Every year DoSER presents symposia at the AAAS Annual Meeting that serve to increase dialogue in the scientific community about science and religion. For more information about the Annual Meetings, click here.
2021 - February 8-11, Virtual
Indigenous Knowledge, Science, and Ethical Frameworks for Collaboration
The Dynamic Past: How Science Helps Give Voice to Silenced Stories
Pursuing Environmental Justice Through Science and Religion
2020 - February 14-16, Seattle, WA
Responding to Climate Change: Science, Religion, and Cultural Practices
Death in the 21st Century: What is Left Behind
2019 – February 14-17, Washington, DC
The Biology of Resilience: How Science and Faith Communities Can Work Together
Science Engagement with Faith Communities
2018 – February 15-19, Austin, TX
Gene Editing and Human Identity: Promising Advances and Ethical Challenges
2017 – February 16-19, Boston, MA
The Paris Agreement & Leveraging Religious Support for Climate Policy
2016 – February 12-13, Washington DC
Biodiversity, Scientists, and Religious Communities
2015 – February 12-16, San Jose, CA
The Human Microbiome: Implications of the Microcosm Within Us
2014 – February 13-17, Chicago, IL
Religious Communities, Science, Scientists, and Perceptions:
A Comprehensive Survey
Organizers: Jennifer Wiseman; Paul Arveson, AAAS Center for Science, Policy, and Society Programs
Science, Religion, and Modern Physics
Organizers: Paul Arveson; Jennifer Wiseman, AAAS Center for Science, Policy, and Society Programs
2013 – February 14-18, Boston, MA
Partners for the Earth: Scientists and Religious Groups Working for the Environment
Organizers: Jennifer Wiseman & Peyton West, AAAS Center for Science, Policy, and Society Programs
Synthetic Biology and Public Perceptions: Communication
and Engagement
Organizers: Peyton West, AAAS Center for Science, Policy, and Society Programs;
Tiffany Lohwater, AAAS Office of Public Programs
Advances in Brain-Machine Interaces: Applications and Implications
Organizers: Peyton West & Jennifer Wiseman, AAAS Center for Science, Policy, and Society Programs
2012 – February 16-20, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Beyond Evolution: Religious Questions in Science Classrooms
Organizers: Peyton West & Jennifer Wiseman, AAAS Center of Science, Policy and Social Programs; Peter Hess, National Center for Science Education
2011 – February 17-21, Washington, DC
Evangelicals, Science, and Policy: Toward a Constructive Engagement
Organizers: Peyton West & Jennifer Wiseman, AAAS Science and Policy Programs
Astronomical Pioneering: The Implications of Finding Other Worlds
Organizers: Peyton West & Jennifer Wiseman, AAAS Science and Policy Programs
2010 – February 18-22, San Diego, CA
Genetics and Ethics: Different Views on the Human Condition
Organizers: Walter Doerfler, University of Cologne, Hans G. Ulrich, Erlangen University
Astrobiology and the Future: Science, Ethics, and Societal Issues on Earth and Beyond
Organizer: Margaret Race, SETI Institute
2009 – February 12-16, Chicago, IL
Meeting on Building the AAAS Science and Religion Coalition
Organizers: Peyton West, AAAS Science and Policy Programs, Washington, DC
Toward the Science and Ethics of a Culture of Sustainability
Organizers: Paul H Reitan, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY; Mary Evelyn Tucker, Yale University, New Haven, CT
2008 – February 14-18, Boston, MA
Major Transformations in Evolution: The State of the Art and Public Understanding
Organizers: Eugenie C. Scott, National Center for Science Education, Oakland, CA; Nicholas J. Matzke, University of California, Berkeley, CA; Peyton M. West, AAAS Science and Policy Programs, Washington, DC
Communicating Science in a Religious America
Organizers: Matthew C. Nisbet, American University, Washington, DC
2007 – February 15-19, San Francisco, CA
Anti-Evolutionism in Europe: Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid, or Not?
Organizers: Connie Bertka, AAAS Science and Policy Programs, Washington, DC; Peyton West, AAAS Science and Policy Programs, Washington, DC
Supporting Evolution at the Grass-Roots: Building Better Bridges
Organizers: Irving W. Wainer, National Institute on Aging, Baltimore, MD; Mary Haskins, Rockhurst University, Kansas City, MO; Gregory Tinkler, National Institute on Aging, Baltimore, MD
2006 – February 16-20, St. Louis, MO
Ethics of Neuroscience: Lack of Consciousness and Assessment of Personhood
Organizers: Stephanie Bird, Science and Engineering Ethics; and Jim Miller, AAAS Science and Policy Programs
Neuroscience of Ethics: Material Foundations of Moral Agency
Organizers: Stephanie Bird, Science and Engineering Ethics; and Jim Miller, AAAS Science and Policy Programs
Constitutional Principles and Legal Strategies in the Creation and Evolution Debates
Organizers: Gilbert Whittemore, Rath, Young, and Pignatelli and American Bar Association Section of Science & Technology Law; and Connie Bertka, AAAS Science and Policy Programs
2005 – February 17-21, Washington, DC
Non-Overlapping Magisteria?
