University College London

3-5 August 2022

Contact: Chiara Ambrosio (c.ambrosio@ucl.ac.uk). 

Organisers

The Fourth European Pragmatism Conference will take place at University College London. It will be hosted by the Department of Science and Technology Studies. The conference is organised in collaboration with the Nordic Pragmatist Network, Associazione Pragma (Italy), Pragmata (France), The Central European Pragmatist Forum, the German Pragmatism Network (Germany), the Dewey-Center Switzerland, and the European Pragmatism Association. 

We are grateful to the UCL Department of Science and Technology Studies, the  Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy and the British Society for the History of Philosophy for their generous support to the conference. 

Venue and Attendance

The conference will take place in person, on 3-5 August, at University College London. UCL’s Main campus is located in Bloomsbury, in central London. The conference will be preceded by a workshop organised by the Women in Pragmatism Network, which will take place at University College London on 2 August 2022. Please see below for further details.

Registration, coffee breaks and social activities will all be located in the North Cloisters of the UCL Main building (accessed via the UCL main entrance in Gower Street).  Sessions will take place in lecture theatres on the main campus – further details will be included in the programme. A map of the UCL main campus is available here. 

The conference will follow the BPA/SWIP guidelines for good practice. The organisers aim to make the conference as accessible and inclusive as possible. An option to list any specific accessibility requirements is included in the online submission form. 

Masks indoors are no longer compulsory in the UK; however, we very strongly recommend to wear masks in the lecture halls throughout the conference and on public transport in London.

As in previous years, there will be no conference fee to attend and present at the conference. The conference will not cover participants’ travel expenses. 

All speakers are now registered for the conference. Please check in at the reception desk in the North Cloisters (see programme) when you arrive to collect your badge. Attendees who are not presenting can register here

Conference Programme and Materials

The conference programme is available here (updated 30 July). Please note that the programme may still be subject to minor changes. Panel organisers’ names are underlined in the programme. Chairs are also listed on the programme. Please make sure you make a note of the panel you are chairing and contact Chiara Ambrosio (c.ambrosio@ucl.ac.uk) if you see any difficulties. 

Please read the programme document carefully: in addition to Information about panels and chairs it contains important details on how the conference will run, IT Facilities available in each room, and other essential information (including maps of the main campus and links to routefinders)

In the interest of the environment, printed copies of the conference materials will not be distributed. We strongly recommend downloading the programme and other materials on your laptop or other mobile devices prior to the conference.

Women in Pragmatism Pre-Conference Workshop

The pre-conference workshop Women in Pragmatism will take place on 2 August at UCL. The workshop will consist of interactive round tables with multiple speakers, and an interactive mentoring session.

As part of the pre-conference workshop, EPC attendees are invited to join the roundtable discussion and launch of the book Women in Pragmatism: Past, Present and Future, edited by Michela Bella and Núria Sara Miras Boronat. The event will take place in the Jeremy Bentham Room from 4.00 to 5.30. It will be followed by networking drinks on the terrace of TCR Bar and Lounge, 183 Tottenham Court Road, from 6 pm onward.

Travel, Accommodation and Meals

You can check if you need a visa to enter the UK here.

Check here for regular updates on travel regulations during COVID-19. Rules will keep changing, so please check this site on a regular basis.

As in previous years, the conference will not provide accommodation and catered meals. Below are some suggestions, and we advise participants to book their accommodation well in advance of the start of the conference.

For lunches, we strongly recommend using the UCL Wilkins Refectory, which has a varied menu at reasonable prices and is suitably located in the UCL Main Building, right below the Jeremy Bentham Room and the Octagon Gallery. The service should be quick, and (weather permitting!) you can order your lunch as a take away and have it on the Wilkins Terrace or in the UCL Quad.

On Thursday 4 August, an additional lunch option is the Farmers Market in Bying Place, which has a wonderful selection of delicious food. There are several alternative lunch options in Bloomsbury – check out the Wellcome café, the cafes and sandwich shops in the area around Euston Station/Drummond Street, and the cafés and lunch options between Marchmont Street and the Brunswick Centre. Note that these are a short walk away from the conference venue, and you might not have enough time to find a place, order food and eat your lunch in time to catch the afternoon panels!

There is a separate document available for recommendations for dinner and breakfast.

There are various accommodation options in Bloomsbury. Among the most convenient, there are the (unfortunately named!) Imperial London Hotels, most of which are within walking distance form the conference venue. 

Among the above, the Tavistock Hotel is the closest to UCL and to the conference venue. Because of its location and size, rooms go very quickly – so we advise to book well in advance.

