1st Interpersonal Philosophy Network Workshop 2027

University of Lethbridge, AB, Canada | 2-3 April

The Interpersonal Philosophy Network (IPN), in collaboration with the Critical Thinking & Civic Engagement Lab at the University of Lethbridge, invite abstract submissions for a two-day workshop exploring philosophical questions concerning interpersonal relations.

The workshop aims to bring together researchers working on the nature, value, and normative significance of our relations with others. We welcome contributions from a wide range of philosophical traditions and subfields.

Keynote Speakers

(1) Kimberly Brownlee (University of British Columbia)
(2) John Bengson (University of Texas at Austin)

Abstract Submission

We invite submissions on any topic related to the philosophy of interpersonal relations, though we are particularly interested in the epistemology, ethics, and politics of interpersonal relations. For example, papers might address topics such as:

• Love, friendship, and care
• Shared agency and collective intentionality
• Collective or shared inquiry and epistemic cooperation
• Solidarity, belonging, and community
• Relational autonomy and freedom
• The ethics and politics of human relationships
• Interpersonal approaches to personhood and the self.

Please submit an anonymised PDF abstract (up to 1000 words) through the following form by 15 December, 2026:
https://forms.gle/jXPRqdNE2dzSQnEW7

Further Details - The workshop will feature:

Two keynote talks
Eight contributed papers

Presentations should be suitable for a 30-40 minute talk, followed by discussion.

Accepted speakers will receive a CAD $300 honorarium to help offset travel and accommodation expenses.

Participants are warmly invited to join an informal excursion to Waterton Lakes National Park on Sunday, 4 April 2027.

If you have any questions, please contact adham.elshazly AT uleth.ca.

Our best, 
Facundo, Adham, Paloma (Interpersonal Philosophy Network Committee).
--
Adham El Shazly
Assistant Professor
Department of Philosophy | University of Lethbridge
Website

My source: https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/philosophy/philos-l/

Further reading & review: 'Epistemic Care - Vulnerability, Inquiry, and Social Epistemology'

Epistemic Care

With the next book received for reading and review I must crack-on with Categories, which links my philosophy studies and healthcare theory and practice. The [N] time of year is right at least, for as close a reading as I can muster on both counts.

On the relational project, I'm simultaneously trying to look Hodges' model epistemologically and ontologically. Both texts will assist.

Many thanks to Alyvia Chiemingo - Customer Service Team Lead at Taylor & Francis Customer Services; and the 'Ethics of Argumentation' group for the tenth talk of 2026 by Casey Rebecca Johnson on “Care and Political Disagreement” (2nd October).

DESCRIPTION:

'This book uses the framework of care ethics to articulate a novel theory of our epistemic obligations to one another. It presents an original way to understand our epistemic vulnerabilities, our obligations in education, and our care duties toward others with whom we stand in epistemically vulnerable relationships.

As embodied and socially interdependent knowers, we have obligations to one another that are generated by our ability to care – that is, to meet each other’s epistemic vulnerabilities. The author begins the book by arguing that the same motivations that moved social epistemologists away from individualistic epistemology should motivate a move to a care-based theory. The following chapters outline our epistemic care duties to vulnerable agents, and offer criteria of epistemic goodness for communities of inquiry. Finally, the author discusses the tension between epistemic care and epistemic paternalism.

Epistemic Care will be of interest to scholars and advanced students working in social epistemology, ethics, feminist philosophy, and philosophy of education.'

Casey Rebecca Johnson (2023) Epistemic Care - Vulnerability, Inquiry, and Social Epistemology. 1st Edition. London: Routledge.

Hausdorff property - c/o Reid & Szendroi

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Miles Reid,  Balázs Szendrői (2005) Geometry and Topology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. fig 7.2a p.110.

Previously: 'maths' : 'relational'

Science, Arts, Health, Culture & Joy: Ebola

individual

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SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL   

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My source: Al Jazeera English

https://x.com/AJEnglish/status/2115677509278744808?

