Speaker Biographies
Name: José Louis Belmonte
Abstract Title: Mythical creatures appearing in astral myths of Herakles in relation to the lineage of Phorcys and Ceto in Hesiod's Theogony
Biography:
International lecturer, the author of four books, two prefaces, and several research articles on astrology, José Luis Belmonte, is currently studying the M.D. 'Cultures and Languages in Antiquity' at University of Barcelona (2019-2020), has a Master's Degree on Cultural Astrology and Astronomy (University of Wales, 2015-2018), studied Classical Philology (Greek, Latin, and Hebrew) at University of Barcelona (2017-2019), studied astrology at Kepler College (2007-2011), and graduated as an Engineer of Telecommunications specialized in electronic equipment at Ramon Llull University (1996). He speaks English, Spanish, Catalan, reads French and Italian and has taken levels A1 and A2 of German at the University of Barcelona (2017-2019). Currently, he works as editor, writer, and astrologer, and researches Babylonian and Hellenistic astrology. He lives in Barcelona (Spain) with his wife and daughter.
Name: Ilaria Cristofaro
Abstract Title: Ancient Topography and Skyscape Archaeology in Magna Grecia: the Urban Layout of Pompei
Biography:
Ilaria Cristofaro is a PhD student at Università della Campania Luigi Vanvitelli with a research project on skyscape archaeology and the orientation of Greek, Etruscan, and Roman cities in ancient Campania from the VIII to III century B.C.. She holds a BSc in Astronomy at the Università degli Studi di Bologna AlmaMater Studiourm and an MA in Cultural Astronomy and Astrology at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David with a thesis on Bronze Age Minoan culture. This thesis was short-listed for the MA Cultural Astronomy and Astrology Alumni Association Dissertation Prize / Dyfernir Gwobr MA Seryddiaeth ac Astroleg Ddiwylliannol for 2019. Ilaria’s contributions include an exploration of the ways the sky is reflected on water under the title 'Reflecting the sky in water: a phenomenological exploration of water-skyscapes' published in 2017 in the Journal of Skyscape Archaeology. She is a member of SEAC - European Society for Astronomy in Culture, SIA-Società Italiana di Archeoastronomia, and EAA- European Association Archaeologists.
Name: Erica Ellingson
Abstract Title: Stories from Modern Cosmology: Perfect and Too-Perfect Universes
Biography:
Dr. Ellingson received a BS in Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. in Astrophysics at the University of Arizona. She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder, a Fellow of the Center for Astrophysics and Space Astronomy, faculty member in the Center for the Study of Origins and the Center for Native American and Indigenous Studies. She is the Director of the University's interdisciplinary First Year Seminar Program, Director of the Science Technology and Astronomy Recruits outreach program, and is active in several programs supporting diversity and inclusiveness.
Her astrophysical research interests include observational cosmology, dark matter distributions in galaxy clusters and environmental effects on quasar and galaxy evolution. She has received multiple grants from NASA and the National Science Foundation, and has observed with numerous ground-based and space observatories. She is an author of more than 100 publications in refereed journals. Her teaching program includes courses on cosmology, observational techniques, research methods and historical and cultural astronomy. Recent projects include the production of a planetarium show on the ancient astronomy of the southwestern US and educational programs in collaboration with the Chaco Culture National Historical Park. Currently, she is developing multi-media astronomical materials for the Chimney Rock National Monument.
Name: Wanda Gregory
Abstract Title: Celestial Play: An Exploration of Games and The Stars
Biography:
Wanda Gregory is a lecturer at University of Washington Bothell campus in the areas of interactive media and game design along media studies courses on such topics as time travel, Doctor Who and Black Mirror.
Her academic interests include technology (AR/VR/MR) and consciousness along with the connections between games and cosmology.
She has worked for a variety of game companies including Wizards of the Coast, Hasbro and Microsoft Xbox. Wanda has a M.B.A from the University of Washington Foster School of Business, a M.A. in Communications from the University of Washington and a PhD from University College Dublin. She serves on a number of advisory boards for non-profits and tech/game startup companies.
