Ageing, Epistemic Injustice, and the Transformation of Experience
University of Bristol | School of Arts (Co-badged with Epistemic Injustice in Healthcare (EPIC))
Date: 8 July 2026
We invite submissions for a one-day interdisciplinary workshop exploring ageing as an experiential, cultural, and normative phenomenon, with particular attention to the forms of epistemic injustice that can arise in later life. The workshop will bring together researchers from across the humanities and social sciences to examine how ageing reshapes lived experience, creative practice, and social and conceptual frameworks, as well as how the knowledge, voices, and experiences of older individuals may be marginalised, misinterpreted, or overlooked.
We welcome contributions on topics including (but not limited to):
· Ageing and epistemic injustice
· Embodiment and lived experience in later life
· Ageing in music, theatre, film, literature, games, and performance
· Temporality, narrative, and memory
· Ageing and creativity or artistic practice
· Gender, menopause, and ageing bodies
· Ageing, illness, and disability
· Cultural and social representations of ageing
· Ageing, care, and social and political structures
We particularly encourage submissions from postgraduate researchers (PGRs) and early career scholars, as well as from those whose perspectives are currently underrepresented in academic discussions of ageing. Interdisciplinary approaches and contributions engaging both theoretical and practice-based perspectives are especially welcome.
Format
· 25–30-minute papers, followed by 15 minutes of discussion
· Practice-based or creative contributions (with discussion)
Submission details
Please send:
· An abstract (250–300 words)
· A short bio (100 words)
To: Josh Law (tv22818@bristol.ac.uk)
Deadline for submissions: 20 June 2026
Notification of acceptance: 25 June 2026
Location: University of Bristol (hybrid)
Lunch and refreshments will be provided.
For any queries, please contact Josh Law: tv22818@bristol.ac.uk
We look forward to your submissions.
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.