See also: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/rldJ72bGWds

Previously: 'ebola' : 'Africa'

AI bots flooded 2023 UK government consultation on disposable vapes ban

'AI bots flooded a government consultation with tens of thousands of fake responses in a failed attempt to stop the UK’s ban on disposable vapes.

Three-quarters of all the responses to the 2023 consultation on the tobacco and vapes bill were machine-generated, in what is thought to be the first coordinated attempt to use AI to derail health policymaking in the UK.

The attempt to manipulate the outcome of the consultation was disclosed on Tuesday in research published in the journal Tobacco Control by the health policy experts Dr Nason Maani, from the University of Edinburgh, and Prof Anna Gilmore, of the University of Bath.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) used bot-detection methods to identify that 90,835 of the 118,756 responses it received, 76%, were submitted by bots.

All but two of those 90,835 automated responses answered the same question in the “smoke free generation” consultation, in which they opposed Rishi Sunak’s Conservative government’s plan to ban disposable vapes. The submissions were “often duplicated many times and sent at high frequency from a small number of IP addresses”, the DHSC said.'

Read more ... The Guardian

My source: BBC Radio 4 Today

c/o Leacock 'HUMAN INTEREST PUT INTO MATHEMATICS'

So, for all those years of struggling to understand the question, let alone answer it, you are now telling me: it was all person-centred? Plus! Not only do 'A', 'B', and 'C' have names, there's 'D' too?

    'The student of arithmetic who has successfully striven with money sums and fractions, finds himself confronted by an unbroken expanse of questions known as problems. These are short stories of adventure and industry with the end omitted, and though betraying a strong family resemblance, are not without a certain element of romance. 
    The characters in the plot of a problem are three people called A, B, and C. The form of the question is generally of this sort : "A, B, and C do a certain piece of work. A can do as much work in an hour as in two, or C in four. Find how long they work at it." 
    Or this : "A, B, and C are employed to dig a ditch. A can dig as much in one hour as can dig in two, and can dig twice as fast as C. Find how long, etc., etc." 
    Or after this wise: "A lays a wager that he can walk faster than or C. A can walk half as fast again as B, and C is only an indifferent walker. Find how far, and so forth." . . .

    In the early chapters of the arithmetic, their identity is concealed under the names John, William, and Henry, and they wrangle over the division of marbles. In algebra they are often called X, Y, Z. But these are only their Christian names, and they are really the same people.
    Now, to one who has followed the history of these men through countless pages of problems, watched them in their leisure hours dallying with cord wood, and seen their panting sides heave in the full frenzy of filling a cistern with a leak in it, they become something more than mere symbols. They appear as creatures of flesh and blood, living men with their own passions, ambitions and aspirations like the rest of us.'

LEACOCK, S. (1929). HUMAN INTEREST PUT INTO MATHEMATICS. The Mathematics Teacher, 22(5), 302–304. http://www.jstor.org/stable/27951138

'Maggie’s: Architecture That Cares' exhibition

Learning of this exhibition in February, c/o the FT; I wished I'd been able to visit. Now it ends on the 1st November:

'Maggie’s: Architecture That Cares' exhibition at the V&A Dundee.

Hodges' model is a latent 'care architecture' brought to life when applied to person, or community-centred care. Architecture in care, is a theme that keep recurring which is encouraging in its own right.

Edwin Heathcote, The healing power of a hospitable hospital, Life&Arts, FTWeekend, 21-22 February 2026, p.15.

Previously: 'Maggie's'

APHA Community-Based Primary Health Care Workshop, Saturday Oct 31 - Available for free online

Colleagues, join us and consider sharing this email widely. See flyer attached.

Our APHA pre-conference workshop on October 31 is now open to anyone, anywhere, at no cost. Please share this with colleagues and students who would benefit.