Another hotel chain with affordable options is Premier Inn. Their Euston and St Pancras hotels are within walking distance form UCL.

A limited number of rooms priced at student rates in the UCL halls of residence may become available in spring 2022 for postgraduate students and early career researchers on temporary contracts. Further announcements on these will be posted here in due course.

And of course, AirBnB offers a range of options in London.

We are currently compiling a list of restaurants and cafés near UCL. Please look out for further announcements.

Call for panels

The conference programme will consist of half-day, four-speaker panels. The organizers especially encourage participation in organized panels. A limited number of individual papers will be included from a separate CFP, which will be announced later.

The organizers invite four-speaker panel proposals exploring and applying pragmatist ideas to issues and debates in all fields of philosophical and social inquiry, as well as debates in the natural, biomedical and social sciences. Pragmatism being the overall theme of the conference, we encourage the panel title to reflect explicitly its connections with the theme of the conference. Panels that explore issues at the interface of Pragmatism and social justice, critical race theory and intersectionality are especially welcome.

The submissions are expected to include a clear description of the panel’s contribution to its field of inquiry. Coherence within the panel topics and themes is considered a merit. The organizers recommend that no more than one of the four speakers on a panel is from outside of Europe (not affiliated with a European institution). Please note that a speaker can participate only in one panel. 

Please give careful consideration to the gender balance and overall inclusivity of your panel. This conference follows the BPA/SWIP good practice guidelines.

Please submit your panel proposal via our online electronic form. We ask panel organisers to submit a panel description (max 500 words) and all abstracts (500 words each) in one single form.  The submission deadline is at midnight (Central European Standard Time) on 7 February 2022. Please follow the instructions (including word limits) given and save the contents of your submission separately in case of technical difficulties. We expect to announce the results of the call by 14 March 2022.

Call for Individual Papers

The call for individual papers will open on 7 February 2022.

The organizers invite presentation proposals exploring and applying pragmatist ideas to issues and debates in all fields of philosophical and social inquiry, as well as debates in the natural, biomedical and social sciences. Pragmatism being the overall theme of the conference, we encourage the presentation title to reflect explicitly its connections with the theme of the conference. Presentations that explore issues at the interface of Pragmatism and social justice, critical race theory and intersectionality are especially welcome.

Submissions from women scholars and other underrepresented groups in philosophy are especially welcome. This conference follows the BPA/SWIP good practice guidelines. 

45 minutes (including discussion) will be allocated for each individual paper presentation. The time is fixed and cannot be exceeded. We expect presenters to reserve at least 10 minutes for discussion. The submission abstracts are expected to include a clear description of the paper’s contents and its contribution to its field of inquiry.Please submit your paper proposal via our online electronic form. Submissions deadline is at midnight (Central European Time) on 28 February 2022. Please follow the instructions (including word limits) given and save the contents of your submission separately in case of technical difficulties. We expect to announce the results of the call by 31 March 2022.

Organizers and Committees

Local organizing committee

Chiara Ambrosio, UCL
Erman Sözüdoğru, UCL
Henrik Rydenfelt, University of Helsinki
Chris Campbell, UCL
Claudia Cristalli, Indiana University/UCL
Céline Henne, University of Cambridge
Martin Savransky, Goldsmiths, University of London
Oscar Westerblad, University of Cambridge

Programme Committee (EPA)

Chiara Ambrosio, UCL
Erman Sözüdoğru, UCL
Ana Honnacker (University of Hildesheim; German Pragmatism Network)
Michael Festl (St. Gallen; Dewey-Center Swtzerland)
Guido Baggio (Roma Tre; Pragma)
Maria Regina Brioschi (Universitá Statale, Milan; Pragma)
Emil Visnovsky (Slovak Academy of Sciences; CEPF)
Leszek Koczanowicz (Warsaw School for Social Sciences and Humanities; CEPF)
Céline Henne (University of Cambridge; Pragmata)
Mathias Girel (ENS; Pragmata)
Stéphane Madelrieux (Université Jean Moulin – Lyon 3; Pragmata)
Torjus Midtgarden (University of Bergen; NPN)
Ulf Zackariasson (Uppsala University, NPN)

Conference Committee

Chiara Ambrosio, UCL
Erman Sözüdoğru, UCL
Henrik Rydenfelt, University of Helsinki
Sami Pihlström, University of Helsinki
Giovanni Maddalena, Universitá del Molise
Emil Visnovsky, Slovak Academy of Sciences
Stéphane Madelrieux, Université Jean Moulin – Lyon 3
Ana Honnacker, University of Hildesheim
Michael Festl, St. Gallen