Salzburg Conference for Young Analytic Philosophy: SOPhiA 2026
September 02 - 04\, 2026
Department of Philosophy (Humanities)\, University of Salzburg\, Austria
Mode: in person
Aim:
SOPhiA 2026 provides an opportunity for students and doctoral candidates in philosophy to take a first peek into the philosophical business and to get in touch with prospective and well established philosophers. Contributions in every discipline of philosophy (epistemology\, ethics\, logic\, metaphysics\, philosophy of mind\, philosophy of religion\, philosophy of science\, etc.) are welcome. As common in analytic philosophy\, contributors should make use of understandable language as well as rational argumentation. In addition to the conference presentations there will also be affiliated workshops on selected topics in analytic philosophy.
Keynote Speakers:
* Michela Massimi (University of Edinburgh)
* Julian Reiss (Johannes Kepler University Linz)
* Philip A. Ebert (University of Salzburg)
Affiliated Workshops:
* \;Brian Ortmann (University of Hamburg): Does Manipulation Imply Causation?
* Martin Niederl (University of Chicago): Themes from the History of Analytic Philosophy
* Mathijs Geurts (University of Salzburg): Claiming Authority in Public and Private
* Corina Strö\;ß\;ner (University of Greifswald): The legacy of logical empiricism between and during the two world wars
Call for papers:
Students and doctoral candidates (pre-doc) in philosophy are encouraged to submit an abstract prepared for double-blind review. We are committed to fostering diversity and equality in our programs. Submissions from underrepresented groups are particularly welcome. Abstracts should not exceed 2.000 \;characters. All submissions should be suitable for a presentation of approximately 20 minutes in length (plus 10 minutes discussion). The conference language is English. Please submit your abstract at \;https://www.sophia-conference.org \;until May 15\, 2026. Note that authors may appear as co-authors on multiple submissions\, but not more often than once as first author/presenter. Non-presenting attendees are requested to register in advance by email at \;organization@sophia-conference.org. \;
SOPhiA best paper award:
Contributors are also invited to submit a full paper (of up to 8.000 words) not including any author or affiliation information. A jury will evaluate all submissions and will determine the winning paper. A selection of full papers will\, in addition\, undergo double-blind peer-review and be considered for publication in KRITERION -- Journal of Philosophy free of article processing charges. Please prepare your full paper according to the guidelines available at \;https://www.degruyterbrill.com/journal/key/krt/html \;and submit it via the link provided there. When submitting your manuscript via the journal's submission system\, please select "Special Issue: SOPhiA Best paper Award" as the issue type. Note that only full papers in English submitted before the general deadline (May 15\, 2026) can be considered for the SOPhiA best paper award and that contributors are not allowed to be first or co-author of more than one paper submitted for the SOPhiA best paper award. Please be aware that only contributions that have also been submitted as a regular SOPhiA talk will be considered for the SOPhiA best paper award.
Submission deadline: \;May 15\, 2026
Notification deadline: \;June 1\, 2026
Website: \;www.sophia-conference.org
The EMRC (European Moral Responsibility Consortium) is a platform devoted to facilitating coordination and cooperation among philosophers based in Europe who are working in the area of moral responsibility and on related topics (free will\, blame\, collective responsibility\, punishment\, moral responsibility and AI\, etc.). From September 28-30\, 2026\, the second conference of the EMRC will be held in Salzburg\, Austria.
\nContact: emrconsortium@gmail.com
ORGANIZER;CN=Leonhard Menges;CN=Leonie Eichhorn: METHOD:PUBLISH END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260720T104959Z DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Vienna:20261022T090000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/Vienna:20261023T170000 SUMMARY:AI Ethics for Children and Adolescents UID:20260723T134147Z-iCalPlugin-Grails@fe80:0:0:0:74d0:1ff:feb1:3c52%3 TZID:Europe/Vienna LOCATION:Salzburg\, Austria DESCRIPTION:Children and adolescents have received little attention in the AI ethics literature thus far\, although they are increasingly confronted with this technology in all aspects of their lives and it brings with it specific risks and dangers\, but also opportunities (for example Wang et al. 2024\; Collyer-Hoar and Rubegni 2025).
