The main theme of the conference was “Towards Research-Based Knowledge of Love”
You Belong Here!
The growing research on love around the world has reached a point where scholars interested in this field want to have a common ground and a special platform where they can talk, discuss, and exchange their ideas and research.
International Institute of Love Studies was convening the first conference, which focused on presentations and discussions of recent research on love as a relationship and as a universal concept with historical, social, cultural and personality variations.
International Advisory Board of the conference invited researchers and practitioners from various disciplines to present their work on a wide range of love-related topics.
The Diverse Themes of the Conference
We consider love in its broad meaning, including different modes and types of love, and various contexts from those that inhibit to those that facilitate the experience and expression of love. Among the variations implied above are:
- Love at the nature of humans and humanity, philosophy of love, good and bad sides of love
- Familial love, maternal love, paternal love, the love of children for their parents
- Love as interpersonal attachment, and pair-bonding love
- Romantic love, passionate love, obsessional love, lovesickness
- Love, physical attraction, sex, and diversity of sexual love
- Companionate, compassionate love, love for friends, and friendship
- Diversity of polygamy and monogamy in love, polyamory, and open relationships
- Rational, practical, pragmatic forms of love
- Love focused on divine and supernatural entities, religious conceptions of love
- Love as positive social connection, communal and ideological love
- Para-social forms of love and sex
- Love directed to oneself, self-love, and narcissism
- Love for pets and inanimate beings (flowers, money, activities, etc.)
- The biology and physiology of love
- The various other types of love and relationships, including those at an intersection between them
Any kind of love was of interest for this conference. We delve into the causes, experiences, expressions, and consequences of love in various areas of human life. We explore social and cultural conditions and factors for those various kinds of love.
The Multidisciplinary and International Scope of the Conference
The conference was multidisciplinary, hosting presentations from a diverse set of fields including biology, psychology, sociology, anthropology, cognitive science, cultural studies, literature, linguistics, philosophy, and religious studies.
The conference served to enrich the science of love through the cross-pollination of ideas and knowledge from various disciplines. It was open to different methodologies from different fields of knowledge.
Scholarly knowledge of love is dispersed around the world and across disciplines. Conference was able to bring them together in a universal, yet culturally specific, scholarly framework through which we explore the polysemous and multidimensional nature of love as perhaps the most important concept at the disposal of humanity in our quest to build a more humane and sustainable world.
During the conference period, a small-scale Teaching Institute of Love Studies was organized for graduate students, postdocs, and young researchers. Prominent scholars of love taught selected topics in love research methodology.
Venue and Format of Conference
The conference was held in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain, from January 2 to 7. The conference sessions were held in the conference rooms at the emblematic AC Hotel Gran Canaria, a focal point within the city of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
Presenters were able to present their talks in person in a conference room or virtually via videoconferencing. Attendance was available in person in a conference room or remotely via online streaming.
Those who are interested can find the conference program and schedule of events here.
You can find the abstracts of the presentations at the Love Studies Conference here.
About Future Conferences on Love Studies
If you have any questions or comments regarding future conferences, you may contact the Institute of Love Studies at [email protected].
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