Scientific congresses and knowledge networks

This research day focuses on scientific congresses and conferences as both geographical and disciplinary spaces for the circulation of knowledge. Emphasis is placed on the methods available for studying data on events’ participation, noting that unlike the study of bibliographic corpora, which benefit from well-stabilised bibliometric methodologies, the study of scientific events not as well established. Different approaches will be addressed: ethnography, analysis of co-participation networks, content analysis. By bringing together historians working on congresses from the turn of the 20th century with social scientists working on congresses from the second half of the 20th century and today, the day will bring out similarities but also differences in approaches, types of sources, questions and methodological obstacles.