Paper and abstract submissions are open until 1st February
2026 place and date: Wednesday 8th to Friday 10th July 2026 at the University of Reading.
Submissions due by 1 Feb 2026. Links and instructions are below.
Beginning in 2026, the Joint Session will take place on weekdays. There are three fora for submitted papers: the Open Sessions, the Postgraduate Session, and the Society for Women in Philosophy Session.
Conference attendees (including those presenting papers) must be members of either the Mind Association or the Aristotelian Society. You can join the Aristotelian Society from as little as £5 or the Mind Association (which includes a subscription to the Mind journal).
Only one paper per individual may be submitted. The only exception to this rule is discussed below under the submission information for the Postgraduate Session.
Rejected submissions for the Postgraduate and Society for Women in Philosophy sessions might be recommended for the Open Sessions.
Open Sessions submission form click here
The Open Sessions will take place during the Thursday and Friday afternoons. There are many places available, allowing room for an extensive and diverse programme. Papers may cover any area of philosophy and we intend to accommodate (subject to time and room availability) all philosophical material suitable for presentation.
Each Open Session paper has 30 minutes: up to 20 minutes for presentation and the remaining time for discussion.
Please submit an abstract up to 300 words and using the Open Sessions submission form.
You will be asked to choose a broad topic area.
Submissions close at 23:59 GMT on 1 February 2026.
Verdicts will be issued by email by the end of March.
Papers accepted for the Open Sessions will not be considered for publication in the Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, and expenses will not be paid.
The Aristotelian Society does not process Open Session submissions.
For questions about the Open Session, please email the Local Organiser, Luke Elson: luke.elson@reading.ac.uk
Postgraduate session submission form click here (or see below for email instructions)
The Postgraduate Session will take place on Thursday afternoon. All submissions are anonymously reviewed and a maximum of eight are selected for presentation. It is open to all and only current postgraduate students, including those who have obtained a postgraduate degree within the past year.
Each Postgraduate Session talk has 30 minutes: up to 20 minutes for presentation and the remaining time for discussion.
The conference particularly welcomes submissions from underrepresented groups in philosophy.
Only one paper per individual may be submitted for the Postgraduate Session.
It is permissible to submit to both the Postgraduate Session and the Open Session (assuming you are eligible to submit to the Postgraduate Session). Submissions may be based either on the same or on different papers, but do note that the Postgraduate Session requires a paper and the Open Session an abstract.
A maximum of one submission per person will be accepted across all competitions. Priority will be given to success in the Postgraduate Sessions competition.
Rejected submissions for the Postgraduate Session and SWIP session may also be recommended for the Open Sessions.
Submissions should be no more than 2500 words, including footnotes and bibliography.
They should begin with a 100-250-word abstract (which isn’t included in the word count).
Submissions should be prepared for anonymous review. They must not include any self-identifying references in the body or footnotes of the text.
All pages should be numbered and have margins of one inch or more.
Submissions should be formatted in PDF.
Submissions close at 23:59 GMT on 1 February 2026.
Verdicts will be issued by email by the end of March.
Selected postgraduate students will have their conference fee and accommodation expenses covered by the Aristotelian Society.
Exemplary papers delivered for the Postgraduate Session will be considered for publication in the Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society.
The main method of submission is this form, which asks for name of the author, title of the paper, institution and status, and email and mailing addresses.
Because of the file upload, the form requires a Google account. If you don't have one you can instead submit your paper by email to Luke Elson with the subject 'joint session submission', with the above details in the body of the email. Please chase him if you don't get a confirmation!
For questions about the Postgraduate Session, the Supplementary Volume, and student subsidies, please email Anna Stelle: anna.stelle@aristoteliansociety.org.uk
Submission is by email; see below for instructions.
The SWIP Session is a special panel held on Thursday afternoon as part of the Open Sessions, which draws together four papers that further the aims of SWIP broadly construed. This includes papers on feminism and related emancipatory philosophies, women in the history of philosophy, and achieving gender justice and related forms of justice in the profession.
Each SWIP Session talk has 30 minutes: up to 20 minutes for presentation and the remaining time for discussion.
SWIP is committed to ensuring that financial considerations do not pose a barrier to participation. For presenters who cannot access institutional funding and would not otherwise be able to attend, we will cover the cost of early bird registration and contribute to the costs of basic travel and accommodation up to a maximum of £250.
SWIP particularly welcomes submissions from underrepresented groups in academia and we are keen to accept applications from all academic backgrounds. We will happily provide adjustments to ensure that people from the widest range of backgrounds can participate fully in the selection process and the SWIP panel. If you need any adjustments, please contact us at V.M.Wang@sms.ed.ac.uk
Submissions should be an abstract of no more than 300 words.
Please submit by email to v.m.wang@sms.ed.ac.uk by 23:59 GMT on 1 February 2026 using the subject line “SWIP Joint Session Submission".
Submissions should be prepared for anonymous review. The following details should be included in the email: name of the author, title of the paper, and institution. The abstract should not include any self-identifying references.
Submissions should be formatted in PDF.
Submissions for the SWIP session should not be submitted to either the Open Sessions or the Postgraduate sessions. However, those papers which are not selected for the SWIP session but are deemed suitable for the Open Sessions will be passed to the Open Sessions organisers for consideration. If you do not wish your paper to be passed on, please indicate this in your email.
Authors whose papers have been accepted for the SWIP Session will be informed by the end of March 2026.
The Aristotelian Society does not process SWIP Session submissions.
For questions about the the SWIP session, please email Victoria Wang: V.M.Wang@sms.ed.ac.uk