WHAT
Health Systems That Reach and Follow: 

Community-Based Primary Health Care in an Era of 
Mobility, Misinformation, and Digital Innovation

The annual pre-conference workshop of the Community-Based Primary Health Care Working Group, APHA International Health Section, which we have run for about twenty years.

People move. Misinformation travels faster than they do. The question we are taking up is how health systems follow.

WHEN
Saturday, October 31, 2026
11:00 AM to 5:00 PM US Central Time

HOW TO JOIN
Online, free, from anywhere:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/joyC0lTUQRuX1G3VCb6xcw

In person in San Antonio, Texas ($25 plus service fee, student discount available):
https://bit.ly/4y8xsaX

No APHA membership and no conference registration are required for either option.

Registration closes Friday, October 30 at 11:00 AM US Central Time.

So please forward this. If you have colleagues, partners, or students anywhere in the world who work on community health, send it to them.

Thank you!

Andrew and Henry 

Andrew Herrera, CHW, MPH, MBA

Executive Director

Impact Global Health Alliance
andrew AT impactglobalhealthalliance.org

Henry B. Perry, MD, PhD, MPH

Senior Associate, Health Systems Program

Department of International Health

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

hperry2 AT jhu.edu

[Simple] Space medicine ... c/o Chris Hadfield

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	I was seated in the audience front row, and recognised Heide's symptoms. The crew, behind her, couldn't see that she was about to faint, so I jumped onto the stage and luckily caught her in time. Ever since then, astronauts sit during the debriefs immediately post-spaceflight. Don't need anyone falling and getting hurt. — Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield) October 23, 2026

 Previously: 'observation' : 'anticipation' : 'astronautics' : 'space'

ii Identity: Plain to see? A little thought experiment

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A little thought experiment - continued:

What's that!

 'A case of individual ineffability.'? 

Is this really ineffable? Are you saying - ironically - this is beyond language? 
That there's something sacred here?
Surely that's a stretch too far? 

I can see it is often complex, maybe difficult to explain too.

Well, the claim of ineffability is justified.
For some people, this touches upon the sacred and spiritual too.

How so? 

Well. Take the global population pyramid we inverted to span the sociological and political domains.
We're all in there. Even if you don't check that dynamic link, that pyramid is 'dynamic'. 
New births are being added, as the newly departed take their leave. 
So it's not just dynamic it's noisy too. 
Strictly speaking it's dancing: a constant shuffle.

Oh, dear! Save me, save us all!
What about the person we pulled out from the masses? 

Yes, one individual, but in truth as our focus, they occupy the interpersonal and sciences domains.
Have you ever used - painted with a palette knife? 

No, I can't say I have, probably not beyond my hands as a child.

Take that person as a single line - the palette knife's edge; then - move the knife, spread those colours across the two upper domains of Hodges' model. Let's say now that instead of a single person as a column, a data point, which we can hardly see; this 'spread' represents their lifespan. Not only that, but in there we also have their unique health career. Plus, arranged chronologically a record of life chances can also be charted.

And that's ineffable? 

True, there's no bright light. But, we can represent here the existential and religious debates and the point that some people get anxious, fearful of death and yet we were not anxious before we started life's inexorable shuffle? 

In these times of AI, it is important to acknowledge that what is ineffable in Hodges' model, is what we human beings can find, can experience in all the domains of  the model and the 'why' that surround it.

Ah, I see. Thanks.

 Previously: 'life chances' : 'health career'

Identity: Plain to see? A little thought experiment

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A little thought experiment:

Beneath the humanistic-mechanistic axis (within the sociological and political domains) superimpose an inverted global population pyramid - scaled to fit - of course. Make it dynamic if you wish.

Then imagine lifting just one individual out of the global population. As our subject, of whatever age, sex ... place them anywhere above the horizontal axis. Anywhere within the interpersonal or sciences domains. There they are: a single data unit. Selected at random, of course, their health status would vary accordingly.

Would we actually be able to see them here? One single vertical line, at this scale? 

