The Institute for Scientific Methodology
The ISEM (Institute for Scientific Methodology) starts out as a place for critical thinking and education on the role of science in culture and society. Based in Palermo, Italy, the institute conducts educational, research and cultural activities.
The institute -- a consortium among the CNR, the City of Bagheria and the Sicily section of Confederation of Italy Industry's -- is led by research chemist Mario Pagliaro and by theoretical physicist Ignazio Licata.
Its aim -- summarized in its slogan "Bringing science back into culture" -- is to act as a leading international educational and research center whose distinctive competence is its approach to science, teaching and research which emphasizes the consequences -- for management, education, public communication and much else -- of bringing science back into culture.
Education
Entitled to a giant philosopher of science, the Master "Paul K. Feyerabend" of the Institute for Scientific Methodology addresses the role of science in contemporary society and culture and is aimed to managers, philosophers, communicators, psychologists, scientists and other knowledge workers.
Its overall objective is to transfer a powerful systemic approach to the knowledge jobs to the attendees providing them with new conceptual -- and practical -- competences that emerge from reconsidering the science's role in culture and society.
The Master lasts six months (January throuhg June). It is conducted weekly in the outstanding Villa dei Principi di Cattolica in in Bagheria (near Palermo) by professors Licata and Pagliaro (main teachers). Prestigeous scientists and philosophers from the advisory board and from relevant scientific and philosophical schools worldwide will also teach at the Master as visiting professors.
Research
The Institute will lead frontier-research in chemistry, physics and biology.
In theoretical physics, under the guidance of Ignazio Licata (Full Professor of Theoretical Physics at Pal Harbor, USA), focusing on mathematical models in theoretical biology and cognitive epistemology. The chosen areas will be the strongly interdisciplinary ones: bio and quantum computing, nanotechnologies, symbolic and sub-symbolic systems for knowledge representation, quantum systemics.
In chemistry, with the versatility which has marked, in the last five years, the MPL Laboratory at Palermo's CNR as one of the most important research team for its wide-spanning contributions (from catalysis to sensoristics, from science of materials to renewable substances, from photo-chemistry to synthesis) in collaboration with 11 different countries.
Attività culturali
Da sede della cerimonia della "Majorana Medal" organizzata dall'Elecronic Journal of Theoretical Physics, l'Istituto promuove una serie di attività rivolte a tutti i cittadini per diffondere cultura e promuovere una crescita comune basata su una visione rinnovata del rapporto fra scienza, cultura e società. In generale, queste attività sono svolte in italiano essendo rivolte al territorio ed includono la presentazione di libri, l'organizzazione di convegni e seminari, la visione di video e film e in generale attività di comunicazione innovative quali i webinar (seminari sul web). Fra di esse vi sono gli Incontri "Focus".
Incontri “Focus”
L'Istituto organizza brevi corsi che focalizzano sui temi caldi della ricerca scientifica, sia su argomenti teorici che riguardano temi di grande impatto (come la genomica, le teorie unificate e le teorie della mente) sia su argomenti tecnologici, specialmente nelle nuove aree interdisciplinari (nuovi materiali, bio-informatica, nanotecnologie ecc.).