24th Pavia Graduate Conference in Political Philosophy
17th and 18th September 2026
The Call for Papers is now closed.
If you would like to attend as an auditor, please contact us at: pavia.gradconference@gmail.com
You can download the conference 2026 programme here.
PROGRAMME:
Thursday 17 September 2026
Venue: Department of Political and Social Sciences, University of Pavia
13.00-13.45: Registration
14.00-15.30: Keynote Opening Session (Aula Grande) – Clare Chambers (University of Cambridge): “What’s for dinner? Oppressive complicity and the gendered division of cooking”
15.30-16.00: Coffee Break
16.00-17.15: Graduate Session 1
a – (Aula Grande)
Kaja Kröger (Goethe University Frankfurt): “What Is Non-Liberal Feminism? Reading Saba Mahmood’s Politics of Piety Against Contemporary Reactionary Feminism”
Annemijn Kwikkers (University of Amsterdam): “Right-wing ideology disguised as entertainment in the digital space: digital propaganda and the case of the tradwives”
b – (Aula Casip)
Giacomo Sbrozi (University of Antwerp): “Is Mass Democracy Societally Wasteful? Rethinking the Epistemic Case for Large Electorates”
Mathis Nicole Desmau (Jean Moulin Lyon 3 University): “The Democratic Legitimacy of Economic Expertise: A Fairness-Based Account”
17.15-18.30: Graduate Session 2
a – (Aula Grande)
Nia Large (University College London): “Domination and Close Relationships”
Paul Pumsenberger (University of Groningen): “Democratic precarity: Why republicans should care about an expansive notion of precarious work”
b – (Aula Casip)
Cheng-Chia Tung (King’s College London): “Freedom of Association of the State”
Edoardo Vignocchi (University of Pavia, FINO PhD Program): “Constituting the State: Taxation, Enabling Conditions, and the Limits of Instrumentalism”
20.00: Social Dinner at Locanda del Carmine, Piazza del Carmine 7/a
Friday 18 September 2026
Venue: Collegio F.lli Cairoli
9.30-10.45: Graduate Session 3
a – (Aula Magna)
Shamiso Musarurwa (University of Groningen): “Beyond Legal Status: Rethinking Migrant Workers’ Vulnerability in Democratic Societies”
Kiyoharu Sakakibara (University of Tokyo): “Reconstructing Capability as Freedom: Substantiality, Trivalence, and the Ideal Distribution Criterion”
b – (Aula Didattica 1)
Cristiano Leone (Sapienza University of Rome): “Sidgwick’s Liberal Utilitarianism? A Revision of the Rawlsian Debate”
Dulyaphab Chaturongkul (King’s College London): “Emancipatory compromise: Why compromise requires emancipation and vice versa”
10.45-12.00: Graduate Session 4
a – (Aula Magna)
Deborah Biging (CEU): “Defending a pro tanto duty not to reproduce the white wedding ritual”
Bassam Nasser (University of Konstanz): “Symbolic Religious Establishment and the Politics of Belonging: Political Project, Expressive Harm, and the Bavarian Kreuzerlass”
b – (Aula Didattica 1):
Lukas Joosten (University of Oxford): “Navigating From the Mast: A Diachronic Sovereignty Account (DSA) of Irrevocable Consent”
Tam Winter (University of Utrecht): “Political freedom, metaphysical freedom and the empirical-authentic self distinction”
12.00-13.30: Lunch
13.30-15.20: Graduate Session 5
a – (Aula Magna)
Giovanni Battista Soda (Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele): “Freedom or Security? On the Normative Goal of Identity Politics”
Paula Bruder (University of Konstanz): “The Permission Account – Cultural Appropriation and Contestation”
Leo Rogers (University of Oxford): “Social equality without moral equality”
b – (Aula Didattica 1)
Caterina Donelli (Université Catholique de Louvain): “Limiting wealth to address the climate crisis: A green case for limitarianism”
Spencer Jeice Ambrose (Indian Institute of Technology Madras): “Dialectics of the Self and Economy: A Critique of Meritocracy through Taylor and Gramsci”
José Andrés Cano Rodrìgues (Pompeu Fabra University): “When Is Automation Objectionable? Beyond Post-Work and Economic Accounts”
15.20-16.00: Coffee Break
16.00-17.30: Keynote Closing Session (Aula Magna) – Francesco Guala (University of Milan): “Pervasive institutions”
Call for papers (closed):
On the 17th and 18th of September 2026, the Department of Political and Social Sciences, University of Pavia (Italy) will host the 24th edition of the Pavia Graduate Conference in Political Philosophy. The conference is held within the framework of the PhD Program in Philosophy of the North-west Italy Philosophy Consortium (FINO).
This two-day conference is meant to offer graduate students an opportunity to present papers, get helpful feedback in a friendly atmosphere, and exchange ideas both with peers and with leading academics in the field of political philosophy. In addition to parallel sessions devoted to students’ presentations, there will also be two plenary sessions for keynote speakers. For details of past editions, see here. This year’s keynote speakers are:
Clare Chambers (Jesus College, University of Cambridge)
Francesco Guala (University of Milan)
Graduate students interested in giving papers should send their contributions (max 1000 words – in English) and a curriculum vitae, by Friday 1st May 2026. Papers may focus on any area within political philosophy, and presentations should take no longer than twenty minutes to allow at least another twenty minutes of discussion. Papers must be prepared for blind review and files must be anonymized. Applicants will be notified of the outcome of their submissions around mid-June. The conference will be held on premises.
COSTS
The conference package includes lunch and coffee breaks. Participants will be charged a fee of roughly 50€ to contribute to catering expenses. Additionally, participants can choose to sign up for the social dinner (roughly 35-40€). A number of accommodation places in university colleges are available to paper givers at relatively cheap rates. Accommodation fees and details will be arranged individually.
EVALUATION OF SUBMISSIONS
Submissions will be evaluated by the organizing committee, composed of FINO PhD students and faculty members. To avoid any conflict of interests, submissions from FINO PhD students will be evaluated separately and will be allocated a limited quota of places in the conference.
CONTACT
All correspondence (including paper submissions and additional inquiries) should be addressed to the conference email address: pavia.gradconference@gmail.com
https://gradconfpoliticalphilosophy.unipv.it/