MANCEPT's Brave New World 2026

The 2026 Brave New World conference marks the 30th annual postgraduate meeting organised by the Manchester Centre for Political Theory (MANCEPT). It will be held on the 21th and 22th of May 2026 in the Hanson Room in Humanities Bridgeford Street Building.

If you would like to present a paper, please send an abstract of approximately 300 words in PDF format to [email protected] no later than the 10th of April 2026. The document must not contain your name or institution, as they are reviewed blind, but please state your name and institutional affiliation in the email. Papers focusing on any area of political theory or political philosophy are welcome. Notices of acceptance will be sent by the 24th of April 2026.

We are delighted to announce the following keynote speakers:

Chiara Cordelli (University of Chicago), who researches contemporary political philosophy, distributive and social justice, and egalitarianism. Prof. Cordelli’s main research fields are social and political philosophy, with a particular focus on questions at the intersection of political economy and democratic theory.

Jonathan Floyd (University of Bristol), who researches nature, methods, and purposes of political philosophy, particularly the way in which we justify political principles. Prof. Floyd’s work combined history, political science, and moral psychology, leading to the twin theories of mentalism and normative behaviourism.

The Brave New World conference series is a prominent international forum devoted to showcasing and discussing postgraduate research in political theory. The event offers participants the opportunity to present their work and engage in dialogue with leading academics, including members of the University of Manchester’s faculty and guest speakers.

Guest speakers in previous years have included:

David Archard, Richard Arneson, Alice Baderin, Carla Bagnoli, Brian Barry, Simon Caney, Felipe Carreira de Silva, Ian Carter, G.A. Cohen, Roger Crisp, Cecile Fabre, Jerry Gaus, Bob Goodin, Marit Hammond, Jules Holroyd, Duncan Ivison, Katherine Jenkins, Peter Jones, Carl Knight, Chandran Kukathas, Cécile Laborde, Annabelle Lever, Kasper Lippert-Rasmussen, Jeff McMahan, Matt Matravers, Catriona McKinnon, Emily McTernan, Susan Mendus, David Miller, Martin O’Neill, Onora O’Neill, Serena Olsaretti, Michael Otsuka, Valeria Ottonelli, Bhikhu Parekh, Carole Pateman, Carmen Pavel, Anne Phillips, Joseph Raz, Andrea Sangiovanni, Ben Saunders, Samuel Scheffler, David Schmidtz, Quentin Skinner, Hillel Steiner, Adam Swift, Jesse Tomalty, Philippe Van Parijs, Leif Wenar, Andrew Williams, Stuart White, and Jonathan Wolff.

Please note that we are asking all speakers and attendees to pay a registration fee of £20. The sole purpose of this fee is to ensure that we are able to provide a number of partial and full bursaries for speakers who would otherwise not be able to attend. As these bursaries will be allocated according to need, please include a brief description of your funding situation when submitting your abstract if you wish to be considered for a bursary.

For any questions, feel free to contact Yonghao Huang, Anthony McMullin or Jim Morrison at [email protected].