Understanding Value XI

Keynote Speakers:
Gerardo Viera – University of Sheffield
Patricia Kitcher – Columbia University
Michael Wheeler – University of Stirling
Michael Brady – University of Glasgow

Understanding Value XI is the eleventh instalment of a prestigious postgraduate philosophy conference at the University of Sheffield. This conference is intended to provide the opportunity for speakers to share and develop their work in a welcoming and inclusive space, particularly those early in their academic career. 

The conference is accepting talks on issues surrounding human experiences and human values broadly construed. The notion of ‘value’ permeates many questions in and beyond philosophical discourse; as such, we welcome talks from any area of philosophy or interdisciplinary research. This includes, but is not limited to:


Ethics (meta-, normative, and applied), aesthetics (including the philosophy of literature, film, fine arts, and so on), epistemology (individual or social), political philosophy, philosophy of science, philosophy of medicine, history of philosophy, philosophy of religion, meta- philosophy, and metaphysics. Further, we welcome inter- and transdisciplinary contributions, provided that they have connections to philosophical discussions of value.


Submissions are welcome from any students that are studying at or above a masters level, including researchers who have completed a PhD less than two years before the conference date. Speakers will be allotted 20 minutes for their presentation, followed by 10 minutes of questions. We also strongly encourage abstracts from students whose backgrounds are under-represented in their discipline.

Submission Instructions:
We do not require that a completed paper is submitted for review. Rather, please submit abstracts of 500 words or fewer. Abstract should be prepared for blind review (i.e., remove all content that may identify you as the author), and sent to [email protected] 


Submission deadline: 5th of December 2022.
We hope to inform of a decision by 20th of December 2022. 

Submissions must be accompanied by a cover sheet, attached as a separate file and providing the following information:

author(s)'s name(s), 
email address(es), 
institutional affiliation(s), 
whether you would present online or in person, 
three keywords on the topic of your talk.,
the title of your talk.

As mentioned, the organisers are eager to support researchers from backgrounds that are underrepresented in their academic disciplines. To aid in this endeavour, if you believe that this description applies to yourself, and wish to identify yourself as such, please include this information on your cover sheet as well.

Likewise, if you wish to receive a subsidy for your travel and accommodation costs, please include this in your cover sheet.

Lastly, please ensure that both files must be in pdf or doc, and note that there is a limit of one submission per author.