What is Research? (2026) explores various natures, purposes, and roles of research across disciplines, fields, and areas. The event considers frameworks of systematic and creative inquiry, including methods, designs, analyses, discoveries, collaborations, dissemination, ethics, integrity, diversity, media/technologies, and information environments.
The thirteenth gathering delves into research in its many forms, including searching, critically investigating, and re-examining existing knowledge, as well as emerging functions and procedures in machine intelligence and computation. It highlights pluralities of research pathways, examining time-honored approaches and new ways of knowing, precedents, issues, and futures. It considers challenges and possibilities that researchers face in today’s rapidly changing world, and ways to promote ethical, inclusive, and impactful research.
Featured participants include:
• N. Katherine Hayles, Literature, Duke University and English, UCLA • Colin Koopman, Philosophy/Digital Humanities/New Media and Culture, University of Oregon • Vera Keller, History/European Studies, University of Oregon • Daniel Kreiss, Information, Technology, and Public Life, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • Liska Chan, Landscape Architecture/Environmental Futures, University of Oregon • Mark A. Bedau, Philosophy, Reed College and Complex Systems, Portland State University • Bernd Reiter, Classical and Modern Languages and Literatures, Texas Tech University • Jakki Bailey, Media Studies/Immersive Media Communication, University of Oregon Portland • Tibor Solymosi, Philosophy, Villanova University and Embodied Education, Aarhus University, Denmark • Alexis Merculief, Prevention Science/Counseling Psychology, University of Oregon Portland • Adell Amos, Law/Environmental and Natural Resources Law, University of Oregon • Victor Pickard, Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania
In cooperation with the International Association for Media and Communication Research.
The event celebrates three decades of the Communication and Media Studies Doctoral Program in the School of Journalism and Communication at the University of Oregon.
Registration required. Please see the website for more details.
8:45 a.m.–3:30 p.m.
Join us in gathering as a college community to develop a shared vision for the liberal arts. At the summit, we will:
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Articulate the critical role of a liberal arts education in preparing UO students for lives of purpose, impact, and well-being.
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Create transdisciplinary "playlists" - themed groups - of topically related core education courses that get students excited about the liberal arts and develop the core skills of critical thinking, creative thinking, written communication, and ethical reasoning.
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Cultivate faculty teaching communities incorporating evidence-based, innovative pedagogies into existing, high-impact core education courses to support student success.
9:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m.
This two-day event brings together leading artists and scholars who address and resist extractive violence, often from decolonial, anti-racist, and/or anti-capitalist perspectives, and who envision worlds and relations beyond extraction/extractivism.
Thursday: film screening and discussion; Friday: talks and panel discussions.
1:15–2:15 p.m.
GIS and the Makerspace is a three-session workshop covering the basics of map design in ArcGIS Pro to create a laser-cut map notebook and a keychain map of Oregon. The first session covers GIS concepts and map projections. The second session introduces Illustrator basics and formatting for the laser cutter. The third session is held in the Price Science Commons (PSC) Library's DeArmond Makerspace, where you will learn to use the laser cutter and assemble your book.
No experience with GIS or the Makerspace is assumed, and completion of this workshop will certify you to use the laser cutter for your own projects. This workshop is open to current UO students, faculty, and staff. Spots are limited: please only register if you plan to attend, and please cancel your registration if a conflict arises and you won't be able to attend.
7:30–9:30 p.m.
In 1926, radium was a miracle cure, Madame Curie an international celebrity, and luminous watches the latest rage—until the girls who painted them began to fall ill with a mysterious disease. Inspired by a true story, Radium Girls traces the efforts of Grace Fryer, a dial painter, as she fights for her day in court. Her chief adversary is her former employer, Arthur Roeder, an idealistic man who cannot bring himself to believe that the same element that shrinks tumors could have anything to do with the terrifying rash of illnesses among his employees. As the case goes on, however, Grace finds herself battling not just with the U.S. Radium Corporation, but with her own family and friends, who fear that her campaign for justice will backfire. Written with warmth and humor, Radium Girls is a fast-moving, highly theatrical ensemble piece for 9 to 10 actors, who play more than 30 parts—friends, co-workers, lovers, relatives, attorneys, scientists, consumer advocates, and myriad interested bystanders. Called a “powerful” and “engrossing” drama by critics, Radium Girls offers a wry, unflinching look at the peculiarly American obsessions with health, wealth, and the commercialization of science. Produced by special arrangement with The Dramatic Publishing Company of Woodstock, Illinois. Originally produced by Playwrights Theatre of New Jersey and developed with a commissioning grant from The Ensemble Studio Theatre/Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Science and Technology Project.