A case of individual ineffability. Welcome to the ethical debate re. the individual and collective. And yet there they are? The focus of their own self-care and independence, famine, conflict ... or our care. Not just 'us', as a nurse, doctor, social worker, support worker ... but intermittently, the whole health and social care team.

From being lost in anonymity, literally a number in a chart, to having a name, several identities - with or without 'papers' - needs, background, character, personality, problems, relationships, strengths and humanity.

Hodges' model provides an incredible conceptual estate for us to utilise, if we choose to.

We can refer back instantly as context and population pyramids demand to parent, guardian, partner, family.

 Previously: 'population' : 'identity'

"This is public health we're talking about! So where's your evidence ...

or, at least your planned monitoring rationale, 
structure, processes and 
projected reporting schedule?"

individual

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trust [cynicism]

measures - metrics river health 'There is a chance that results will get better over time. Leon Barron, professor of environmental science at Imperial College London, said water quality metrics could lag behind and needed to be taken over multiple seasons and years to get an accurate reading.' 1,3,5,10 ... years? What is local? What is national?

public health  'Amy Fairman, head of campaigns at environmental charity River Action, called the independent pollution figures "deeply shocking" and demanded that Tideway publish its internal data in full. "The public deserves to know, given they are paying for this tunnel through their water bills, that it is actually delivering improvements," Fairman said.'

'Tideway argued that assessing water quality trends required multiyear data-sets and that a single year of observation "would not provide a sufficiently robust picture". "The Thames is a complex tidal river, and water quality is influenced by a range of factors beyond the combined sewer overflows that Tideway was designed to address," it added. "Individual E. coli readings can fluctuate depending on location, rainfall, tides and other inputs. These readings cannot, in isolation, provide a complete picture of the tunnel's impact."

Windermere will be a different story then?

My source: Plimmer G. (2026) London's £5bn 'super sewer' struggles to lift water quality. FTWeekend, 17-18 October. p.3. 

And: Vaughan A. Windermere super-sewer will add more than £30 to bills, The Times, 22 October 2026, p.14.

Previously: 'pollution' : 'rivers' : 'law' : 'accountability'

Aberfan - 60 years

As for many children (one hopes) my future education, motivation and aspirations were framed by my parents. Pivotal was my father, and having the opportunity. Growing up in mid-Wales he had been surrounded by mines and quarries. My grandfather had worked in a slate mine, walking there and back to the village and home. 

There was a real fear that I'd end up down working down the mine. Value judgements, courage and community aside, my father witnessed some of the realities of pit/quarry life. So for me, and a brother and sister who followed, it was school, school, school (perhaps you can tell?).

There were many reminders: records of Welsh choirs; films such as How Green Was My Valley. In my early teens this theme was there in English classes, as we read and discussed D.H. Lawrence's, Sons and Lovers. Living near Wigan, we in turn were surrounded by mines, many already closed. Golborne colliery was an exception. There was an accident there in 1979 after we had left school. 

Perhaps also it was a sign of a future career pathway, as I noticed the impact of the Aberfan disaster now 60 sixty years ago on my father. I was a similar age to the children who lost their lives. In the news this week it is remarkable, salutary and shaming the similarity with more recent major incidents with loss of life, here in the UK. The lack of regard for accountability, and social justice.

AHRC ‘Crafting Care for People, Place and Planet Doctoral Focal College'

Dear all

We’re happy to announce that the AHRC ‘Crafting Care for People, Place and Planet Doctoral Focal College’ website is now live, with the 2027 competition launched here.

 

• The deadline for the first stage of the funding competition is December 1st (for an EOI rather than a full application).

• Guidance on Crafting Care’s four themes can be found here.  

