FONAS (Forschungsverbund Naturwissenschaft, Abrüstung und internationale Sicherheit) and TraCe (Transformations of Political Violence) call for papers for the interdisciplinary conference on science, peace, and security to be held in Darmstadt in September this year.

This interdisciplinary conference examines the impact, control, and design of technologies related to peace and security. As we witness the rapid evolution of new military technologies that change the forms of violence and warfare, there is a need to broaden logical approaches to arms control. These must adapt to the changing security landscape.

Particularly striking are cyber warfare and the rapid development of unmanned weapons systems. The issues of nuclear disarmament, missile technology or space weaponry, as well as chemical and biological weapons, are of particular urgency. In addition to the development of new weapons systems, information technology also plays an important role in the oppression and digital surveillance of civilians during conflicts.

Civil society is increasingly using social networks as a resource to organize cyber-protests and fight for human rights. Apart from acute use in conflict-related contexts, many cases have shown that technology is increasingly being used by different actors for conflict transformation and to promote peace, in order to reduce (political) violence in the long term.

More information about the conference:

Application requirements

Contributions should focus on the intersection between science, technology, peace, and security, e.g., on:

• Nuclear, biological and chemical weapons and disarmament.
• Cyber and information warfare, artificial intelligence, and unmanned weapons systems
• Geopolitics of infrastructure, e.g., (renewable) energies and climate change
• (Urban) protests and violence

Other contributions may include:

• Presentation of ideas, “pitches”, (5 minutes), for example, of early stage research ideas.
• Lectures (10-20 minutes)
• Posters to be presented with a 2-minute pitch and during a 90-minute interactive session
• Ideas for 30-90 minute roundtables or workshops.