Dear friends and colleagues,

Here is the latest update from the Religion, Cognition and Culture (RCC) group. Please excuse cross-listing.

1. Public defense of doctoral dissertation by Gretchen Koch (January 29, 2009, 13:15-16:15, AUD 2)

2. Seminar with Stewart E. Guthrie and Jesse M. Bering (January 30, 2009, 9:15-12:00, TBA)

3. Conference on Meaning in Religion, Cognition and Culture (May 28-29, 2009)

4. Announcing a new phase in RCC activities: MINDLab.

Ad 1. Gretchen Koch, who many of you know, will be the first doctoral candidate connected to the RCC to graduate. She has written an excellent dissertation entitled The Cognitive Origins of Soul Beliefs: Empathy, Responsibility and Purity which she will be defending at her public defense (January 29, 2009, 13:15-16:15, AUD 2). The opponents are Prof. Em. Stewart E. Guthrie, Dr. Jesse M. Bering and Dr. Jeppe Sinding Jensen. For those of you who are in the area, please feel free to attend this important event.

Ad 2. The day after the defense, we will host a seminar with Stewart E. Guthrie and Jesse M. Bering, during which they will discuss their visions on the cognitive science of religion. There will be plenty of time for discussion and debate.

Ad 3. Please remember that the call for papers for our upcoming conference “Meaning in Religion, Cognition and Culture” is currently posted at our website ( www.teo.au.dk/en/research/current/cognition ). The deadline for preliminary proposals is March 2, 2009.

We hope to see as many of you as possible at these events.

Ad 4. Many of you have already heard that the RCC was involved in a major multi-million crown application together with a coalition of important research partners in Aarhus such as the CFIN, the Neuroscience Department and the Pain Centre at the University Hospital, the Department of Psychology, several departments at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities the Business Faculty as well as partners in London and elsewhere. The goal of the application was to secure start capital for an institution we call MINDLab. It was a tough competition, with an international peer review process, as well as internal peer review processes at the hosting universities. Just before Christmas, it was announced by the Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation that we were chosen as one of the four projects to receive an award. We received DKK 120 million for a 5-year period. This amounts to some 16 million euros or 21 million dollars.

We are currently negotiating with our university on allocations and will announce the results of these negotiations as soon as possible. We expect that the MINDLab coalition will initiate a series of exciting events as well as creative research projects and the establishment of a Graduate School in Cognitive Science. We hope to be able to hire new staff as well as doctoral candidates.

Yours truly,

Armin W. Geertz

Jeppe Sinding Jensen