Name: Jessica Heim
Abstract Title: Dark Sky Advocates and the Night Sky
Biography:
Jessica Heim is currently pursuing graduate studies in Cultural Astronomy through the University of Wales Trinity St. David. In her dissertation research, she is studying community processes relating to dark sky friendly LED retrofits, examining lighting plans and policies, as well as gaining insight into the thoughts of stakeholders and community members about dark skies and lighting changes in their communities. Jessica enjoys engaging in collaborative educational outreach which allows participants to learn more about the connections between culture, science, and the night sky. She is a team member of Native Skywatchers, an initiative led by Professor Annette Lee, which seeks to remember and revitalize indigenous star and earth knowledge.
Jessica's research interests involve exploring human relationships with both sky and land, not only as pertaining to dark skies, but also in regard to ethics and policy issues associated with space exploration and development. She graduated Magna cum Laude from the College of St. Benedict, double majoring in Environmental Studies and Music. In addition to her work with dark skies, she maintains a private piano studio, teaching students of all ages. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, bird watching, and otherwise spending time in the natural world.
Name: Jarita Holbrook
Abstract Title: TBA
Biography:
Jarita Holbrook is Associate Prof in the Dept. of Physics & Astronomy at the Western Cape University, South Africa. Holbrook has successfully navigated the physical science and the social sciences. Moving to South Africa in 2013, Holbrook has been engaged in indigenous astronomy, studying the sociocultural aspects of astrophysics education in South Africa, and making a film about the social issues connected to building the Square Kilometre Array radio telescope. Using interview based inquiry, Holbrook researches the practices of inclusion and exclusion through analyzing socioeconomic class, gender, and ethnicity among database-driven astrophysics collaborations.
Name: Wayne Horowitz
Abstract Title: The Gwich'in Boy in the Moon, Astral Religion, and Christian Polemics
Biography:
Wayne Horowitz is Professor of Assyriology at the Institute of Archaeology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His main research interests are Ancient Near Eastern astronomy and religion, but in recent years has branched into the study of Ethno-Astronomy by way of a joint project with the Gwich'in First Nation in the Northwest Territories and Yukon Territory of Arctc Canada. Born in the United States, Professor Horowitz studied at Brandeis and the University of California, Berkeley, before completing his PhD thesis, Mesopotamian Cosmic Geography, under the direction of Professor W.G. Lambert at the University of Birmingham in England.
Name: Géza Kulcsár
Abstract Title: Down to Earth: A Skyward Story of Clouded Ideas
Biography:
The speaker, born in 1988 in Cegléd, Hungary is an interdisciplinary researcher and experienced writer and speaker in different topics. He holds a PhD in theoretical computer science, with a number of publications and conference talks in that field. A particular interest of him is the philosophy of computer science in the light of Tradition. Besides that, he published essays in aesthetics, particularly film aesthetics and holds a prestigious Hungarian price for the best essay on the art of Miklós Jancsó. He has many years of experience in studying Ancient Greek, Latin and Sanskrit. He stands in close contact with the respective academic communities. He is a decade-long listener of various Hungarian Traditionalist teachers, such as Péter Kecskés and Róbert Horváth. He also has an intensive artistic output, mainly in traditional as well as experimental forms of poetry, bringing that into experimental music, as well as experimenting with generative programming techniques in those musical and visual settings. He plays Hungarian folk instruments.
Name: George Latura
Abstract Title: Under the Cretan Sky
Biography:
2020 – ‘Plato’s Cosmology: Conflicting Theories,’ in Anthology of the International Society for Neoplatonic Studies 2018 Conference; eds., John Finamore, Eric Perl. Prometheus Trust, in press.
