Keynote speakers

Alan Costall is Director for the Centre for Human Ecology, Culture and Communication at the University of Portsmouth. He has been developing James Gibson’s “ecological approach” as an alternative to the dominant cognitivist framework with modern psychology. His recent work extends Gibson’s concept of “affordances” to the sociocultural, as reflected in his recent book Doing things with things (2006) with Ole Dreier (Copenhagen), and in his contribution to the new Cambridge handbook of sociocultural psychology (2007). Working with Ivan Leudar (Manchester), he has also been challenging the desituated and disembodied perspective of ‘Theory of Mind,’ and their new book, Against theory of mind, will be appearing later in 2008 (Macmillan Palgrave).

Prof. Kurt Jax is a senior researcher at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) in Leipzig (Germany) and Professor for ecology at the Technische Universität München. His research focuses on the conceptual foundations of ecology and conservation biology, with a special emphasis on the application of theoretical ecological concepts as tools for conservation biology and the adaptation of methods from the humanities (especially philosophy) to use them for interdisciplinary research in the environmental sciences. Kurt Jax is one of the initiators of the research and edition project "Handbook of Ecological Concepts" (www.hoekweb.net). He was also principal investigator of a recently finished conservation project in the Cape Horn region of Chile (project BIOKONCHIL), which aimed at the implementation of the Ecosystem Approach of the Convention on Biological Diversity.

Dr. Nils Lindahl Elliot is a researcher and consultant in environmental education with expertise in the critical analysis of mass mediation. Nils is currently the principal investigator in a research project about environmental education on Barro Colorado Island (Panama). The research project, which is titled 'Observing Wildlife on Barro Colorado Island', has been supported by a grant provided by the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI). From 2002 to 2005, Nils was the principal investigator for an ESRC-funded project titled 'The New Zoos: Science, Media and Culture'. His recently published 'Mediating Nature' (Routledge, 2006) offers a genealogy of the nature of mass mediation.

Ville Lähde is currently finishing his PhD in philosophy in the University of Tampere, on the meanings of the word 'nature' in Rousseau's philosophy. For well over a decade, he has been publishing and lecturing on environmental philosophy and related subjects both in academic circles and in various political movements. During 1995-2002 he was the chief editor of the environmentalist journal 'Muutoksen kevät'. He is currently the article review editor of the Finnish philosophical journal 'niin & näin'.