The Aristotelian Society

2027 Joint Session: Call for Papers
The 2027 Joint Session will be held on 14–16 July 2027 at the University of Leeds

About the 101st Joint Session

The 101st Joint Session of the Aristotelian Society and the Mind Association will be held from Wednesday 14 July 2027 to Friday 16 July 2027 at the University of Leeds.

The Joint Session is a three-day conference in philosophy that is held annually by the Aristotelian Society and the Mind Association. It has taken place at nearly every major university across the United Kingdom and in Ireland. Since 1910, the Joint Session has grown to become the largest gathering of philosophers in the country, attracting prestigious UK and international speakers working in a broad range of philosophical areas. Inaugurated by the incoming President of the Mind Association — this year, Professor Emma Borg — the Joint Session includes symposia, Open and Postgraduate Sessions, and a Society for Women in Philosophy (SWIP) Session.

There are three fora for submitted papers: the Open Sessions, the Postgraduate Session, and the SWIP 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 here or the Mind Association here (which includes a subscription to the journal Mind).

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.

Submissions not selected for the Postgraduate and SWIP Sessions may be recommended for the Open Sessions.

Questions?

The website for the 2027 Joint Session is now live.

For enquiries regarding…

  • the Open Sessions and the Postgraduate Session, please email the Local Organisers, Joseph Bowen and William Gamester (jointsession2027@leeds.ac.uk).
  • the Supplementary Volume and student subsidies, please email the Managing Editor of the Aristotelian Society, Malcolm Keating (managingeditor@aristoteliansociety.org.uk).
  • the SWIP Session, please email Victoria Wang (v.m.wang@sms.ed.ac.uk).

The 2027 Open Session

The Open Sessions will take place on 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.

Submitting to the Open Sessions

  • Please submit an abstract of up to 300 words using the Open Sessions submission form, available here.
  • Abstracts should be prepared for anonymous review and submitted at the above linked form. In exceptional circumstances (for example, where logical notation is indispensable), please submit as a PDF to jointsession2027@leeds.ac.uk.
  • You will be asked to identify a broad topic area.
  • Submissions close at 23:59 GMT on 1 February 2027.
  • Decisions will be sent by email by the end of March 2027.
  • 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.
  • Open Session submissions are handled by the Local Organisers, not the Aristotelian Society.

The 2027 Postgraduate Session

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.

Submitting to the Postgraduate Session

Only one paper per individual may be submitted for the Postgraduate Session.

If you are eligible for the Postgraduate Session, you may also submit to the Open Sessions, using either the same paper or a different one. (Note that the Postgraduate Session requires a full paper, and the Open Sessions an abstract.)

No more than one paper per person will be accepted across all sessions. If you are successful in both, the Postgraduate Session takes priority.

  • Submissions should be no more than 2500 words, including footnotes and bibliography.
  • They should begin with a 100- to 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.
  • The following details should be entered on the online submission form: your name, the title of the paper, details of your postgraduate status, and your email address.
  • All pages should be numbered and have margins of one inch or more.
  • Submissions should be PDFs.
  • Submissions close at 23:59 GMT (UK time) on 1 February 2027.
  • Decisions will be sent by email by the end of March 2027.
  • Selected postgraduate students will have their conference fee and accommodation expenses covered by the Aristotelian Society.
  • Exemplary papers delivered in the Postgraduate Session will be considered for publication in the Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society.

The 2027 Society for Women in Philosophy (SWIP) Session

The SWIP Session is a special panel held on Thursday afternoon as part of the Open Sessions. It draws together four papers that further the aims of SWIP, broadly construed. These include 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, SWIP will cover the cost of early bird registration and contribute up to £250 towards basic travel and accommodation.

SWIP particularly welcomes submissions from underrepresented groups in academia and is keen to receive submissions from people of all academic backgrounds. SWIP 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 Victoria Wang at SWIP at v.m.wang@sms.ed.ac.uk.

Submitting to the SWIP Session

  • 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 2027, 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 (if any). The abstract should not include any self-identifying references.
  • Submissions should be PDFs.
  • Submissions for the SWIP Session should not be submitted to either the Open Sessions or the Postgraduate Session. However, papers that 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 2027.
  • SWIP Session submissions are handled by SWIP, not the Aristotelian Society.

About the Joint Session

Learn More

The 2026 Joint Session

View the Programme