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                  Impact University / SCS Africa International Conference

2021 Theme – Reflections on Science, Faith, Development and Academic Excellence

This call for contributions is intended for academic staff and researchers who wish to explore the hidden correlations that exist between Christian faith and the sciences, Christian faith and academic work and Christian thought and the various academic disciplines.

A. Christian faith and academic work
Papers in this stream will address practically and/or philosophically the tasks and challenges that Christian academics face in their work: e.g., counseling students, cultivating a life of prayer and worship despite heavy professional demands, pursuing promotion, carrying out research, sharing their knowledge with their churches, gaining a voice and having an impact in social and political issues. Papers will generally combine personal experience and relevant research findings, seeking to find ways of living out the Christian message more fully in the context of the university.

B. Christian thought and the particular disciplines
Papers in this stream will reflect on concepts, findings, and research from the presenter’s discipline in light of Christian thought and life, highlighting convergence, divergence, or cross-pollination. A presenter might show how their research motivation, methods, findings, or outcomes express Christian and Biblical convictions or, alternatively, argue that Christianity presents a challenge to certain convictions or policies associated with the discipline.

C. Panels and roundtables on specific themes
Rather than submitting individual papers, scholars are invited to coordinate with several colleagues interested in similar questions in order to propose a panel or a roundtable of one hour’s duration. For instance, a group of three scholars from a single country might propose to give twenty-minute papers suggesting discipline-specific ways of bringing Christian faith to bear on national political or social challenges. Or, a group of five scholars in a single discipline might orchestrate a lively conversation by explaining their contrasting perspectives on a central question in their discipline, such as genetic engineering, crimes against humanity, African languages, large-scale agriculture, or common currencies.

Workshop Sessions:

– The Nexus between Faith and Academic Excellence (Dr. Alexander Timothy)
– Building STEM Teacher Capacity through the Practical Education Network (Dr. Heather
Beam)