MindGrad 2009 Call for Papers

Well, the CFP for this year’s MindGrad conference went out on PHILOS-L a few weeks ago and we’ve already had lots of people sign up to our Facebook event and follow @MindGrad on Twitter. As previously mentioned, both Alva Noë and Tim Crane (also on Twitter as @timcrane) have agreed to give keynote talks at the conference, which I’m personally very excited about. Since then the organising committee has been busy applying for funding and making general arrangements for the conference, and we’re hoping to make this the best MindGrad yet.

I hope that some of the readers of this blog will consider submitting a paper and/or attending the conference. Having attended last year’s MindGrad, I can confirm that it’s a very enjoyable event, and there will be responses to graduate papers given by members of the Warwick faculty plus plenty of time for Q&A, so it’s a good chance to gain valuable feedback on your work, as well as experience of presenting at a graduate conference. We hope to be able to cover accommodation and transport costs of everyone whose papers are accepted, plus a few others who would not otherwise be able to attend, so it’s well worth submitting a paper. (Unfortunately, I’m not allowed to submit anything myself as I’m on the organising committee, but I guess there’s always next year!)

Further information can be found on the conference web site, or I’d be happy to answer questions via the comments section below.

MindGrad Conference

For the past five years, the University of Warwick has held a graduate conference in the philosophy of mind  called—surprisingly enough—MindGrad. It is (or so I am told) normally organised by second year Ph.D. students working in that general area, and seeing as I was the only new philosophy of mind Ph.D. student starting at Warwick this year, it has fallen me to organise this year’s conference. Not that I mind, you understand, as it’s a great opportunity to invite some top notch philosophers to come and speak on topics relating to my research, and the range of graduate papers on offer at last year’s conference was excellent.

The conference itself is scheduled for the first weekend in December (5th–6th), and I’m happy to say that both keynote speakers have now confirmed. They are Alva Noë, who works on phenomenology, philosophy of cognitive science, embodiment, extended mind and consciousness, and Tim Crane, philosopher of mind and perception, Head of Department at UCL and soon to be Knightbridge Professor at the University of Cambridge. Both will, I’m sure, be excellent and I’m really looking forward to some fascinating discussions of graduate papers in light of their considerable experience and philosophical work.