2018 – ‘Milky Way Vissicitudes: Macrobius to Galileo,’ in Proceedings of 2017 INSAP/SEAC/OXFORD Conference. Greece: Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry, 2018, Vol. 18, Issue 4, p. 319-325.
2018 – ‘The Zodiacal Light and its Use in Cultic Practice,’ in Proceedings of 2015 Inspiration of Astronomical Phenomena Conference; eds. Nicholas Campion, Chris Impey. Sophia Centre Press, 2018, p. 193-202.
2014 – ‘Plato’s X & Hekate’s Crossroads: Astronomical Links to the Mysteries of Eleusis,’ in Proceedings of 2013 SEAC Conference. Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry, 2014, Vol. 14, Issue 3, p. 37-44.
Name: Christopher Layser
Abstract Title: The Cosmic Shark in the Maya Sky
Biography:
Christopher Layser holds an MA in Cultural Astronomy and Astrology from the University of Wales TSD and is the Vice President of the Pre-Columbian Society of the Penn Museum. Much of his fieldwork was completed in Belize where he participates in excavation and 3D spatial analysis as a volunteer with the Maya Research Program. He is employed as a senior network engineer in Pennsylvania, where he lives with his wife Misti and two golden retrievers.
Name: Annette Lee
Abstract Title: Wicaŋhpi Oyate-Star People: Critical Teachings of Earth-Sky Mirroring Rooted in First Nations Indigenous Knowledge Systems
Biography:
TBA
Name: Astrid B. Leimlehner
Abstract Title: 'There’s no longer order among the Stars / Comets should be forbidden!': The Role Of The Sky In Johann Nestroy's The Evil Spirit Lumpazivagabundus
Biography:
Astrid Bernadette Leimlehner was born and lives in Linz, Austria. In the 1990s she studied psychology at the University of Salzburg. She holds a certificate in print journalism and is a trained radio presenter (1996, 1999). Sje received her MA in Cultural Astronomy and Astrology in 2015 with distinction. In 2016, the Alumni Association of the Sophia Centre awarded her the first Dissertation Prize. Currently working as an independent scholar, Astrid translates primary and secondary sources from German into English, speaks at conferences (for example Sophia Centre conferences 2016, 2017; SEAC conference 2018; Kepler Conference St. Petersburg, Russia 2019) and writes papers of which one was published in 2018 and two are forthcoming next year. Research interests: historical, philosophical and psychological perspectives of astrology, alchemy and similar fields; influences of different languages on cosmologies; the representation of the stars in literature and music.
Name: Kim Malville
Abstract Title: Changing Stories of the Sky as told by Astrophysicists - Competing Paradigms and Surprising Harmonies
Biography:
Dr. Malville obtained his BS in physics from Caltech and his PhD in radio astronomy and solar physics from the University of Colorado. His first teaching position was at the University of Michigan where he was a Sloan Research Fellow. Returning to Boulder he was on the research staff of the High Altitude Observatory and then he moved the University of Colorado where he served as Chairman of the Department of Astro-Geophysics, Director of the College's Honors Program, and Director of the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program. His research interests have ranged from the aurora, the interstellar medium, solar physics, and, more recently, archaeoastronomy. In 1997 he was a member of the team that revealed the world's oldest known megalithic astronomy at Nabta Playa near Abu Simbel in southern Egypt. In 2003 he was involved in the rediscovery of Llactapata and its sun temple, previously lost in a cloud forest near from Machu Picchu. In 2014 received the Fourth Carlos Jaschek Award from the European Society for Astronomy in Culture for his work in archaeoastronomy. He is presently Professor Emeritus in the Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences at the University of Colorado.
Name: Maayan Medzini
Abstract Title: The Venus Synodic cycle in the Canaanite myth and ritual
Biography:
Maayan Medzini is a graduate student in the MA in Cultural Astronomy and Astrology in the University of Wales Trinity Saint David. Her focus is on the ancient Canaanite religion in its astral aspect. She practices and teaches astrology in Israel.
