IASAT

The Festival Of Touch
2023-07-04 00:00 - 2023-07-07 23:59 (Europe/Paris) | Aix-Marseille University, Campus Saint-Charles, 3 Place Victor Hugo, Marseille, 13003, France
A joint meeting of Research In Touch and IASAT:How do you feel… how do you want to feel?

Registration – Abstracts – Agenda – Venue – Accommodation

The Festival of Touch aims to bring together researchers working in the sense of touch from across the world. It will be a joint meeting of two networks: Research in Touch and IASAT: International Association for the Study of Affective Touch.

The conference will be held between 4-7 July 2023 at Campus Saint-Charles of Aix-Marseille University and will include four days of oral and poster presentations on touch, as well as hands-on demonstrations. This will be an excellent opportunity for researchers interested in touch to come together from across the world to present and share their research. We will have different sessions that focus on topics such as peripheral mechanoreceptors to the central interpretation of touch and include the domains of haptics and affective touch.

Registrations are going very well, but places are limited(!), so please do register as soon as possible for the conference and the Gala Dinner.If you are planning to travel overland, by rail or bus(!), we want to help you meet up with other researchers on your way. If you would like to share your travel itinerary (departure, route, timetable), we will collate and make suggestions for who you can meet on your journey. Email info@researchintouch.info with the details. In addition to the gala dinner, there will be a number of social events:

If you are arriving on Monday 3rd July, email info@researchintouch.info if you’d like to join up with others for evening food and drinks.

There will be a ‘Book Launch’ social (likely on Thursday 6th), for co-authors of the Somatosensory Research Methods book, and friends!.

If there are other social events you would like to have (or to arrange!), please email info@researchintouch.info.

Registration:

Our host institution requires registration via the following process:

Go to the Registration Website: https://www.azur-colloque.fr/DR12/inscription/preinscription/216

Enter your details (Pre-Registration)

Your Pre-Registration will be validated (ASAP)

You can then proceed to payment

For enquiries and additional information, please contact touch2023@sciencesconf.org

Registration Prices:180 € Permanent academic (including researchers, lecturers, clinicians, therapists, etc.)240 € Permanent academic with gala dinner120 € Student or post-doc (PhDs, Masters, post-docs, other non-permanent staff, etc.)180 € Student or post-doc with gala dinner240 € Industry (businesses, private enterprises, etc.)300 € Industry with gala dinner0 € Special organiser (category for organizer, requests for financial help – contact us)60 € Special organizer with gala dinnerOur gala dinner is planned the Thursday 6th July evening, on a rooftop bar-restaurant close to the conference. More details soon!

If you are an early-career researcher and do not have travel funds, please contact us to apply for financial assistance.Registration Deadlines:Registration deadline: 09/06/2023Late registration possible may be possible until 23/06/2023 (you must contact the organisers).Space is limited. so please register as soon as possible.The Gala Dinner is limited to 150 attendees, so if you would like to join us, please include this at registration to avoid disappointment.

Abstract Submission:

We are accepting abstracts for open talks (10-15 mins) and posters.You can choose to submit an abstract to be considered for a talk and/or a poster or for a poster only. Each abstract should be no more than 250 words and provide an overview of your work.You do not need to upload additional files, but if you want to send us a picture representing “What touch means to you”, please feel free! We hope to use these, anonymously, to illustrate our world of touch during the conference.

To Submit An Abstract:

1) Create An Account on the conference’s abstract submission site. If you’re creating a new account – you’ll need to verify your email address – the verification email may take some time.

2) Login using the username & password you just created.

3) Go to My Space > My Submissions

4) Click [+ Submit An Abstract] and complete the form.

Abstract Submission Deadlines:

Abstract submission for oral communication deadline: 19/05/2023

Abstract submission for posters deadline: 09/06/2023

Agenda:

The provisional conference programme has been released, with a wide range of symposia, plenary talks, posters, open talks and methods sessions, all on your favourite topics of social, affective and discriminative somatosensation.

Download the provisional programme (pdf)

Symposia:

How skin mechanics shape touch

Affective touch: more than skin stroking

Wetness, slip, stick, and texture

C-fibers – what is their functional role?

Multisensory and central influences in touch interactions

Tricking the system: tactile illusions and prosthetic touch

Keynote Speakers:

Sliman Bensmaia

Gary Lewin

Rochelle Ackerley

Ingvars Birznieks

India Morrison

Details may be subject to change.

Contact:

For more information, please contact Rochelle Ackerley

Venue

Accomodation

Booking.com

Search via Booking.com

Objectives for the Festival of Touch:

Scientific:

We wish to present cutting-edge research in touch and encourage discussion.

The main theme of the Festival of Touch will be how fundamental touch mechanisms are encoded and interpreted, with a goal of making touch feel better.

We will link the two joint conferences together by having symposia that span general touch research and affective touch, to increase interactions and discussions amongst researchers.

