About
Established in 2014, The Commission on Science and Literature brings together a large network of researchers from around the world with the aim of fostering interdisciplinary discussions on the intersections between science and literature. Like the British Society for Science and Literature and the Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts, CoSciLit is part of a lively and growing scholarly community which explores questions about the cultural impact of science, how science is represented, the potential for artistic and literary forms to intervene in scientific thinking, ethics, and discourse, and the roles of science and fiction in pedagogy.
In an era when both scientific credibility and the value of the humanities are under pressure, such societies open important and urgent dialogues into how various disciplines might work collectively and collaboratively to combat rising anti-science, post-truth discourse, and scrutinise new technologies such as AI and Deepfake. While most of the early work in the field of Literature and Science Studies focused on Anglophone texts and authors, this international society brings together academics from around the world to think beyond the ‘Western’ canon and across historical periods. Together, we ask: in what ways are scientific and narrative literacy entangled and what role does this play across cultural, geographic, and historical borders?
When and Where
This three-day conference will take place from the 17-19 June, 2026 at Museum Dr. Guislain.
In the 19th century, what is now the museum was once an asylum for people with mental health disorders. The physician Joseph Guislain (1797-1860), who had garnered attention through his innovative approach to psychiatry, was appointed head physician of what were then known as the insane asylums of Ghent. Together with Peter Joseph Triest (1760-1836), Guislain created a set of rules for the care of individuals in the institutions. Importantly,
"These were the first of their kind and determined how to treat the ill in a dignified and therapeutically correct fashion. And so, moral treatment was introduced to the Low Countries. The mentally insane were considered to be ill people, and the rules advocated the use of as little violence as possible and proscribed occupational therapy."
Since 1986, what was originally a psychiatric institution has served as a museum. Today, the museum aims to be educational as well as critical. In other words, it is interested in exploring mental health disorders beyond biological and medical understandings, by considering, too, the roles of various "sociocultural and ideological structures."
