Ameliorating epistemic injustice in healthcare: An EPIC conference
CFA
The Orangery, Royal Fort Gardens
University of Bristol, UK
4-5 March 2027
Abstract deadline: 1 December 2026
This conference – hosted by the Epistemic Injustice in Healthcare (EPIC) project – will explore and assess approaches to ameliorating epistemic injustice in healthcare.
Epistemic injustice in healthcare has become a large and vibrant interdisciplinary area of research over the past decade. Scholars have identified different types of epistemic injustice across a range of medical domains, institutions and healthcare interactions. These injustices have been linked to numerous factors, including but not limited to: racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, pathophobia, sanism, and neuro-chauvinism. Further factors include the health professional-patient relationship; naturalistic diagnostic and therapeutic paradigms; and the complexity of healthcare institutions, including their own internal hierarchies. These efforts have produced a comprehensive – though still incomplete – picture of the scope and shape of the problem. Comparatively little, however, has been written about how we might address it, or how to promote epistemic justice in healthcare.
This conference invites theoretical and empirical work on amelioration of epistemic injustice in healthcare and illness, welcoming submissions from researchers across disciplines, healthcare professionals, and experts by experience.
Possible topics include:
- How to understand and enact epistemic justice in healthcare contexts
- New approaches to ameliorating epistemic injustice across different illnesses and healthcare contexts
- Developments and critical assessments of extant approaches to amelioration
- How to tackle the specific drivers of epistemic injustice in healthcare (e.g. sanism and pathophobic prejudices, hermeneutical lacunae around illness and recovery)
Confirmed speakers:
- Lisa Bortolotti (Philosophy, Birmingham)
- Anke Bueter (Philosophy, Aarhus)
- Amandine Catala (Philosophy, Montreal)
- Gene Feder (Primary Care, Bristol)
- Aidan McGlynn (Philosophy, Edinburgh)
- Rachel Power (UK Patients’ Association)
- Lucy Series (Law, Bristol)
Submission guidelines
We are looking for short, focused contributions (15 minutes + 5 minutes Q&A) specifically on ameliorating epistemic injustice in healthcare. No exposition of basic concepts in the epistemic injustice literature is needed. Please expect attendees to know what epistemic injustice is, and tailor your
abstract submission accordingly.
Please submit an abstract of 250-300 words to dan.degerman@bristol.ac.uk by 1 December 2026. In your submission email, please attach a PDF with your abstract, name, affiliation, and a short bio – for you and, if applicable, any co-authors. We prefer speakers to present in person, but will consider requests to present online on a case-by-case basis.
We particularly welcome submissions from groups traditionally under-represented in academia. If you are a non-academic speaker, and would like to discuss submitting your application in a format different from the one outlined above, please feel free to email Dan (email above) to discuss how this might be done.
We will provide refreshments and lunch for all attendees, and all are welcome.
Travel bursaries
We will offer a small number of bursaries of £100 each toward travel costs for speakers who are unwaged, PhD students, or early career researchers who are not funded. If you are interested in applying for one of these bursaries, please mention this in your submission email.
Registration
Registration is free. Information about how to register will be circulated in January.
Important dates
- Abstract submission deadline: 1 December 2026
- Notification of acceptance: mid-December 2026
- Conference dates: 4-5 March 2027
Project EPIC is generously funded by Wellcome. For more information about the EPIC project, please visit our website: https://epistemicinjusticeinhealthcare.org/
Expertise by experience in medicine and psychiatry: promises and challenges
The recognition of “experts by experience”, people with lived experience of illness or of using healthcare services, has grown significantly in medicine, psychiatry, and mental health practice. Their perspectives are increasingly valued in clinical decision-making, service design, and policy-making. Philosophical work on epistemic injustice, situated knowledge, and the role of social identities in knowledge production has provided conceptual frameworks to examine these developments.
The involvement of experts by experience gives rise to genuinely philosophical questions emerging within medicine and psychiatry, while also enriching existing debates in the philosophy of medicine and psychiatry.
While lived experience can enrich knowledge practices and challenge established hierarchies, it can also risk tokenisation, moralisation, or marginalisation if not integrated thoughtfully.
In this Focus section of Mefisto, guest-edited by Elisabetta Lalumera and Lisa Bortolotti, we gather contributions that explore the epistemic and ethical dimensions of experts by experience in medicine and psychiatry, their intersections with epistemic injustice, and the promise and limitations of centering lived experience in knowledge practices.
Word limit: 9000 max (excluded bibliography)
Deadline for submissions: 15 dicembre 2026.
THE EPISTEMIC INJUSTICE RESEARCH PROGRAMME: DEGENERATIVE OR PROGRESSIVE?
The notion of epistemic injustice introduced by Miranda Fricker in 2007 raised interest in the harmful effects of prejudice within analytic philosophy and beyond. It inspired various projects linking ethics and epistemology. The notion, originally used to capture the epistemic disadvantage that people experience for their race or gender, has been applied to an increasing number of domains. In this topical collection, we gather contributions to the debate about the strengths and limitations of the epistemic injustice research programme.
Deadline for submission: 30 September 2026
Notification of acceptance: 8 January 2027
For further queries, please email Lisa (l.bortolotti@bham.ac.uk) or Elisabetta (elisabetta.lalumera@unibo.it) and write “Argumenta EI Special Issue” in the subject of the email
Expertise by experience in medicine and psychiatry: promises and challenges
The recognition of “experts by experience”, people with lived experience of illness or of using healthcare services, has grown significantly in medicine, psychiatry, and mental health practice. Their perspectives are increasingly valued in clinical decision-making, service design, and policy-making. Philosophical work on epistemic injustice, situated knowledge, and the role of social identities in knowledge production has provided conceptual frameworks to examine these developments.
The involvement of experts by experience gives rise to genuinely philosophical questions emerging within medicine and psychiatry, while also enriching existing debates in the philosophy of medicine and psychiatry.
While lived experience can enrich knowledge practices and challenge established hierarchies, it can also risk tokenisation, moralisation, or marginalisation if not integrated thoughtfully.
In this Focus section of Mefisto, guest-edited by Elisabetta Lalumera and Lisa Bortolotti, we gather contributions that explore the epistemic and ethical dimensions of experts by experience in medicine and psychiatry, their intersections with epistemic injustice, and the promise and limitations of centering lived experience in knowledge practices.
Word limit: 9000 max (excluded bibliography)
Deadline for submissions: 15 dicembre 2026.
