London Conference on Intelligence

rdf:langString London Conference on Intelligence

rdf:langString The London Conference on Intelligence (LCI) is an invitation-only conference for research on human intelligence, including race and intelligence and eugenics. In 2018, Times Higher Education called it "an annual conference on eugenics and intelligence" and several news outlets have described the conference as having ties to white supremacy, neo-Nazism, and scientific racism. Founded in 2014, it was secretly held in the Pearson Building at University College London (UCL) in London, England, on four occasions. It was hosted by James Thompson, an honorary UCL senior lecturer in psychology. The existence of the conference, as well as the names of some of the attendees, was revealed by the London Student on January 10, 2018. In a statement released in response to news of the conference, UCL said that it had been unaware that the conference had occurred on its campus, and that the speakers there "were not approved or endorsed by UCL". Their statement also said that "We are an institution that is committed to free speech but also to combatting racism and sexism in all forms." The UCL also announced that it would investigate whether the organizers breached the University's room booking procedures as well as the circumstances that led to awarding of an honorary senior lectureship to Thompson. Several conference attendees authored a letter defending the conference and disputing that it was mainly about eugenics. LCI was moved from London to Skanderborg, Denmark, in May 2018. Helmuth Nyborg has said "we don't trust the media" to explain why conference organizers avoid public attention.