Conference watch

Our monthly guide to some of the conferences taking place around the world

JULY

* Scientists from a range of specialisms including biology, communications theory and linguistics will meet in Salzburg to discuss The Future of Biosemiotics. The crossdisciplinary science looks at the exchange of signs between living organisms, such as the dance of bumblebees and the singing of birds. July 5-9. www.biosemiotics2006.org

* Musicians from the Hispanic world are flocking to a festival in Newcastle this month, which culminates in a conference on Popular Musics of the Hispanic and Lusophone Worlds, run by Newcastle University's School of Modern Languages and the International Centre for Music Studies among others. Papers cover areas such as gender in flamenco dance and music, and fascism and mass media in Portugal. July 14-16 www.ncl.ac.uk/niassh/popularmusics .

* Deborah Landis, costume designer for the Indiana Jones film series, will be speaking at a symposium on How to Promote Research in Costume and Performance at the Arts Institute at Bournemouth.

The event will cover issues such as the importance of drawing and digital media in costume design. July 19-20 www.aib.ac.uk .

* People with hearing impairment will be encouraged to create their own poems using Japanese haikus at a conference run by Bristol University's Centre for Deaf Studies.

The haiku is ideally suited to sign language because of its reliance on visual images. The British Sign Language Haiku Festival will include a workshop and competition to produce the best haiku. July 29-30 www.bris.ac.uk/deaf/news/