Organizers: Phillip R. Sloan, University of Notre Dame; James Miller, AAAS Science and Policy Programs
2004 – February 12-16, Seattlem WA
The Challenge of Intelligent Design: New Science or Old Rhetoric?
(semi-session)
Organizers: John R. Staver, Kansas State University; Douglas Allchin, St. Paul, MN.
2003 – February 13-18, Denverm CO
Revolution and Evolution in Modern Human Origins: When, Where, and Why?
Organizers: Alison Brooks, George Washington University; Richard Potts, Smithsonian Institution.
Ethical, Social and Policy Implications of Studies of Human Genetic Variation: New Issues from the Human Genome Project
Organizer: Mildred K. Cho, Stanford University.
New Light on the Scopes Trial
Organizer: Edward B. Davis, Messiah College
Primatology and Human Nature: Cooperation and Altruism
Organizer: Robert Sussman, Washington University
2002 – February 14-19, Boston, MA
Rethinking the Role of Affiliation and Aggression in Primate Groups
Organizers: Robert W. Sussman, Washington University; Karen B. Strier, University of Wisconsin
Behavioral Genetics: What We Know, and How We Know It
Organizers: Elving Anderson, University of Minnesota; Audrey R. Chapman, AAAS
Social and Ethical Implications of Behavioral Genetics Research
Organizers: Audrey R. Chapman, AAAS; Elving Anderson, University of Minnesota
2001 – February 15-20, San Francisco, CA
Participants in Antievolutionism: What is Changed/Unchanged 20 Years After McLean v. Arkansas
Organizer: Eugenie Scott, National Center for Science Education)
The Historical Sciences and Their Importance in Public Education
(single sessions)
Organizers: Jim Miller, DoSER, and Joel Primack, University of California-Santa Cruz
Ethical and Policy Implications of Synthesizing ‘Minimum Genomes’
Organizers: Mildred Cho, Stanford University
2000 – February 17-22, Washington, DC
Sociobiology at the New Millennium
(double session)
Organizers: Francisco Ayala, Michael Ruse
Including topics lecture: Sociobology Twenty-five Years Later – E. O. Wilson
Frontier Research: The Stem Cell Controversy
Organizers: Audrey Chapman, Mark Frankel
Global Climate Change and Human Values
Organizers: George Fisher, Devra Davis
Human Germline Intervention: New Challenges
Organizers: Theodore Friedmann, Ronald Cole-Turner
The Origins and Nature of Sociality among Nonhuman and Human Primates
Organizers: Robert Sussman, Audrey Chapman
Topical Lecture - the following topical lecture was related to a proposed symposium that the Dialogue Program facilitated. The symposium was not accepted by the AAAS Annual Meeting Program Committee but the topical lecture was.
- Does Stress Make You Sick and Believing Make You Well – Dr. Esther M. Sternberg
1999 – January 21-26, Anaheim, CA
The History of Science and Religion Revisited
Organizers: Ronald Numbers, David Lindberg
Before the Beginning
Organizers: Owen Gingerich, Joel Primack
Biomedical Enhancement of Cognition
Organizers: Eric Juengst, Peter Whitehouse
Genetics, Media and Public Anxiety
(double session)
Organizer: Audrey Chapman
Topical lecture
- Natural Conflict Resolution – Frans de Waal
Topical lecture - In addition, the following topical lectures were given by Dialogue Program Advisory Committee members and contained references to religion -
- Why Is the Day 24 Hours? And, When Will the Millennium Begin? – Owen Gingerich
- Darwin’s Devolution: Design Without a Designer – Francisco Ayala
1997 – February, Seattle, WA
Biodiversity and Human Responsibility
Organizer: Audrey Chapman
Implications of the Possibility of Life on Mars
Organizer: Christopher Corbally
The Nature of Time
Organizers: Audrey Chapman, Lawrence Fagg
Seminar — In addition, the Dialogue Program organized a pre-Annual Meeting Seminar with the newly established Georgetown Center for the Study of Science and Religion -
Science, Cosmology and Teleology: Multidisciplinary and Intercultural Perspectives
Symposium - An additional Annual Meeting Symposium organized by a Dialogue Program Advisory Committee Member
- Alternative Medicine in a Scientific World
Organizers: Ursula Goodenough*, Robert Park
1996 – February, Baltimore, MD
Religious, Social and Environmental Factors That Influence Disease States
Organizers: Harold Koenig, David Larson