Name: Alina Pelteacu
Abstract Title: The Platonic basis of Jung's sky-story
Biography:
Alina Pelteacu holds an MA in Cultural Astronomy and Astrology from the University of Wales TSD since 2018. Graduating from the Politehnica University of Bucharest (chemical engineer's degree) and CNAM Paris (Executive MBA) in 2004, she subsequently combined managerial positions in editing and printing fields, and later, and for more than a decade, managing the commercial activity of the Romanian stamp-issuing company, and currently as a freelance book publisher. Her projects as publisher include the release in 2019 of the Romanian translation of Nicholas Campion’s Astrology and Cosmology in the World’s Religions originally published in English by New York University Press in 2012. She currently resides in Bucharest with her family and some of her collaborators. She can be contacted at alina_pelteacu@yahoo.com.
Name: Katy Simpson
Abstract Title: Comets, Catastrophe, and Colour in a Sixteenth-Century Illustrated Treatise
Biography:
Katy Simpson is a graduate researcher broadly interested in histories of environmental thought, early modern cultures of science, apocalyptic and millenarian theologies, and Reformation astrology. She has recently obtained her MA in Art History, Curatorship, and Renaissance Culture from the Warburg Institute (2018-19) on a Coffin Fund for Promising Students Studentship. Her dissertation received a distinction and examined the cultural, religious, and intellectual context of a sixteenth-century astrological treatise on comets.
Katy obtained her BA (Hons) in the History of Art and Architecture from the University of Cambridge (2013-16). She is based in London and currently preparing to begin her doctoral studies in 2020. Her research proposal seeks to examine the role of prophecy and astrological thought in the natural theology and millenarian writings of William Whiston (1667-1752), an early populariser of Newtonian physics who was institutionally ostracised for his religious unorthodoxy.
Name: Ana Stefanova
Abstract Title: The Sky as a symbol of The Self from Analytical Psychological perspective
Biography:
Ana Stefanova has a master degree in Medicine, master degree in Psychology and PhD in Folklore studies (Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Studies with Ethnographic Museum). Her Master thesis in Psychology was Evolution of the concept of community psychological phenomena in the works of C. G. Jung and PhD thesis was Analytical psychological approach to Bulgarian Folklore with emphasize on firedancing. She also works on the topic of Analytical psychological approach to Heavy Metal Culture, has many publications in the field of Analytical psychology and folklore, including three articles in international journal for Jungian studies: the official journal of the C.G. Jung Analytical Psychology Club, London and the International Association for Jungian Studies. Ana has few art exhibitions and three books with illustrations.
Name: Jeni Williams
Abstract Title: Performing Sky in the Poems
Biography:
Jeni Williams is a writer and academic living in Swansea. She has published poetry in many journals, in 2016 she was shortlisted for The Live Canon International Poetry Competition and longlisted for the University of Canberra Vice Chancellors International Poetry Prize. She has translated poems from Arabic, Welsh, Chinese and Swedish, run poetry workshops with asylum seeking and refugee women since 2006 and co-edited 2 collections of this work. Her first collection was published 2009.
Rosalind Hudis is a poet, creative writing tutor and editor living in West Wales. Her publications include Terra Ignota ( Rack press 2013 ) and Tilt (Cinnamon Press 2014 ) which was highly commended in the 2015 Forward Prizes for Poetry. She is a Hawthornden Fellow and a visiting lecturer at University of Wales Trinity St David, Lampeter.
Dawn Morgan received a distinction in her MA in Creative Writing at Lampeter, in 2016. she writes short stories and some longer fiction, including children’s novels as well as poetry. Her poems have been published by Writers Forum magazine, Paragram Poetry and in the 2015 Flambard Poetry Prize winners anthology. Her first poetry pamphlet, Blood And Other Elements, was published in October 2018 by Rack Press.
Jo Lampert is a talented Creative writing student who excels in both poetry and prose. She was shortlisted for the Mslexia first novel award last year.
