Conference: Imagination and Creativity in Scientific Practices

Conference Announcement – Imagination and Creativity in Scientific Practices

University of Parma, 27–29 October 2025
Aula B, Via D’Azeglio 85/A, Parma, Italy
In-person only event
Everyone Welcome!

The conference brings together scholars exploring a wide range of imagination-related topics, from medieval semantics and early modern science to contemporary debates on epistemic emotions, imaginative resistance and thought experiments.

Conference Schedule:

27 October

14:45 • Conference Opening

15:00 • Daniele Molinari (University of Parma) Participation and Immersive Imagination in Thought Experiments

16:00 • Iris Vidmar Jovanović (University of Rijeka) Imagination and Creativity in the Humanities

17:00 • Anna Ichino (University of Milan) Conspiracy Theories between Belief and Make-Believe

28 October

10:00 • Graziana Ciola (Radboud University) Imagined, Imaginable, Imaginary: The Meaning(s) of Imagination in 14th-Century Nominalist Semantics

11:00 • Irene Binini (University of Parma) Literary Imagination and Scientific Imagination between the Late Medieval and the Early Modern Period: Some Working Hypotheses

12:00 • Ilaria Ampollini (University of Ferrara) Immersive Techniques and Imagination: Scientific Experiments and Explorations at a Distance (17th and 18th Centuries)

15:00 • Michael Stuart (University of York) A Skilled Imagination is Epistemically Good for Science even in the Complete Absence of Truth

16:00 • Round Table on Current Research and Forthcoming Projects on Imagination and/or Creativity

29 October

10:00 • Francesco Cagnin (University of Modena & Reggio Emilia) Sharing the Burden: Facing Imaginative Resistance Together

11:00 • Irene Lonigro (University of Milan) The Epistemic Value of Imagining: Some Insights into Emotional Imagining

12:00 • Marta Benenti (University of Murcia) Epistemic Emotions and Imaginative Exploration

13:00 • Conference Closing

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