SAPoLSN 2026 Graduate Summer School: The Agents of Evolution

2026 International Graduate Summer School
The Agents of Evolution

Time: August 17–22, 2026 (check-in on August 15–16)

Location: Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia

Organizers:

Sino-Australian Philosophy of Life Sciences Network (SAPoLSN)

-       School of Humanities at Macquarie University (Pierrick Bourrat)

-       Department of Philosophy at Peking University (Qiaoying Lu) 

-       School of Philosophy at Fudan University (Mingjun Zhang)

Instructors:

-       Elisabeth A. Lloyd (Department of History and Philosophy of Science and Medicine, Indiana University, Bloomington, USA)

-       Alex Rosenberg (Department of Philosophy, Duke University, Durham, USA)

A number of other instructors will participate in the summer school, including Paul Griffiths (University of Sydney and Macquarie University), Matthew Sims (Macquarie University), Peter Takacs (Macquarie University), and Cristina Villegas (Konrad Lorenz Institute).

About the Summer School

This summer school is a yearly event sponsored and organized by the Sino-Australian Philosophy of Life Sciences Network (SAPoLSN), which was initiated by the Philosophy Discipline within the School of Humanities at Macquarie University, the Department of Philosophy at Peking University, and the School of Philosophy at Fudan University. Its purpose is to introduce the most important recent developments in the philosophy of life sciences to graduate students and young scholars, to promote research and educational cooperation between Chinese and international philosophers of science, and to promote collaboration between the philosophy of life sciences and the sciences. The first two SAPoLSN Summer Schools were successfully held at Peking University in Beijing in summer 2024 and at Fudan University in Shanghai in summer 2025.

This year’s summer school will be held from August 17–22, 2026, and will be hosted by the  Macquarie Minds and Intelligences Research Centre (headed by Andrew Barron) and the School of Humanities at Macquarie University. The theme is:

The Agents of Evolution

One of the greatest achievements of Darwinian theory was to show how the appearance of design in nature can be explained without invoking agency. In particular, by grounding adaptation in variation, differential reproduction, and heredity, Darwinian explanations replace intention with a process that is blind to ends. Yet it would be a mistake to conclude that evolutionary theory thereby eliminates agency from its conceptual repertoire altogether. Even when organisms are not treated as literal agents, evolutionary reasoning continues to rely on notions that are naturally read in agential or quasi-agential terms: we speak of strategies, signals, conflicts, cooperation, and, more abstractly, of entities occupying functional and causal roles within evolutionary explanations. In this summer school, we will examine when, why, and in what sense agency re-enters evolutionary theorizing, including the explanatory payoffs and risks of agential language in evolution.

In addition to traditional lectures, this summer school will involve diverse activities, including but not limited to interviews with invited scholars, academic development panels, brainstorming sessions (e.g., for identifying PhD thesis topics), group presentations, organized dinners, and (fun!) excursions. Students will have the opportunity to interact with and learn from world-famous philosophers in person, as well as to communicate and cooperate with their peers in depth. Following the summer school, Macquarie University will host an international workshop on the same theme from August 24–25, which students are warmly encouraged to attend.

Registration

Registration is required for all students who want to participate in the summer school. However, registration does not guarantee enrollment in this summer school. Due to limited capacity, we will select participants based on their registration information. The summer school will be free to attend. A participation fee of A$800 or less (to be determined closer to the date) will be requested from the students to partially cover accommodation costs. Other expenses will be the responsibility of the participants and their institutions.

Students from Fudan University and Peking University who are selected as participants in the summer school can obtain a certain amount of travel support from the School of Philosophy at Fudan University and the Department of Philosophy at Peking University, respectively. Students from Fudan University should contact [email protected].

Requirements:

1. This summer school will be conducted entirely in English. Participants should ensure that they have a good level of English proficiency.
2. This summer school is open to postgraduate students from around the world.
3. Participants are required to participate in person for the entire duration of the program. Additionally, they should ensure that they have a basic understanding of and sufficient interest in the summer school.

Deadline for registration: May 5th, 2026 (Sydney time, UTC+10)

Registration link: https://www.wjx.top/vm/YqwATWz.aspx

Contact

For further information about the summer school, please contact:

Kangqiao Wang

Email: [email protected]

SAPoLSN website: https://sapolsn.com/