 

Best wishes

Josie

 

Professor Josie Billington (she/her)

Department of English

Associate Dean for Research and Impact, School of the Arts

Lead, AHRC Doctoral Focal College, Crafting Care for Healthy People, Place and Planet

Co-Lead, Arts, Mental Health and Wellbeing Theme, Centre for Health, Arts, Society and Environment (CHASE)  

Co-Director, MA Health, Cultures and Societies

Rm 216, School of the Arts, 19-23 Abercromby Square, University of Liverpool.  L69 7ZG

Email: jbilling AT liverpool.ac.uk

My source: Bethan Evans c/o the NNMHR list

BCS SPECIALIST GROUP ON AI (BCS-SGAI) AI for Health 2026 - Nov. 6th

Friday November 6th 2026 (all day event)

A special event showcasing the role of Artificial Intelligence for Health
Organised by BCS-SGAI

At the BCS London Office
Ground Floor, 25 Copthall Avenue, London, EC2R 7BP (near Moorgate underground)

Please see: https://www.bcs-sgai.org/health2026/

 

There are is an online registration form available from the event website.

BCS-SGAI, the British Computer Society Specialist Group on Artificial Intelligence was founded in June 1980. Its mission is: `To foster achievement, capability and awareness in both business and research in Artificial Intelligence, and to promote the interests of the related community`. It is one of Europe`s longest established groups working to support the community of artificial intelligence developers and users and is the organiser of one of the longest running annual series of AI conferences in Europe: the AI-20xx series.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) prioritising AI for health is crucial. The WHO also highlights that a healthy diet protects you against many chronic non-communicable diseases, such as heart disease, diabetes and cancer. Quantum computing is gathering an enormous interest as a new paradigm of computing (see Quantum for Good at https://quantumforgood.eu/), which is already making an impact across industries like health and life sciences (agriculture, food and health). Classical (or current) AI relies in classical computers based on binary bits (zeros and ones), while quantum AI relies in quantum computers based on quantum bits (qubits). Quantum AI could dramatically accelerate research that requires processing vast amounts of data, contributing to human health by accelerating drug discovery or enabling earlier diagnostics. Quantum AI could be also instrumental in identifying early signs of crop diseases or optimising water use.

Come along to AI for Health 2026 if you are interested in cutting-edge AI for Health, using latest technologies with a promise of high impact.

SPEAKERS

 

Prof Brendan Delaney (Imperial College London)

 Medical diagnosis after LLMs

 

Mr Anirban Lahiri (Arndit Ltd. and Kainos Ltd., United Kingdom)

 AI in Mental Healthcare

 

Dr Marinos Ioannides (Head of Software and AI Medical Devices, MHRA, UK)

 Demystifying AI Regulation

 

Dr. Mercedes Arguello Casteleiro (SGAI)

 Hands-on Tutorial on Low-Code AI Agents for Health, Farming, and Food

 

Dr Oliver Thomson Brown (Quantum Software Lab, EPCC, University of Edinburgh)

 Introduction to Quantum Computing and its Relevance for Biomedical Science

 

Dr Saihong Li (University of Stirling)

 Translating Quantum Food Futures

 

Dr Aleksey Kozikov (Newcastle University)

 Emerging Opportunities for Quantum Technologies in Food and Health

 

Website: https://www.bcs-sgai.org/health2026/

 

Registration: https://www.bcs-sgai.org/health2026/?section=registration

ii The International Day for the Eradication of Poverty

My source: https://x.com/UN/status/2111306457501331613?s=20

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SAFETY psychological CHOICE DIGNITY  HEALTH CARE	SAFETY physical  FOOD SHELTER  HEALTH CARE
[PUBLIC] HEALTH CARE SOCIAL INCLUSION	POLITICAL INCLUSION INCOME [POLITICAL] HEALTH?

Previously: 'SDG' : 'security' : 'nutrition' (not just 'food')

Wirnitzer, KC. et al. (2025) Toward a roadmap for addressing today's health dilemma – The 101-statement consensus report. Frontiers in Nutrition. Volume 12. https://frontiersin.org/journals/nutrition/articles/10.3389/fnut.2025.1676080 DOI:10.3389/fnut.2025.1676080

See also: 
Jones P, Wirnitzer K. Hodges’ model: the Sustainable Development Goals and public health – universal health coverage demands a universal framework. BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health 2022;5:doi: 10.1136/bmjnph-2021-000254

The International Day for the Eradication of Poverty

While the world has had enormous success in reducing poverty in recent years, new findings from UNDP and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative show that progress cannot be taken for granted.