\nThe aim of this workshop is therefore to reflect how central concepts in theories of AI ethics can be meaningfully applied to children and adolescents and where these need to be adapted accordingly. This includes\, among others\, the concepts of trust and trustworthiness\, (informed) consent\, privacy\, explainability\, dignity\, well-being as well as bias and justice. All of these are discussed broadly and sometimes controversially in AI ethics literature\, but in most cases cannot simply be applied to children and adolescents.
\nFor example\, on the one hand children and adolescents are particularly dependent on trusting relationships\, but on the other hand cannot yet adequately assess whom or what they should trust and why. This means that trust must also be understood as a developmental task for them and they must be particularly protected from exploitation of their trust. Likewise\, informed consent (for instance in the context of using AI in apps) and explainability are connected with special ethical requirements for them\, which neither limits children and adolescents into the roles of passive objects nor views them as fully autonomous subjects\, but rather analyzes what form of explainability would be appropriate for them.
\nThis workshop aims to explore AI ethics\, its core concepts and theories\, and their application to children and adolescents in order to account for their specific needs\, abilities\, interests\, vulnerabilities\, as well as their social relations and environments. We particularly welcome proposals that critically reflect on childhood and adolescence\, are attentive to diversity dimensions (e.g.\, gender\, race\, age\, disability\, socio-economic status)\, and take intersectional perspectives seriously.
\nSubmissions &\; Publication
\nSubmissions may approach these topics through conceptual analysis\, case studies\, or ethical reflections based on empirical findings. We invite to send us abstracts of 500 words (in Word format) and a brief CV. Please send your abstract before April 15\, 2026 to the organizers at the following address: gottfried.schweiger@plus.ac.at
\nDraft papers will be circulated among all participants two weeks prior to the workshop. Presenters are expected to attend in person for the entire duration. Papers from this workshop will be submitted for a Special Issue in AI and Ethics. More info on this topical collection here: \; https://link.springer.com/collections/jhfhiiheaj \;
\nA contribution towards travel and accommodation expenses of up to &euro\;500 can be provided. Please indicate in your application if you would need that support.
\nThis workshop is financially supported by the Salzburg Ethics Initiative.
\nOrganizers
\nKaroline Reinhardt is Professor of Applied Ethics with a focus on digitalization at the University of Passau. She has published several articles on trust and trustworthiness\, explainability and diversity.\, among others\, &ldquo\; Trust and Trustworthiness&rdquo\; (AI &\; Ethics 2023) and &ldquo\; XAI: On Explainability and the Obligation to Explain&rdquo\; (Digital Society 2025) as well as several other papers in AI Ethics.
\nGottfried Schweiger is Senior Scientist at the University of Salzburg. His publications include the co-authored monograph &ldquo\; What is a Good Childhood? A Philosophical Approach&rdquo\; (Palgrave Macmillan 2024) and the recent monograph &ldquo\; Global Justice for Children&rdquo\; (Routledge 2025) \;
\nReferences
\nCollyer-Hoar\, Gail\, and Elisa Rubegni. 2025. &ldquo\;&ldquo\;Won&rsquo\;t somebody please (actually) think of the children?&rdquo\; AI Ethics for Children: A Scoping Review.&rdquo\; ACM J. Responsib. Comput. 2 (2):Article 10. doi: 10.1145/3745031
\nWang\, Ge\, Jun Zhao\, Max Van Kleek\, and Nigel Shadbolt. 2024. &ldquo\;Challenges and opportunities in translating ethical AI principles into practice for children.&rdquo\; Nature Machine Intelligence 6 (3):265-270. doi: 10.1038/s42256-024-00805-x.
ORGANIZER;CN=Gottfried Schweiger;CN=Karoline Reinhardt: METHOD:PUBLISH END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR