3-Day International Conference on Evolutionary Patterns - Horizontal and Vertical Transmission and Micro- and Macroevolutionary Patterns of Biological and Sociocultural Evolution

Call deadline: 1 February 2013
Event Dates: 17-19 May 2013
Event Location: Lisbon, Portugal
Event URL: http://evolutionarypatterns.fc.ul.pt/sub/cfa/cfa.html

We call for bioinformaticians, evolutionary biologists, microbiologists, paleontologists, geologists, physicists, mathematicians, anthropologists, archeologists, linguists, sociologists, economists, and philosophers and historians of science to provide talks on the following topics:

1. Conceptualization, quantification and modeling of horizontal and vertical transmission in biological and sociocultural sciences
   • Bioinformatic approaches in biology, paleontology, anthropology, archeology, linguistics, sociology, and economics. These approaches can include: phylogenetics, phylogenomics, complex network based models, mathematical and statistical (computer) simulations, imaging techniques, (multi-)agent models, Complex Adaptive Systems approaches, …
   • Tree versus network diagrams
   • Mechanisms of horizontal and/or vertical transmission
   • Parallels and differences between biological and sociocultural trait transmission and inter-individual interactions
2. Conceptualization, quantification and modeling of micro- and macroevolution in biological and sociocultural sciences
   • Mechanisms of biological and/or sociocultural micro- and macroevolution
   •  Modes of biological and/or sociocultural micro- and macroevolution
   • Tempos of biological and/or sociocultural micro- and macroevolution
   •  (Meta-)Patterns of evolution
   • Parallels and differences between biological and sociocultural micro- and macroevolution
3. Hierarchy theory and the units, levels and mechanisms of evolution
   • Units of biological and/or sociocultural evolution
   • Levels of biological and/or sociocultural evolution, multilevel selection theories
   • Mechanisms of biological and sociocultural evolution
   • (Nested) Hierarchy theory
   • Emergence
   • Upward and downward causation
4. How the universal application of evolutionary theories enables new possibilities for inter- and transdisciplinary research and the unification of the sciences
   • The need for an Extended Synthesis
   • Universal Darwinism, Universal Selectionism
   • The universality of symbiogenesis, reticulate evolution, hybridization, drift, patterns of punctuated equilibria, the ratchet effect, the Baldwin effect, …
   • (Applied) Evolutionary Epistemology
   • Unification of the sciences through shared research frameworks, methodologies, modeling techniques
   • Philosophical analyses and historical accounts on attempts to unify the biological and the sociocultural sciences based upon evolutionary theory

We encourage submissions of (1) concrete models and simulations, (2) theoretical, reflexive talks, and (3) historical accounts on any of the above mentioned topics.

Please see the conference website for submission details.