Meeting Summary
The Night Science Workshop on the Creative Process
Science moves between two modes: Day Science, the rigorous testing of ideas, and Night Science, the creative process where those ideas first emerge.
Join Itai Yanai and Martin Lercher for two seminars on their latest research, offering insight into how scientific ideas are explored, tested, and refined in practice.
But where do these ideas come from in the first place?
What we call the scientific method tells us what to do once we have a hypothesis – but where do these hypotheses come from in the first place? François Jacob famously called this part the realm of ‘Night Science’.
Itai Yanai and Martin Lercher developed a workshop that teaches the dichotomy of the scientific process, which consists of both Day Science, the rigorous testing of ideas with empirical data, and Night Science, the creative scientific process.
The workshop then introduces the thinking tools of the creative scientific process, which include improvisational discussions, interdisciplinarity, metaphorical language, questions from contradictions, puzzle-switching, and a general attitude of openness toward new ideas.
For more information: https://night-science.org/home/learn/
Organizing committee:
Sara Isabel Fernandes (KULeuven), Carolina Ruivo (KULeuven), Marek Piprek (KULeuven), Alexandra Bacquelaine Veloso (ULiege), Marijne Vandebergh (UAntwerpen), Claudio Pinheiro (UGent)
We are very grateful for the support from the following sponsors:
Program
|
Day 1
Day Science | Monday, 11th May | Aula ON5 @1pm |
|
| TBA | Seminar Itai Yanai |
| TBA | Seminar Martin Lercher |
|
* unlimited attendance
|
|
|
Day 2
Night Science | Tuesday, 12th May | Leuven City Center |
|
| 09:00 - 09:30 | Registration + Welcome coffee |
| 09:30 - 11:30 | Session 1 (2 hours): Night science, openness, improvisation, takes two to think + Exercise |
| 11:30 - 12:30 | Session 2 (1 hour): Import/export and puzzles + Exercise |
| 12:30 - 13:30 | Lunch |
| 13:30 - 14:30 | Session 3 (1 hour): Hypothesis is a liability + Exercise |
| 14:30 - 15:30 | Session 4 (1 hour): The two languages + Exercise |
| 15:30 - 16:30 | Session 5 (1 hour): Questions, contradictions, punchlines and awe + Exercise |
| 16:30 - 17:00 | Session 6 (30 minutes): Discussion |
|
* 50 seats available.
|
|
Speakers
Itai Yanai
Professor of Biochemistry at New York University, School of Medicine
Engineering & Philosophy of Science
PhD in Bioinformatics, Boston Univ.
Postdocs at Weizmann & Harvard
Expertise:
- Cancer biology and host-pathogen interactions
- Evolutionary and developmental biology
- Single-cell RNA-Seq and spatial transcriptomics, and computational biology
Martin Lercher
Professor of Computational Cell Biology, Heinrich Heine Univ. Düsseldorf
Physics
PhD in Theoretical Physics, Cambridge
Postdocs at Bath & EMBL Heidelberg
Expertise:
- Computational systems biology
- Evolutionary genomics
- AI predictions of protein-small molecule interactions
Registration
Registration is open.
Registration is mandatory and performed on a first-come first-serve basis.
A maximum of 50 people are allowed to attend the workshop.
Deadline: April 30th
Travel Information
By plane:
Brussels Airport is the nearest airport to Leuven (about 25 km). The airport has a train station located below the terminal (basement level-1) and is connected twice an hour to Leuven (travel time of about 15 min).
Alternatively, participants can arrive at the airport Brussels-South located near Charleroi. This airport is often favored by low-cost companies. Passengers flying in to Charleroi can either take a bus (about twice an hour) to Brussels (train station Bruxelles-Midi/Brussel-Zuid) where they can take the train to Leuven (about 1 hour per bus followed by 30 min by train) or take the bus to Charleroi train station and continue their journey by train.
By train:
Leuven can be easily reached by train from all major cities (e.g. Brussels-Leuven about 30 min, several trains every hour).
By car:
Leuven is easily accessible by car. It is located near the E40 highway Brussels-Liège. Coming from the E40 please follow the signs Hasselt when arriving at the junction with the E314, and take then the first exit (exit 15), which will bring you to the Leuven ring road, in the immediate vicinity of the workshop venue.
Getting around in Leuven
Leuven is an old city with many small streets. Walking (or biking) around is very easy, though driving is less recommended.
There are numerous possibilities for public transportation. Especially interesting are the bus line 43 which allow for an easy commute between the train station and Gasthuisberg campus. Other interesting bus lines are 600 and 601, they travel along the ring road (600: counter clockwise, 601: clockwise) every 15 minutes. These ring busses are however only available on weekdays between 6:00 and 20:00 and will stop at the hospital instead of the campus.
Finally, for those arriving by car, it will be interesting to know that the meeting venue has a parking lot open to meeting participants from outside of the university (parking onderwijs en navorsing). The code that is needed for entering and exiting will be send by e-mail to participants from outside of KU Leuven. Participants from KU Leuven can use public transport to reach te venue.