Social:

Inclusivity: we will invite touch researchers from all over the world to participate and we encourage all levels to contribute, from students to established researchers.

Openness: we want to spread the message of touch far and wide and the conference will be open to all people interested in touch, where we will encourage industrial participation.

Environment: we will encourage travel with lower environmental impact. We will hold some of the presentations via visual conferencing. We will also use less meat in the catering, use biodegradable items, and decrease plastic use.

Sponsors:

SocialBRIDGES 4 – Social distancing and touch
2021-06-29 10:15 - 17:00 (Europe/Berlin) | Virtual
In the upcoming socialBRIDGES e-conference on June 29, 2021, we are pleased to offer an interdisciplinary one-day event on touch in the era of COVID, consisting of talks and a virtual poster room. There will also be a virtual space for participants to socially interact during coffee breaks, as we would do during real events.

The event will focus on two key themes:

Changes in social touch during COVID

What has been the effect of social distancing on how we interact?We will explore, via a number of large, online studies, the effects that the COVID health crisis and the following social distancing have had on our well-being and behavior.
vores hjemmeside

Bodily changes in and touch interactions during COVID

How have our interactions changed during COVID?Advice tells us to avoid touching any object or surface in public and to wash and/or sanitize our hands afterwards, which has impacts on how we interact with the world and with others. We will explore how this has changed us, impacted our lives, and how it makes us feel.

SocialBRIDGES is a series of e-Conferences hosted by Universität der Bundeswehr München. SocialBRIDGES 4 “Social distancing and touch” is supported by IASAT, and was organised by:Prof. Merle Fairhurst, Universität der Bundeswehr München Prof. Rochelle Ackerley, Aix Marseille Université Dr. Olga Lantukhova, Universität der Bundeswehr München

About The Event

Programme

IASAT 2019
2019-09-11 - 2019-09-13 | Konsert&Kongress, Konsistoriegatan 7, Linköping, 582 22, Sweden
3rd IASAT Congress
Wednesday 11th – Friday 13th September 2019

♦ Agenda ♦ Venue ♦
We once again look forward to bringing together researchers from around the world to explore and discuss the biology and psychology of affective touch, and its role in brain development and social behaviour.

Several influential studies have examined the neurobiology, physiology and genetics of affective touch, and highlighted its social and cognitive importance. The aim is to provide a platform for fruitful scientific exchanges in this nascent field, and foster interdisciplinary dialogue between scientists and professionals in education, health and social care.

The programme will be built around four larger topics to cover a wide range of relevant research questions related to affective touch. The four main topics are (1) The C story: pain, pleasure and itch (2) The spinal cord and the peripheral nervous system (3) Cognitive, affective and social perspectives (4) New advances in the field of affective touch: methods & applications. The congress will involve a wide variety of options for the speakers, such as data blitz sessions, research presentations, keynote talks, symposia and poster presentations. Furthermore, to create opportunities for causal discussions, a gala dinner will be held on Thursday. We will organize a visit and dinner to the nearby lakeside village of Vadstena, the birthplace of Yngve Zotterman.
Download The Programme (.pdf)

Accommodation

Booking.com

Find out more about our host city at: VisitLinköping beit-mirkahat.com

Agenda

Day 1

Wednesday Sept. 11th

8:30
9:00
Coffee and Registration

9:00
9:10
Welcome Commencement

9:10
9:45
Keynote – Victoria Abraira: Wired for Touch: the neurons and circuits of the somatosensory system

10 minute break/buffer

9:55
11:25
Session 1 – C story: pain, pleasure, itch

Session Leader – Francis McGlone: C+++: A Protection Racket

Speaker – Gudrun Gosseau: C-tactile function in postherpetic neuralgia

Speaker – Adarsh Makdani: Itch

Speaker – Grazia Spitoni: Pleasure

11:25
12:00
Keynote – Emmanuel Bourinet: Chasing the function of affective touch neuronal circuits in mice

12:00
13:00
Lunch

13:00
13:35
Keynote – David Mahns: C tactile fibres: to what affect?

13:35
15:05
Session 2 – Spinal Cord and PNS

Session Leader – Saad Nagi: Richness of peripheral afferent responses to touch and pain

Speaker – Sarah McIntyre: The physical characteristics of social touch

Speaker – Andy Marshall: Signalling of pleasant touch in the human spinal cord

Speaker -Max Larsson: Synaptic substrates of social touch

15:05
15:25
Coffee Break

15:25
16:00
Keynote – Alex Chesler: Touch and Pain in health and disease

16:00

Poster Session 1 Open

Day 2

Thursday Sept. 12th

9:00
9:35
Keynote – Annett Schirmer: Felt or seen – Affective touch modulates the social brain

9:35
11:15
Session 3 – Cognitive, affective and social perspectives

Session Leader – Aikaterini Fotopoulou: Sensitivity, metacognition, stroke and anorexia studies

