Mario Biagioli is a Distinguished Professor of Law and Science and Technology Studies (STS), and Director of the Center for Science and Innovation Studies. At the UC Davis Law School, he teaches courses on intellectual property in science, and on the history and philosophy of intellectual property. Previously, Biagioli was Professor of the History of Science at Harvard University, specializing in intellectual property in science.  He has also taught at UCLA, Stanford, the Ecole des Hautes Etudes in Science Sociales (Paris), and the University of Aberdeen (Scotland).  

An alumnus of the Ecole Normale Supérieure and of the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris, Donatien Grau holds a doctorate from the Université Paris-Sorbonne and a DPhil from the University of Oxford. Currently a Guest Curator at the Getty Museum, Los Angeles, he has been a visitor at the Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago, a Special Guest of French Studies at Cornell University, a Florence Gould Lecturer at New York University, twice a Guest Professor at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, and twice a Guest Researcher at the Getty Research Institute. Dr. Grau is the author of several books, including Tout contre Sainte-Beuve ( 2013), and Néron en Occident (2015), both reviewed in The New York Review of Books. A member of the editorial board of La Règle du Jeu and a contributing editor of Flash Art International, he has written on contemporary art, in France and internationally, for publications such as Art Press and AnOther Magazine.

Supported by a grant from the France Chicago Center, Grau will visit Chicago from 10/30 - 11/4 of Autumn 2017.

Adam Kola is Visiting Scholar at IFK for the 2016-17 academic year to conduct research for his project, "In Praise of Academic Cafés: Why the Informal Matters in the Humanities and Science," which focuses on the role of unofficial associations in scientific and academic success, as well as the problem of knowledge transfer.