Call for Conference Proposals: Moral Psychology of Terrorism: Implications for Security (At ECU, April 2012)

Call for Conference Proposals
Moral Psychology of Terrorism: Implications for Security
April 19-20, 2012
East Carolina University
Greenville, North Carolina, USA

The terrorism of the past decade has been driven by the interface of psychology,
morality, faith, religion, and politics. This modern terrorism reflects terrorists’ pursuit of
their beliefs and even aggressive promotion of the exclusivity of their world-views at the
expense of the lives of those who do not share them. In this sense, the act of terrorism
is fueled by arguments of morality and views that are rooted in the psyches and beliefs
of terrorists.

Recent terrorism, wherever it spreads, under the banner of major monotheistic religious
traditions or Hinduism, Buddhism and Sikhism,  brings into the forefront the need to
better understand the moral psychology of terrorism. This need is more critical in the
areas where youths might be recruited and socialized or ‘brain-washed’ by terrorist
leaders. The heinous events committed by terrorists and sympathizers against the
citizens of New York,  London, Madrid, Bombay, and various cities of Pakistan and
Afghanistan further emphasize the need to understand terrorists’ moral psychology.
Examination of the moral psychology of terrorism opens up new insights into security
issues. Indeed, a link between the psychology of terrorism and security analysis must be
made. That is to say, terrorism and anti-terrorism measures must not be restricted to
political and military plans. Rather, identifying and addressing terrorism and its
implications for security requires that scholars and politicians delve deeper into the
psyches of terrorists to avoid further insecurity.

This is the fourth conference in a series on morality and terrorism. The Organizing
Committee invites scholars of psychology, political science, security studies, philosophy,
theology and all other relevant disciplines to participate. If finances are available, a
selection of the conference contributions will be published in a volume with the working
title: Moral Psychology of Terrorism: Implications for Security Issues. Otherwise the
accepted papers will be published on the conference website as conference
proceedings.

2012 Intelligence Community Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Program Research Solicitation

The Intelligence Community Acquisition Research Center of the Department of Defense has announced the following postdoctoral research opportunity.  For more information, follow the steps provided below and contact the Grants Officer at juliaal@ucia.gov . 

 

2012 Intelligence Community Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Program Research Solicitation # ICPDP-2012-0001: 

 

All information regarding this Program has been posted on the unclassified IC Acquisition Research Center (ARC) located at https://arc.westfields.net.  If you are interested in this solicitation, please visit the website and follow the online instructions to either create a free account if you are a new user, or log in if you already have an existing account.  We wish you good luck and look forward to reading your proposals.

 

Below is additional information on how to access the Research Solicitation: 

1. Go to https://arc.westfields.net/.2. 

2.  From here you can either create a new account or click the “Current IC Efforts” tab on the left side of the page.3. 

3.  Once you click the “Current IC Efforts” tab you will be prompted to log in.

4.  After you log in, you will see the current efforts that are posted. This particular program is listed under the “GSSA/BAA” tab and is entitled “ICPRFP12.” 

 

For more information, contact the Grants Officer at juliaal@ucia.gov .

National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI): Centers for Accelerated Innovations (CAI).

Colleagues, this will be of particular interest to folks studying behavioral interventions. While it may seem far afield from much of what CHASS faculty do, I believe that several of you will find this interesting--or will know of someone who will.

 

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) recently released a notice of intent to publish a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) to establish Centers for Accelerated Innovations (CAI). The CAI will address the problems that hinder the critical, early steps necessary to translate novel scientific advances and discoveries into commercially viable diagnostics, devices, therapeutics, and tools that improve patient care and advance public health. 

The notice is provided to allow prospective applicants time to consider the CAI Program and develop essential collaborations and plans prior to submitting an application in response to the published FOA.  The FOA is expected to be published in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts in Spring 2012 with an expected receipt date in Fall 2012. The FOA will utilize the U54 funding mechanism, which is a cooperative agreement that requires significant interaction between the awardees and the NHLBI staff.  