The 2026 Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) reveals that the number of people living in multidimensional poverty has increased for the first time since the index was launched in 2010.

At the same time, many countries continue to make progress against poverty, indicating that eliminating poverty in all its forms—the first Sustainable Development Goal—is possible.

Read more ...

'The Social Reckoning'

individual

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mental state self-image vulnerability true	algorithms     life
the SOCIAL	RECKONING

Stop tech companies endangering 
more teenagers like Molly

“Instagram helped kill my daughter. Too little has changed, promises to deliver safety have failed and algorithms still show streams of toxic content to children. We need to protect our children from the profit-driven business models that powers tech companies and puts the safety of children at the bottom of their priorities.” 

Ian Russell, Molly’s Dad and Chair of Molly Rose Foundation.

Molly Rose Foundation

My source: Times Radio 

Previously: 'social media' : 'algorithms' : 'law' : 'accountability'

Mental Health and Physical Activity

You know you're on the right (running) track when there is a journal that seeks to address the fundamentals of parity of esteem that is mental and physical health:

Robertson, R., Robertson, A., Jepson, R., and Maxwell, M. (2012) Walking for depression or depressive symptoms: A systematic review and meta-analysis, Mental Health and Physical Activity, 5, 1, 66-75. ISSN 1755-2966 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mhpa.2012.03.002.

Sometimes, geography matters too in terms of intervention choices and the population of a study:

Moran, R., Sperandei, S., Peel, N., Gray, T., and Reis, A. (2024) The long-term effect of surf therapy on posttraumatic stress, depression, and anxiety symptomology among current and former Australian defence force members - A nonrandomised controlled longitudinal study in a community setting. Mental Health and Physical Activity, 27, 100629, ISSN 1755-2966. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mhpa.2024.100629.

While researchers seek an holistic view -

Ciaccioni, S. et al. (2026) Modifiable determinants of adolescents’ physical activity and sedentary behaviour in school, home and mixed settings: A DE-PASS systematic review and meta-analysis of self-reported data with a holistic analysis. Mental Health and Physical Activity, 31. 100803,
ISSN 1755-2966, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mhpa.2026.100803.

- and the above journal 'Supports open access', I do not believe my individual circumstances would qualify for differential treatment of fees:

'Article Publishing Charge (APC): USD 3,190 (excluding taxes). Actual APCs may differ based on individual author circumstances.'

This is a pity, as surprisingly thus far, the journal does not appear to have explicitly referred to 'parity of esteem'? Clearly a soapbox for me, there is plenty of room for others to join in the debate. To acknowledge, however, severe mental illness is well represented.

Given the holistic scope of Hodges' model the lack of inclusion in such literature is a shame. 

Acutely so, as Hodges' model begs (demands!?) consideration of holistic bandwidth. The matter of exercise and activity as a therapeutic option in mental health care quickly gets intense and heated (even if the interlocutors are recumbent). Social prescribing seems well established. On social media ['X' still for me] voicing the benefits of exercise does not always go down well. 

Fabiano N, Puder D, Stubbs B. Could not prescribing exercise for depression be psychiatric malpractice?

British Journal of Sports Medicine 2025;59:1388-1389.

Ironically given the limitations of the bio-psycho-social model, the 'barricades' don't go up they are a permanent feature. As soon as we need to consider the political dimensions of health care, legal and professional accountability, policy, funding, accessibility, the minutiae of human rights (individual instances). Plus, in the UK the welfare benefits bill, the struggles of young adults not in employment, education or training; then division and oppositions are all that is. And, what can be individual and collective opportunities are missed.

My source:  https://x.com/NTFabiano/status/2103876655366521278?s=20