CFP: Physics and the Self: Interdisciplinary Perspectives

Call for Abstracts: Interdisciplinary Conference for Early Career Researchers

Theme: “Physics and the Self: Interdisciplinary Perspectives”

Submission deadline: Friday 31st October 2025

Submission e-mail: [email protected]

Conference dates: Saturday 13th and Sunday 14th December 2025

Host institution: Institute of Philosophy, School for Advanced Study, University of London

Venue: Senate House, Malet Street, London, WC1E 7HU

Confirmed keynote speakers:

Professor David Papineau (Department of Philosophy, King’s College London)

Professor Karl Friston (Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London)

Professor Harald Atmanspacher (Chair for Philosophy, ETH Zürich)

Dr Markus Müller (Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information, Vienna)

There has been a surge of recent interest amongst both philosophers and empirical scientists concerning the self and first-personal representations of the world, in relation to the third-personal descriptions of general physical theories. For philosophers, the third-personal ‘view from nowhere’ of a supposed ultimate physics provides an important motivation for problems concerning the reality of consciousness, the nature of the self and self-knowledge, and the freedom of the will. For physicists, recent work on classical and quantum information theory has motivated ‘it from bit’ hypotheses, leading to analyses of the relationship between physical information and agency, and there has been much interest in the role of the first person in interpreting quantum theory. And amongst neuroscientists, there has been a similar growth of interest in the physical conditions under which a self can arise out of matter.

We invite abstract submissions from early career researchers (ECRs) working within philosophy, physics, and neuroscience departments whose work engages with the theme “Physics and the Self: Interdisciplinary Perspectives”. We consider ECRs to be those who have not yet secured a permanent academic position, including postdoctoral researchers and research/teaching fellows on fixed-term contracts, experienced PhD candidates, and recent PhD graduates.

Abstracts should be up to 300 words, suitable for presentations of 30 minutes with an additional Q&A. Speakers are asked to pitch their talks at a level accessible to non-specialists. The selected speakers will also be asked to submit information in advance that would allow for the creation of a glossary of relevant technical terms to be produced and handed out to all participants. Our aim is to facilitate interdisciplinary engagement for all involved.

Abstracts should be submitted to [email protected] by the deadline of Friday 31st October 2025, and we will notify accepted speakers within two weeks of that date. We particularly encourage applicants from low-income backgrounds, and we will have some limited funds available to support the travel and accommodation costs of a limited number of selected speakers, to be arranged after selection. We also encourage applications from underrepresented groups including women, BAME, and working-class researchers.

Co-Organisers:

Charlie Green – [email protected]

Jonathan Emery – [email protected]