by D. W. Gregory Directed by Willow Jade Norton Zolan
What is Research? (2026) explores various natures, purposes, and roles of research across disciplines, fields, and areas. The event considers frameworks of systematic and creative inquiry, including methods, designs, analyses, discoveries, collaborations, dissemination, ethics, integrity, diversity, media/technologies, and information environments.
The thirteenth gathering delves into research in its many forms, including searching, critically investigating, and re-examining existing knowledge, as well as emerging functions and procedures in machine intelligence and computation. It highlights pluralities of research pathways, examining time-honored approaches and new ways of knowing, precedents, issues, and futures. It considers challenges and possibilities that researchers face in today’s rapidly changing world, and ways to promote ethical, inclusive, and impactful research.
Featured participants include:
• N. Katherine Hayles, Literature, Duke University and English, UCLA • Colin Koopman, Philosophy/Digital Humanities/New Media and Culture, University of Oregon • Vera Keller, History/European Studies, University of Oregon • Daniel Kreiss, Information, Technology, and Public Life, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • Liska Chan, Landscape Architecture/Environmental Futures, University of Oregon • Mark A. Bedau, Philosophy, Reed College and Complex Systems, Portland State University • Bernd Reiter, Classical and Modern Languages and Literatures, Texas Tech University • Jakki Bailey, Media Studies/Immersive Media Communication, University of Oregon Portland • Tibor Solymosi, Philosophy, Villanova University and Embodied Education, Aarhus University, Denmark • Alexis Merculief, Prevention Science/Counseling Psychology, University of Oregon Portland • Adell Amos, Law/Environmental and Natural Resources Law, University of Oregon • Victor Pickard, Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania
In cooperation with the International Association for Media and Communication Research.
The event celebrates three decades of the Communication and Media Studies Doctoral Program in the School of Journalism and Communication at the University of Oregon.
Registration required. Please see the website for more details.
7:30–9:30 p.m.
In 1926, radium was a miracle cure, Madame Curie an international celebrity, and luminous watches the latest rage—until the girls who painted them began to fall ill with a mysterious disease. Inspired by a true story, Radium Girls traces the efforts of Grace Fryer, a dial painter, as she fights for her day in court. Her chief adversary is her former employer, Arthur Roeder, an idealistic man who cannot bring himself to believe that the same element that shrinks tumors could have anything to do with the terrifying rash of illnesses among his employees. As the case goes on, however, Grace finds herself battling not just with the U.S. Radium Corporation, but with her own family and friends, who fear that her campaign for justice will backfire. Written with warmth and humor, Radium Girls is a fast-moving, highly theatrical ensemble piece for 9 to 10 actors, who play more than 30 parts—friends, co-workers, lovers, relatives, attorneys, scientists, consumer advocates, and myriad interested bystanders. Called a “powerful” and “engrossing” drama by critics, Radium Girls offers a wry, unflinching look at the peculiarly American obsessions with health, wealth, and the commercialization of science. Produced by special arrangement with The Dramatic Publishing Company of Woodstock, Illinois. Originally produced by Playwrights Theatre of New Jersey and developed with a commissioning grant from The Ensemble Studio Theatre/Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Science and Technology Project.
by D. W. Gregory Directed by Willow Jade Norton Zolan
2:00–4:00 p.m.