 

More information about the upcoming FOA, may be found at the following link: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-HL-11-157.html. 
 NHLBI welcomes your feedback on this important initiative.

 

The FOA is expected to be published in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts in Spring 2012 with an expected receipt date in Fall 2012.

NSF Dear Colleague Letter: CREATIV: Creative Research Awards for Transformative Interdisciplinary Ventures

Colleagues, this is a particularly promising announcement, and reflects some good new thinking at NSF. Please note that this initiative will support high-risk, high-potential projects and that the projects are approved by the program office, and do not go through merit review. With this in mind, please talk to your program officers, if you know them; if you don't, and have an idea, please talk to me for help on how to pitch the project.

NSF 12-011

Dear Colleague Letter - CREATIV: Creative Research Awards for Transformative Interdisciplinary Ventures

WEBCAST: On November 9, 2011, NSF Director Subra Suresh and the co-chairs of the NSF INSPIRE Working Group presented a live webcast about the new CREATIV grant mechanism. The co-chairs answered questions submitted by the audience. The archived webcast can be viewed athttp://www.tvworldwide.com/events/nsf/111109/. 

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS: The FAQ page for CREATIV is available at NSF 12-012. Some links to particular FAQs are in the text below.

CREATIV (Creative Research Awards for Transformative Interdisciplinary Ventures): a pilot grant mechanism under the Integrated NSF Support Promoting Interdisciplinary Research and Education (INSPIRE) initiative, to support bold interdisciplinary projects in all NSF-supported areas of science, engineering, and education research. 

The INSPIRE initiative was introduced by NSF Director Subra Suresh with the fiscal year 2012 NSF budget request to Congress. From his remarks (http://www.nsf.gov/news/speeches/suresh/11/ss110214_nsfbudget.jsp): "INSPIRE is aimed to encourage cross-disciplinary science. INSPIRE will help to break down any disciplinary barriers that may exist within NSF and encourage its program managers to use new tools, collaboration modes and techniques in the merit-review process to widen the pool of prospective discoveries that may be hidden from or circumvented by traditional means."

CREATIV is the first grant award mechanism under INSPIRE, and will be the only one launched in FY 2012. In brief, its distinguishing characteristics are: only internal merit review is required; proposals must be interdisciplinary and potentially transformative; requests may be up to $1,000,000 and up to five years duration (further details and specifications below). In the future, further announcements will be made regarding INSPIRE activities to be launched in FY 2013 and beyond. The funding for INSPIRE in future years is expected to increase substantially each year, reaching a steady state in FY 2016.

Fellowship and grant deadlines from the Social Science Research Council

Colleagues, please consider taking a careful look at these opportunities. It would be very good for CHASS to raise our profile at SSRC. 

A number of fellowship and grant deadlines are approaching: New Directions in the Study of Prayer Grants (December 1), Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Fellowship(December 1), AAS-SSRC Dissertation Workshop Series (January 3), Drugs, Security and Democracy (DSD) Fellowship (January 20), and Dissertation Proposal Development Fellowship (DPDF) Student Competition (February 1). 

Academy for Community and Civic Engagement, Auburn U.--Workshop Announcement

The Community and Civic Engagement Initiative within Auburn University's College of Liberal Arts announces the first annual Academy for Community and Civic Engagement for faculty throughout the southeast in the arts and humanities who are interested in incorporating civic engagement/service learning practices into their courses, outreach scholarship, and P & T documentation. ACCE will provide an intense 3-day workshop for successful applicants.

 

The purpose of the Academy for Community and Civic Engagement is:

• To promote and develop community and civic engagement initiatives among faculty and colleges in the region;
• To encourage faculty to develop courses with civic engagement/service learning experiences for students;
• To foster collaborative teaching, research, and outreach efforts among faculty and across universities; and
• To provide resources and support for community and civically engaged faculty.

 

For more information, contact Dr. Giovanna Summerfield, Associate Dean for Educational Affairs (email: summegi@auburn.edu, phone: 334-844-2890), or go to:http://www.cla.auburn.edu/cla/cce/acce/.