Organizer: Department of Teacher Training (DPPD)- Foreign Languages, ‘Gheorghe Asachi’ Technical University of Iași, Romania
Where: onsite and online
When: 5th-7th June 2026
Conference fee: 60 euros/300 RON professors and academics, 20 euros/100 RON PhD students
Has the use of technology today been co-opted and instrumentalised by the powers that be?
How are technology and scientific innovation used to reinforce or subvert systems of power and shape society, its culture and cultures?
Where does the balance between the biological and the technological stand at the moment?
How are the social, political and economic issues of today influenced by the pervasiveness of technology into the fabric of our everyday lives?
Can the way technology is marketed to make us better human beings (e.g. in monitoring our health) bring back extremist ideologies of the past?
We look forward to receiving your 200-word paper abstracts, as well as workshop proposals, via Google form.
Notification of acceptance – by 1st May 2026
Payment of conference fee - by 15th May 2026
Conference: 5th-7th June 2026
Receipt of full papers: 1st September 2026
Publication of conference papers: December 2026 in Les Cahiers Linguatek, CEEOL and fabula.org indexation
Conferință Internațională Interdisciplinară
Universitatea Tehnică „Gheorghe Asachi” din Iași
5-7 iunie 2026
Avem plăcerea de a lansa apelul la contribuții pentru cea de-a doua ediție a conferinței internaționale interdisciplinare Mad Science, care va avea loc în 2026 la Universitatea Tehnică „Gheorghe Asachi” din Iași. Tema acestei ediții este Biologie, Tehnologie și Sisteme de Putere, explorând dezbaterile actuale și punctele de cotitură de la intersecția diferitelor discipline. Primim lucrări și propuneri de workshop-uri pentru secțiuni în limbile română, engleză, franceză și germană.
Colloque international et interdisciplinaire
Université Technique « Gheorghe Asachi » de Iași, 5–7 juin 2026
Nous sommes très heureux de lancer l’appel à communications pour la deuxième édition du colloque international interdisciplinaire Science Folle/Mad Science, qui aura lieu en juin 2026 à l’Université Technique « Gheorghe Asachi » de Iași. Le thème de cette édition, Biologie, technologie et systèmes de pouvoir, explore les débats contemporains liés à ces trois axes au croisement de différentes disciplines. Nous vous invitons à envoyer des propositions de communications et d’ateliers en roumain, anglais, français et allemand.
Internationale interdisziplinäre Konferenz
Technische Universität „Gheorghe Asachi“ Iași, 5.-7. Juni 2026
Wir freuen uns sehr, den Call for Papers für die zweite Ausgabe der internationalen, interdisziplinären Mad-Science-Konferenz zu eröffnen, die 2026 an der Technischen Universität „Gheorghe Asachi“ in Iași stattfinden wird. Das diesjährige Thema lautet Biologie, Technologie und Machtsysteme und untersucht aktuelle Debatten und Wendepunkte an den Schnittstellenverschiedener Disziplinen. Wir begrüßen Beiträge und Workshop-Vorschläge in Panels auf Rumänisch, Englisch, Französisch und Deutsch.
Proposed panels
Walter Benjamin, The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, 1935 .
Rosi Braidotti, Posthuman Knowledge, Polity Press, Cambridge, 2019.
Ed Cohen, A Body Worth Defending: Immunity, Biopolitics, and the Apotheosis of the Modern Body, Duke University Press, 2009.
Melinda Cooper, Life As Surplus: Biotechnology and Capitalism in the Neoliberal Era, University of Washington Press, 2008.
Guy Debord, The Society of the Spectacle, 1967.
Michel Foucault, The Birth of the Clinic; an Archaeology of Medical Perception, Taylor and Francis, 1973.
Sarah Franklin, Biological Relatives: IVF, Stem Cells, and the Future of Kinship, Duke University Press Books, 2013.
Sheila Jasanoff, Reframing Rights : Bioconstitutionalism in the Genetic Age, The MIT Press, 2011.
Simon Elmer, The Road to Fascism: For a Critique of the Global Biosecurity State, Architects for Social Housing, 2022.
Donna Harraway, “A Cyborg Manifesto. Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism” in Simians, Cyborgs and Women: The Reinvention of Nature (New York; Routledge, 1991), pp.149–181.