In 1926, radium was a miracle cure, Madame Curie an international celebrity, and luminous watches the latest rage—until the girls who painted them began to fall ill with a mysterious disease. Inspired by a true story, Radium Girls traces the efforts of Grace Fryer, a dial painter, as she fights for her day in court. Her chief adversary is her former employer, Arthur Roeder, an idealistic man who cannot bring himself to believe that the same element that shrinks tumors could have anything to do with the terrifying rash of illnesses among his employees. As the case goes on, however, Grace finds herself battling not just with the U.S. Radium Corporation, but with her own family and friends, who fear that her campaign for justice will backfire. Written with warmth and humor, Radium Girls is a fast-moving, highly theatrical ensemble piece for 9 to 10 actors, who play more than 30 parts—friends, co-workers, lovers, relatives, attorneys, scientists, consumer advocates, and myriad interested bystanders. Called a “powerful” and “engrossing” drama by critics, Radium Girls offers a wry, unflinching look at the peculiarly American obsessions with health, wealth, and the commercialization of science. Produced by special arrangement with The Dramatic Publishing Company of Woodstock, Illinois. Originally produced by Playwrights Theatre of New Jersey and developed with a commissioning grant from The Ensemble Studio Theatre/Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Science and Technology Project.
by D. W. Gregory Directed by Willow Jade Norton Zolan
1:00–3:30 p.m.
Foodways in early East Asia reflect cultural identity, technological innovation, and community practices. Prehistoric societies across the region diversified their diets with wild resources, experimented with early farming, and developed distinctive cooking and serving traditions. This session highlights research on food procurement, preparation, and consumption in Neolithic China and Japan, alongside comparisons with food culture resilience in Oregon.
The symposium is open to the public, and light refreshment will be provided.
Hosted by:
Prof. Gyoung-Ah Lee (Anthropology, University of Oregon)
Presented by:
Prof. Anne Underhill (Anthropology, Yale University)
Prof. Xuexiang Chen (Archaeology, Shandong University)
Prof. Hiroki Obata (Archaeology, Kumamoto University)
Prof. Katelyn McDonough (Anthropology, University of Oregon)
View or Download the Symposium Brochure Here
Event sponsors:
Admiral David E. Jeremiah and Mrs. Connie Jeremiah Lecture Series, Yoko McClain Lecture Series in Japanese Studies, Center for Asian and Pacific Studies, Department of Anthropology, East Asian Languages and Literatures, Food Studies Program, and Oregon Humanities Center’s Endowment for Public Outreach in the Arts, Sciences, and Humanities.
3:30–5:00 p.m.
Join the Department of History and Kathy Stuart, Professor of History at the University of California, Davis, for a talk: “If the child dies, it will cost my life too, that cannot be avoided.” Suicide by Proxy, Social Discipline and the Psyche in Early Modern Germany.
Suicide by proxy was a novel crime that emerged in late sixteenth-century Germany: suicidal people committed capital crimes with the explicit goal of “earning” their executions, as a short-cut to their salvation. By dying repentantly at the hands of the state, perpetrators hoped to escape eternal damnation that befell direct suicides. To that end they typically murdered a young child, as a religious sacrifice. Suicide by proxy had a cross-confessional appeal and was astonishingly frequent, leading to high numbers of executions in numerous Central European territories. Kathy Stuart embeds this shocking practice in its religious and political context to show how it emerged as the psychological consequence of social disciplining techniques deployed by the early modern state.
Stuart is Professor of History at the University of California, Davis. She researches the history of criminal justice, marginality and gender in early modern Germany. Her first book, Defiled Trades and Social Outcasts: Honor and Ritual Pollution in Early Modern Germany (Cambridge UP, 2000), received the biennial Hans Rosenberg Book Prize. Her second book, Suicide by Proxy in Early Modern Germany: Crime, Sin and Salvation (Palgrave Macmillan, 2023) was awarded the Natalie Zemon Davis Book Prize in 2024. She collaborated with Austrian filmmakers Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala on their feature film Des Teufel’s Bad (The Devil’s Bath), awarded a Silver Bear at the 2024 Berlin International Film Festival. The film’s female protagonist is a composite of two historical women child murderers featured in Suicide by Proxy.
Free and open to the public.