Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research

The Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research (KLI) is an international center for advanced studies in theoretical biology. It supports the articulation, analysis, and integration of biological theories and the exploration of their wider scientific and cultural significance. The institute is located in Altenberg, near Vienna, Austria, in the family mansion of the Nobel Laureate Konrad Lorenz, whose work laid the foundation for an evolutionary approach to mind and cognition.

The institute provides a stimulating and creative environment for fellows, visiting scholars, students, and external faculty who wish to work on any of the aforementioned topics. Through its lecture and seminar series the KLI also offers a platform for the critical public discussion of current themes in the biosciences.

Founded in 1990, the KLI is funded by a private trust and receives additional support from the Austrian Ministry of Science and the Province of Lower Austria. The institute has close ties with many of the higher education institutions in Vienna and Lower Austria as well as with a number of international institutions with similar aims.

Activities

The KLI supports theoretical research primarily in the areas of evolutionary developmental biology and evolutionary cognitive science. This is accomplished by providing fellowships for scientific projects of graduate students, postdocs, and visiting scientists. In addition, the KLI organizes lecture series, co-organizes symposia, and hosts round-table discussions and workshops at the Lorenz mansion. The KLI houses the Konrad Lorenz Archive and it provides an extensive internet database for literature in theoretical biology and related fields. Together with MIT Press, it publishes the journal " [http://mitpress.mit.edu/biot Biological Theory] ". The KLI also runs a small animal facility for selected, empirical projects in evolution and cognition research.

Fellows

Fellows are scientists and scholars in the humanities who come to the KLI for work on a project corresponding to the aims of the institute. The KLI primarily supports theoretical research in the fields of evolutionary developmental biology and evolutionary cognitive science. In addition, start-up grants and infrastructural support are available for empirical projects complementary to ongoing, behavioral and evolutionary research at the KLI. Past and current fellows have come from a large number of countries, and have been trained in various disciplines within the social and natural sciences, and humanities.

Lecture series

The KLI organizes two kinds of lecture series:

* The Altenberg Seminars in Theoretical Biology are prestigious lecture series, each devoted to a timely topic of scientific and philosophical significance. They consist of lectures at the University of Vienna by scholars who are most qualified in their field, and extended follow-up discussions in Altenberg.The Seminars are open to a general audience.

* The KLI Brown Bag Discussions are a flexible format for informal talks and peer discussion, primarily aimed at presenting work in progress related to the institute's own research.

Workshops

The [http://kli.ac.at/workshops-c.html Altenberg Workshops] are meetings focused on a key issue of biological theory. All workshops are organized by leading experts in their field, who invite a group of international top level scientists as participants.

The meetings are fully sponsored by the KLI and have only one requirement: The organizers are requested to generate a book on the workshop topic. These are not conference proceedings but edited books which further develop in their chapters the novel ideas and concepts that were produced at the meeting. The organizers of each workshop will act as the editors of the book, but the contributors are not necessarily limited to the original participants and may be complemented by experts on those topics that emerged to be important for the respective issue.

By this procedure the KLI intends to generate new conceptual advances and research initiatives in the bio-sciences, which, due to their explicit interdisciplinary nature, are attractive to a wide variety of scientists from practically all fields of biology and the neighboring disciplines. The expertise of the selected editors and authors guarantees a high quality of the books. They are fully reviewed and, if accepted, published by MIT Press as part of their [http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/browse/browse.asp?btype=6&serid=102 Vienna Series in Theoretical Biology] .

Animal facility

The animal facility, the Vivarium, at the KLI is suited for a number of small-scale laboratory research projects in the biological and cognitive sciences. The Vivarium is intended for testing empirical predictions of theoretical studies in cognition, development, and evolution. At 600 square feet, the facility is suitable for research projects involving small animals or a limited number of larger species. The vivarium includes a small greenhouse which holds a marmoset colony. It provides computer equipment, video and sound recorders, and microscopes for research purposes. All studies are task-oriented and non-invasive.

Other Konrad Lorenz institutions

Two other institutions in Austria are named after Konrad Lorenz. Both the Konrad Lorenz Research Station in Grünau and the Konrad Lorenz Institute for Ethology in Vienna, an institute of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, pursue research in behavioral ecology, including animal cognition in the tradition of Konrad Lorenz.

References

* [http://www.kli.ac.at/ Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research]

External links

* [http://www.kli.ac.at/theorylab.html KLI Theory Lab]
* [http://kli.ac.at/workshops-c.html Past editions of the Altenberg Workshops]
* [http://mitpress.mit.edu/biot The journal "Biological Theory"]
* [http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/browse/browse.asp?btype=6&serid=102 Vienna Series in Theoretical Biology]
* [http://www.univie.ac.at/zoology/nbs/gruenau/ Konrad Lorenz Research Station (in Grünau, Austria)]
* [http://www.oeaw.ac.at/klivv/ Konrad Lorenz Institute for Ethology (in Vienna, Austria)]