SW*IP Annual Conference 2026: "Expertise"

Hier geht's zur deutschsprachigen Version.

Expertise is a central topic in both theoretical and practical philosophy, with numerous concrete applications. What exactly does expertise consist in? To what extent is it a form of knowledge or competence, and to what extent a normative status conferred through the recognition of others? To what degree should a person without expertise grant epistemic authority to experts’ claims and place trust in them? What social and political role do experts play, and what role should they play? What role do social positions and identities play in the possibility of acquiring or claiming expertise in particular domains? Where might there be cases of expertise that are denied recognition in the form of active ignorance? And what role do technological innovations such as LLMs play in these questions?

These and further questions are at the center of this year’s conference of SW*IP Germany, organized by Julia Zakkou and David Löwenstein.

The conference begins on November 12 at 2:00 p.m. with a panel discussion featuring Franziska Dübgen (Münster), Anna-Maria Eder (Cologne), Nadja El Kassar (Lucerne), and Deborah Mühlebach (Berlin).

The conference concludes later that day with an evening keynote lecture by Eva Schmidt (Dortmund) from 5:00 to 6:30 p.m., followed by a joint dinner.

The panel discussion will be held in German; Eva Schmidt’s lecture will be given in English.

On November 13, a satellite workshop with three peer-reviewed talks will take place (9:30 a.m.–1:00 p.m.).

The full program will be annouced here as soon as the talks at the satellite workshop are confirmed.

We warmly invite submissions of abstracts in German or English for a talk at the satellite workshop, which may address any questions related to the topic of expertise.

Abstracts should be no more than 1,000 words (excluding references) and be suitable for a 30-minute presentation followed by 30 minutes of discussion.

Submissions will be accepted until June 1, 2026. Notifications will be sent in early July.

Submissions should be sent by email to swip-tagung-2026(at)hhu.de and must include an anonymized abstract as a PDF attachment. In addition, we kindly ask authors to indicate in the email (not in the PDF attachment) whether the submitting person identifies as FLINTA*.

We’ll be able to offer financial support to all selected speakers who cannot rely on other funds for travel and accommodation, up to a maximum amount of 300 EUR per person.

Both the SW*IP annual conference 2026 and the satellite workshop take place in the lecture room at ULB (University and State Library) on the campus of Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf.

Further information on registration will be announced here as soon as the program is settled.