UCLA Launches Diverse Intelligences Summer Institute in St Andrews, Scotland
LOS ANGELES, Aug. 13, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Bringing together participants from around the world, the inaugural Diverse Intelligences Summer Institute (DISI) kicked off on July 29 and wrapped up on August 12.
DISI is a new summer program that supports talented graduate students, post-docs, and early-career researchers as they investigate the world's constellation of intelligences. Organized through UCLA and hosted at the University of St Andrews, the two-week program connected dozens of promising young scholars with an international roster of established faculty.
Participants hail from a range of fields in the biological, physical, and social sciences, as well as the humanities. They joined DISI from institutions around the globe, including American universities like Stanford, Michigan, Harvard, and the University of California.
Through lectures, panels, evening "salon" discussions, and research projects, participants forged new collaborations and explored cutting-edge questions. Topics included artificial intelligence, animal cognition, and the role of culture and language in shaping the human mind.
Launched by Jacob Foster and Erica Cartmill of UCLA, DISI is an outgrowth of Diverse Intelligences (DI), a new initiative funded by the Templeton World Charity Foundation (TWCF). Supported by an initial commitment of $20 million, DI is a global effort to advance understanding of the fundamentals of intelligences in many forms.
Given the enthusiastic reception DISI has received, Foster and Cartmill say that they hope DISI can become an annual event, "helping to build a vibrant scholarly community devoted to the study of Diverse Intelligences." Indeed, such community-building is already afoot. During the first few days of DISI, the young scholars collaborated with over 40 recent recipients of TWCF grant funding. This group of world-class researchers mapped out plans for new path-breaking research.
By fostering a new community, DISI hopes to inspire bold conversations about intelligence.
For more information about DISI and the DI Initiative, visit www.diverseintelligencessummer.com and www.diverseintelligences.com.
About Templeton World Charity Foundation
Templeton World Charity Foundation (TWCF) was established in 1996 in Nassau, The Bahamas, to serve as a global philanthropic catalyst for discoveries relating to big questions of life and the universe. Sir John Templeton established the Foundation to foster ambitious thinking and creative communications on diverse topics to stimulate humility, curiosity, and enthusiasm for new discoveries.
SOURCE Templeton World Charity Foundation
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