Speaker – Rebecca Böhme: The bodily self in Autism and ADHD

Speaker – Juulia Suvilehto:

Speaker – Ilona Croy: Developmental and PTSD studies

10 minute break/buffer

11:25
12:00
Keynote – Katalin Gothard: From sensing to feeling along a cortico-amygala pathway for social touch

12:00
13:00
Lunch

13:00
15:00
Data Blitz – Hosted by Chris Dijkerman

15:00
15:30
Coffee Break

15:30

Poster Session 2 Open – Guided Tour

17:00

Bus to Vadstena

19:00

Dinner at Vadstena

21:30

Returning Bus from Vadstena

Day 3

Friday Sept. 13th

9:00
9:35
Keynote – Catherine Bushnell: Brain processing of superficial and deep touch

9:35
11:15
Session 4 – Methods and Applications

Session Leader – Greg Gerling: Quantitative Methods for Uncovering Human-to-Human Physical Interactions that Underlie Social and Emotional Touch Communication

Speaker – Uta Sailer: Individual stability of pleasantness ratings for stroking touch

Speaker – Charles El Rawadi: Better understanding tactile ability and skin neurological disorders with aging to improve life quality of elderly

Speaker – Robin Heron: Analysing meaning making of social touch in computer-mediated interaction

Speaker – Ingvars Birznieks: Making recipes for touch sensation using the key ingredient of the timing of individual spikes in tactile afferents

Speaker – Martina Fusaro: Feeling touch in absence of tactile stimulation: subjective and bodily reactivity to observation of virtual touches on taboo body zones

11:25
12:00
Keynote – Karon MacLean: What part of our internal experience is readable by a touch-sensitive machine?

12:00

Closing Remarks & Award Ceremony

Take Away Lunch

(agenda subject to change)
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Venue
IASAT 2019 will be held at Konsert&Kongress, Linköping, Sweden

https://youtu.be/dB1CF4jy2Io
Find out more about our host city at: VisitLinköping

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Organisers:
Scientific Organising Committee: The scientific committee of IASAT 2019 consists of Håkan Olausson, India Morrison, Francis McGlone and Aikaterini Fotopoulou.

Administrative Support: The administrative support team includes Lina Homman, Andrew Wold, Anikó Kusztor, and Adarsh Makdani.
For more information: help@iasat.org

Supported By

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Partner Universities

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IASAT 2017
2017-09-01 12:00 - 2017-09-03 14:00 (Europe/London) | Liverpool John Moores University, Byrom Street, Liverpool, L3 3AF, United Kingdom
The 2nd IASAT Congress – 2017 – Liverpool, UK
Friday 1st September – Sunday 3rd September 2017

Following the successful inaugural congress in 2015, we once again brought together researchers from around the world to explore and discuss the biology and psychology of affective touch, and its role in brain development and social behaviour.
Several influential studies have examined the neurobiology, physiology and genetics of affective touch, and highlighted its social and cognitive importance. The aim of the IASAT Congress is to provide a platform for fruitful scientific exchanges in this nascent field, and foster interdisciplinary dialogue between scientists and professionals in education, health and social care.

♦ Programme ♦ Speakers ♦ Posters ♦ Venue ♦

Programme
IASAT 2017 Programme
IASAT2017 Speaker Abstracts

Invited Speakers
Laura Case, Francesco Cerritelli, Frances Champagne, Illona Croy, Katerina Fotopoulou, Nina Jablonski, Siri Leknes, Ellen Lumpkin, Andrew Marshall, India Morrison, Chris Murtgatroyd, Håkan Olausson, Rebeccah Slater, Paula Trotter, Kerstin Uvnäs-Moberg, Kevin Pelphrey, Martine van Puyvelde, Susannah Walker, Roger Watkins, Johan Wessberg, Stuart Wilson & more…

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Poster Abstracts
IASAT 2017 Poster List
IASAT 2017 Poster Abstracts
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Venue
IASAT 2017 will be held at Liverpool John Moores University
Byrom Street, Liverpool, United Kingdom, L3 3AF

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Organisers:
Scientific Organising Committee:
Francis McGlone, LJMU – Symposium Director
Susannah Walker, LJMU – Programme Chair
Håkan Olausson, LiU
Katerina Fotopoulou, UCL
Administrative Support:
Adarsh Makdani, LJMU
Claire Keenan, LJMU

Supported By
Johnson & Johnson | The Leverhulme Trust | Springer Publishing
ADInstruments | Experimental Psychology Society

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Partner Universities

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IASAT 2015
2015-03-20 - 2015-03-22 | UCL, Queen's Square, London, United Kingdom
The inaugural IASAT congress was held in March 2015, hosted by UCL in London’s Queen Square.

IASAT 2015 Programme
IASAT 2015 AGM Minutes
IASAT 2015 Constitution Proposal
