CFP: Causality and Causal Inference in Medicine

Dates: October 8-9 2026

Conference venue: Department of Philosophy, Logic, and Philosophy of Science, University of Seville, Spain.

Interactions between the philosophy of causality and investigations of inferential practices in the sciences, particularly medicine, have yielded key developments across disciplines. One such example is evidential pluralism, arguing for broadening the evidence range beyond difference-making to overcome the rigidity of evidence-based medicine. Further interdisciplinary engagements can assess the adequacy of different philosophical analyses of causation and corresponding causal concepts with respect to particular scientific problems or areas or draw on practices from the sciences to adjust the philosophical toolkit. At the same time, there are also challenges to address, such as working across areas with different, sometimes conflicting, methods and approaches. This conference aims to bring together current research dealing with causality and inferential practices in the health sciences, broadly construed, welcoming philosophical, methodological, and scientific contributions, among others. 

We welcome submissions on topics such as the following (but not limited to them): 

    • How can different philosophical accounts of evidence help address problems arising when inferring causally (e.g., in connection to evidence-based medicine, multiple types of evidence, diversity of methods)? 
    • How can formal approaches or contributions to philosophy of statistics and probability help causal inference in the health sciences? 
    • How can different causal concepts help inferential practices in medicine? 
    • How can reasoning practices in the health sciences shape the development of philosophical approaches or new causal concepts? 
    • What would more pluralistic inferential practices in the health sciences look like? 
    • How can causality be conceptualized and inferred in different areas of the health sciences (e.g., biomedical research, clinical reasoning, public health, global health, psychiatry)? 
    • Philosophical approaches to causality and their applications to areas beyond medicine (e.g., biology, chemistry) 

Keynote speakers:

Jonathan Fuller (University of Pittsburgh)
Naja Hulvej Rod (University of Copenhagen)
Saana Jukola (University of Twente)

Instructions for submission: Abstracts of maximum 500 words (excluding references) prepared for peer review together with a separate title page containing the author name and affiliation are to be sent to [email protected]. 

Deadline: March 8th 2026.
Notification of acceptance: end of April 2026.
Deadline for registration: end of May 2026. This will involve a registration fee with an option to attend dinner on the first evening of the conference.

Website: http://eventos.us.es/go/causemed 

Local organizing team: Cristina Barés Gómez, Matthieu Fontaine, Elena Popa, Quentin Ruyant.

This conference is the 16th in the series of Causality in the Sciences conferences. Steering committee: Phyllis Illari, Science & Technology Studies, UCL; Samantha Kleinberg, Computer Science, Stevens; Bert Leuridan, Philosophy, Antwerp; Julian Reiss: Philosophy, Linz; Federica Russo: History and Philosophy of Science, Utrecht; Erik Weber: Philosophy, Ghent; Jon Williamson: Philosophy, Manchester.  

Funding and organization

    • Proyecto del Ministerio Generación del conocimiento  PID2024-157876NA-I00. Logic of Medical Reasoning. The Role of Abductive and Causal Hypotheses (LOGMED). PIs: C. Barés and M. Fontaine.
    • Project Ramón y Cajal 2024/0000105. PI: Elena Popa. Reference: RYC2023-043790-I.
    • Project Ramón y Cajal PI: Quentin Ruyant. Reference: RYC2023-042844-I.