Hannah Landecker, Culturing Life: How Cells Became Technologies, Harvard University Press, 2017.
Bruno Latour, Science in Action: How to Follow Scientists and Engineers through Society, Harvard University Press, 1988.
Priscilla Wald, Contagious: Cultures, Carriers, and the Outbreak Narrative, Duke University Press, 2019
Roxana Bobu, Universitatea Tehnică „Gheorghe Asachi” din Iași, România
Creola-Smaranda Buju,Universitatea Tehnică „Gheorghe Asachi” din Iași, România
Alexandra Chiriac, Universitatea "Alexandru Ioan Cuza" din Iași, România
Laura Carmen Cuțitaru, Universitatea "Alexandru Ioan Cuza" din Iași, România
Claudia Elena Dinu, Universitatea de Medicină și Farmacie „Grigore T. Popa” din Iași, România
Felicia Dumas, Universitatea "Alexandru Ioan Cuza" din Iași, România
Diana Gradu, Universitatea "Alexandru Ioan Cuza" din Iași, România
Laura Ioana Leon, Universitatea de Medicină și Farmacie „Grigore T. Popa” din Iași, România
Cosmin-Ionuț Imbrișcă, Universitatea din București, România
Neculai Eugen Seghedin, Universitatea Tehnică „Gheorghe Asachi” din Iași, România
Elena Velescu, Universitatea de Științele Vieții „Ion Ionescu de la Brad” din Iași, România
Gallery - Mad Science: Innovation, Genius, Madness, 10th-11th May 2024
F.A.Q
Is this an in-person or an online conference?
Is accommodation provided by the hosts?
Is there a social programme included?
Is there a publication fee for conference participants?
As a participant, can I attend panels in other languages than those I'm presenting in?
About the organisers
Ioana Baciu
Senior lecturer, PhD
The initiator of the 'Mad Science' Conference and a member of the Foreign Language staff since 2021. Teaches mostly English for specific purposes and, occasionally, French, to students at the schools of Computer Science, Electronics and Electrical Engineering. In her free time, she runs the TUIASI Film Club and pets cats.
Evagrina Dîrțu
Associate professor, PhD
Teaches English and French for Specific Purposes to students of "Gheorghe Asachi" Technical University of Iași at the Schools of Architecture and Mechanical Engineering, as well as Romanian as a Foreign Language and Intercultural Communication. She is the head of the Foreign Languages subdepartment of the Department of Teacher Training, "Gheorghe Asachi" Technical University of Iași.
Lucia-Alexandra Tudor
Senior lecturer, PhD
Prof. Tudor has taught English and German at several TUIASI colleges, notably Civil Engineering and Building Services (including the English-taught programme) and Electronics, Telecommunications and Information Technology. She is also in charge of the German Club, open to all students of the Technical University interested in learning the language.
Daniela Panainte
Associate Prof., PhD
With over 20 years' experience teaching English to students at the School of Automatic Control and Computer Engineering, prof. Panainte takes an interest in technology, particularly cars and AI, and she is a long-standing fan of sci-fi. Ask her about electric cars and you will not be disappointed!
Iulia Franke
Senior Lecturer, PhD
Prof. Franke teaches English and German to students at the School of Mechanical Engineering, among other TUIASI colleges. In her research, she takes an interest in the connections between linguistics, psychology and bilingualism, a path spurred by her own two children.
Mihaela Dudeanu
PhD
Dr. Dudeanu has been a collaborator of the department for several years, teaching French and German to engineering students. A francophile and a bibliophile, Mihaela wrote her PhD thesis on contemporary writer Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio.
Briscan Zara
PhD
After several years working in the press, Briscan decided to do something truly adventurous - return to teaching. He has been a collaborator of our department since February 2025, teaching ESP to students of Mechanical Engineering and Civil Engineering.
Atanasia Bărlădeanu
PhD candidate
Atanasia is currently a first year PhD student at the Faculty of Letters, '`Alexandru Ioan Cuza' of Iași. When she's not working on her thesis or thinking about working on her thesis, she teaches the students of Industrial Design and Business Management English and French.
Contact
- Iași, Iași County, Romania
- Department of Teacher Training - Foreign Languages, 'Gheorghe Asachi' Technical University of Iași, CH building, 5th floor
https://limbistraine.tuiasi.ro/