London Conference on Intelligence: Difference between revisions
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==UCL investigation== |
==UCL investigation== |
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In response to the revelation that the conference had taken place on UCL's campus, UCL announced it would be investigating how the conference was able to occur on their campus without the university's knowledge. The aim of the investigation is to determine how Thompson was able to host the event without informing senior university officials. A UCL spokesperson told ''[[the Guardian]]'' that "UCL is investigating a potential breach of its room bookings process for events"; UCL also revoked Thompson's approval to organize future conferences.<ref name=guardian/> |
In response to the revelation that the conference had taken place on UCL's campus, UCL announced it would be investigating how the conference was able to occur on their campus without the university's knowledge. The aim of the investigation is to determine how Thompson was able to host the event without informing senior university officials. A UCL spokesperson told ''[[the Guardian]]'' that "UCL is investigating a potential breach of its room bookings process for events"; UCL also revoked Thompson's approval to organize future conferences.<ref name=guardian/> |
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==Response by attendees== |
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In response to the controversy surrounding the event, the journal [[Intelligence (journal)|''Intelligence'']] published a correspondence defending the conference authored by 15 of its attendees. According to the editorial, contrary to media characterizations of LCI as a "eugenics conference", among the 75 presentations given there over four years, only two (2.7%) had been on the topic of eugenics. The editorial also noted that 48% of LCI's presentations were associated with publications in mainstream journals (specifically excluding ''[[Mankind Quarterly]]'' and ''OpenPsych'' journals), a productivity comparable to that of most conferences in the biomedical sciences.<ref>[https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160289618300837 "Communicating intelligence research: Media misrepresentation, the [[Stephen Jay Gould|Gould]] Effect, and unexpected forces"]. ''Intelligence'', July 2018.</ref> |
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==Attendees== |
==Attendees== |
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Notable attendees of at least one of the conferences include: |
Notable attendees of at least one of the conferences include: |
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Revision as of 18:20, 1 August 2018
The London Conference on Intelligence (LCI) is an invitation-only conference for research on controversial aspects of human intelligence, including race and intelligence and eugenics. Founded in 2014, it was secretly held in the Pearson Building at University College London (UCL) in London, England, on four separate occasions.[1] It was hosted by Dr. James Thompson, an honorary UCL senior lecturer in psychology.[2] The existence of the conference, as well as the names of some of the attendees, was revealed by the London Student on January 10, 2018.[3] In a statement released in response to news of the conference, UCL said that it had been unaware that the conference had occurred on its campus, and that the speakers there "were not approved or endorsed by UCL". Their statement also said that "We are an institution that is committed to free speech but also to combatting racism and sexism in all forms."[4]
LCI was hosted in the city of Skanderborg in Denmark, May 2018[5]. A local news team had the opportunity to interview Helmuth Nyborg, where he made the statement: "We don't trust the media", as a reason why he alone would be interviewed.
UCL investigation
In response to the revelation that the conference had taken place on UCL's campus, UCL announced it would be investigating how the conference was able to occur on their campus without the university's knowledge. The aim of the investigation is to determine how Thompson was able to host the event without informing senior university officials. A UCL spokesperson told the Guardian that "UCL is investigating a potential breach of its room bookings process for events"; UCL also revoked Thompson's approval to organize future conferences.[6]
Response by attendees
In response to the controversy surrounding the event, the journal Intelligence published a correspondence defending the conference authored by 15 of its attendees. According to the editorial, contrary to media characterizations of LCI as a "eugenics conference", among the 75 presentations given there over four years, only two (2.7%) had been on the topic of eugenics. The editorial also noted that 48% of LCI's presentations were associated with publications in mainstream journals (specifically excluding Mankind Quarterly and OpenPsych journals), a productivity comparable to that of most conferences in the biomedical sciences.[7]
Attendees
Notable attendees of at least one of the conferences include:
- Richard Lynn, who attended the May 2017 conference.[8]
- Toby Young, who also attended the May 2017 conference. After the London Student revealed his involvement with the conference, he resigned from his positions as director of the Office for Students and a member of the Fulbright Commission.[6]
- Helmuth Nyborg, who attended all four years.
- Michael Woodley of Menie, who also attended all four year.
- Emil Kirkegaard, who also attended all four years.
- Julius Bjerrekær, who attended the previous two years.
References
- ^ "UCL launches investigation into secret eugenics conference". Times Higher Education. 2018-01-11. Retrieved 2018-05-15.
- ^ Science, American Association for the Advancement of (2018-01-19). "News at a glance". Science. 359 (6373): 256–257. doi:10.1126/science.359.6373.256. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 29348213.
- ^ Daley, Jim (2018-01-12). "Secret Eugenics Conference Uncovered at University College London". The Scientist. Retrieved 2018-05-15.
- ^ "UCL statement on the London Conference on Intelligence". www.ucl.ac.uk (Press release). 2018-01-10. Retrieved 2018-05-15.
- ^ "Bandlyst fra universiteterne: Hemmelig forskergruppe mødes i Skanderborg" (in Danish). 2018-05-14. Retrieved 2018-05-17.
- ^ a b Rawlinson, Kevin; Adams, Richard (2018-01-11). "UCL to investigate eugenics conference secretly held on campus". The Guardian. Retrieved 2018-05-15.
- ^ "Communicating intelligence research: Media misrepresentation, the Gould Effect, and unexpected forces". Intelligence, July 2018.
- ^ "White supremacists held secret eugenics conference at prominent London university for years". Newsweek. 2018-01-11. Retrieved 2018-05-15.