Edinburgh Graduate Research Conference in Political Theory

Today is our conference day! We are very excited to have an exciting line up of student speakers sharing to us their work over three workshops, titled 'Global Governance and Institutions', 'Ethics and Conflict', and 'Rights and Foucault'. We are also privileged to be joined by Professor Hayden from the University of St. Andrews, who will be delivering a speech on 'Hannah Arendt and the Nuclear Condition'. Come along to Lister Learning and Teaching Centre to join in the discussion, and talk to our speakers about their ideas!

That's all of the student workshop panelists! Read their titles below, and take a look at their abstracts on our page. Come meet them on Thursday, hear them present on their topic, and get a chance to ask them questions in person! For more information on registering for your free ticket, go to egrcpt19.eventbrite.com.

Joining Chulani and Darwin as the last speaker on our 'Global Governance and Institutions' workshop is Marie-Claire Zimmermann. Do not miss her presentation on her work 'The Devil is in the Details—Uncertainties and Moral Costs of Tradeable Refugee Quotas' by registering your free ticket now, and come along this Thursday for a stimulating discussion!

Our second speaker on the 'Global Governance and Institutions' workshop panel is Darwin Zhan. He will be sharing his paper 'The Belt and Road Initiative (‘BRI’) and Its Contribution to the Global Governance: A Glance'. Interested in learning more about how the BRI is shaping international relations and cooperation? Register your free ticket at egrcpt19.eventbrite.com to hear his presentation!

Last but not least, our third workshop of the day will be led by the theme 'Global Governance and Institutions'. Our first speaker on the panel, Chulani Kodikara, is a PhD Candidate at the University of Edinburgh, whose paper will be on 'Speech Acts at the UN Human Rights Council: A View of Global Governance from the Post Colonial Periphery'. Come here more on this topic in two days' time!

Joining Gorby on the 'Rights and Foucault' workshop panel will be Nathan Ward, an MScR student at the University of Edinburgh. His paper will be on 'Towards a Post-Structural Social Ontology: An Investigation of the Compatibility of Pastoral Power with Brian Epstein’s "Grounding and Anchoring" as a Challenge to Liberal Hegemony in Social Ontology'. Register for your free ticket now at egrcpt19.eventbrite.com to hear his ideas at the conference!

Our second workshop panel on the day will be titled 'Rights and Foucault'. Paul Gorby, an MLitt student from the University of St. Andrews, will be presenting his work on 'Foucault, (Anti-)Humanism, and Human Rights'. You can read about it below, and come along on Thursday for a chance to discuss the paper with him!

Friedrich Rothe, an MLitt student at the University of St. Andrews, will be joining Michael and Erik as our final presenter in our workshop 'Ethics and Conflict'. With his paper titled 'What is Hannah Arendt’s Notion of Evil and How Does It Help to Explain Contemporary Problems like Environmental Degradation?', you can hear more on his presentation this Thursday at our conference.

Our second panelist in our workshop 'Ethics and Conflict' is Erik Severson, an MSc student at the University of Edinburgh, where he will present his paper titled 'Contextualizing Cosmopolitanism: The Agonistic Challenge'. Read his abstract below, and get your free ticket at egrcpt19.eventbrite.com now!

Michael Ralphs is an MSc student at the University of Edinburgh. He will be part of the workshop panel 'Ethics and Conflict', presenting his paper 'Autonomous Weapon Systems and Responsibility in War'. Interested in the abstract? Register your interest for free now at egrcpt19.eventbrite.com to guarantee a space at our conference next Thursday!

With the conference happening in less than 9 days, our registration is now officially open! To guarantee a spot, as well as lunch and refreshments, simply go to egrcpt19.eventbrite.com and get a free ticket. While we accept walk-ins on the day, availability for catering would be subject to logistical constraints. For any enquiries, feel free to message us on this page, or reach us at [email protected].

SPEAKER ANNOUNCEMENT: We are extremely excited to announce that Professor Patrick Hayden from the University of St. Andrews will be delivering a Keynote speech at the conference. Professor Hayden, a researcher in the University of St. Andrews, who specialises in international political and social theory topics such as the impact of globalisation, will speak on 'Hannah Arendt and the Nuclear Condition'.

If you are interested in participating or contributing to the conference, we are also currently accepting academic papers for presentation. Send in your abstracts (250 words max.) to [email protected] before 28 April, and we will notify you of acceptance by 7 May. We cannot wait to hear your ideas and your interpretations of the question 'how should we reconceptualise global governance in an increasingly fragmented world'!

Thank you for everyone who has expressed their interest in presenting at our workshops. Following some announcements that we will be making, the team has decided to extend the submission deadline until 28 April. We encourage all to apply, to do so just send in an abstract (250 words max) to [email protected], and we will get back to you by 7 May. Good luck to all, and we can't wait to hear your ideas!

We are currently accepting academic papers from postgraduate students to present on the day of the conference, titled ‘Reconceptualising Global Governance in an Increasingly Fragmented World’.

If you have an idea for a paper relevant to the conference and are interested in contributing, please send an abstract (250 words max) to [email protected] before 14 April, and we will notify you of acceptance by 30 April. Feel free to find more details in our official Call for Papers below, and we encourage you to reach out to us for any enquires. Good luck to all!