.
Star Island offers discountsDiscounts are available based on need. Learn more on the Star Island financial grants section of their registration page.
Fellowships & ScholarshipsIRAS offers a range of Fellowships & Scholarships.
Streaming the Conference Sessions and Chapel TalksUnable to go to the conference? Become an IRAS member and stream the conference sessions and chapel talks for free! Access will be provided at the start of the conference.
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2024 IRAS Conference StatementAstrobiology, astronomy and planetary science — investigating Earth and local planets as well as planets orbiting other stars — invite us to consider life in cosmic context. This conference will weave together diverse interdisciplinary threads from the natural and social sciences and the humanities to consider the place and purpose of humanity in a context in which Earth might not be our only home and in which we may not be alone. Our plenary speakers (leading scientists, religionists and ethicists) will draw on cutting-edge thinking in astrobiology, including emerging thought on “habitability,” and astro philosophy and theology to consider many questions, including:
Confirmed Plenary Speakers: Dr. Andrew M. Davis, program director for the Center for Process Studies at Claremont School of Theology, author of Exotheology and Cosmic Religion: Extraterrestrial Life in a Process Universe (2023). Dr. Lucas Mix author and manager Equipping Leadership in an Age of Science, and in 2021 NASA/Library of Congress Blumberg Chair in Astrobiology. Shoaib Ahmed Malik is presently serving as a Visiting Researcher at St. Mary’s University, Twickenham (UK). Holding dual doctorates, he has a PhD in Chemical Engineering (University of Nottingham, UK) and a PhD in Theology (University of St Mary’s, Twickenham, UK). His acclaimed work as co-editor Islamic Theology and Extraterrestrial Life: New Frontiers in Science and Religion (Bloomsbury), is the first book-length treatment on Islamic exotheology in English. Ted Peters co-edits the Journal of Science and Theology at the Francisco J. Ayala Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California. An acclaimed author, he most recently published Astrotheology: Science and Theology Meet Extraterrestrial Life.(Cascade Boos, 2018). Margaret Race is an astrobiologist serving as a Senior Scientist for Planetary Protection and Risk Communication at the SETI Institute, Mountain View, California. She is author or co-author of numerous papers dealing with the ethics of space exploration and planetary protection. Jennifer Wiseman is an astrophysicist, author, and frequent public speaker. She studies the process of star and planet formation in our galaxy using radio, optical, and infrared telescopes. She studied physics at MIT, co-discovering comet Wiseman-Skiff in 1987, and continued in astronomy with her doctoral research at Harvard. She has worked with several international observatories and is currently a senior astrophysicist at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Conference Program Chairs: Ted Peters, Jennifer Wiseman, and Maynard Moore |