As part of our 20th Anniversary celebrations, IDEA The Ethics Centre (University of Leeds) are hosting The Future of Practical Ethics conference on 8th to 10th September 2025.
IDEA, the Ethics Centre, was launched at the University of Leeds in 2005. We carry out extensive teaching of practical ethics and applied philosophy in a variety of subjects, such as business, engineering, mathematics, chemistry, medicine, dentistry, design and many more. In addition, we have our own MA courses and a PhD programme, and we teach ethics to PhD students across other UK universities. We have research interests in ethics of technology and AI, leadership ethics, love, sex and relationships, journalism, the environment and climate change, and other topics and specific debates. We also have a consultancy and training unit, which provides cutting-edge, in-depth ethics consultancy to a variety of organisations in many sectors. You can hear us and our many friends and collaborators talk about interests in our Ethics Untangled podcast.
The Future of Practical Ethics
The Biennial Conference of IDEA, The Ethics Centre, University of Leeds
Monday 8th – Wednesday 10th September 2025
Monday 8th September
1130 – 1300: Registration & Lunch
1300: Brief Welcome from Simon Kirchin, followed by our first Keynote – Helen Frowe
1430 – 1530: Choice of 3 parallel workshops
Workshop 1
1430: Affective Rights to the City – Pilar Lopez-Cantaro
1500: We Have the Power! A Relational View on Modifying Communicative Duties – Kasim Khorasanee
Workshop 2
1430: Moral Collectivism and the Methodology of Ethical Theory – Niels de Haan
1500: Agent-Regret, Moral Luck, and Moral Cognisance – Sam Summerfield
Workshop 3
1430: Epistemic Insight and Injury: Soldiers’ Grey Zone – Sarah Hitchen
1500: Torturous Defence – Gerald Lang
1530 – 1615 Tea & Coffee Break
1615 – 1745: Choice of 3 parallel workshops
Workshop 1
1615: Free Slot
1645: ‘Immersion in the adventure of living’: Narrative and the future of teaching practical ethics– Grace Lockrobin
1715: Metaphysical Injustice: People Who Stammer Cannot Teach– Dannish Kashmiri
Workshop 2
1615: Population Decline, Pro-Natalism and Threats to Reproductive Freedoms – Connor Leak
1645: Access to citizenship beyond sedentariness – Anna Milioni
1715: Epistemic Injustice and Social Imagination – Somreeta Paul
Workshop 3
1615: Multi-Agent Simulation of AI Hybrid Ethics… – Krzysztof Sołoducha
1645: Can We Trust Transparent AI? – Jack Madock
1715: Voice donors of synthetic voices are facing moral harm… – Matilde Nanni
1745 – 1830: Break
1830: Conference Dinner at The Woodhouse Room, University House (for those that have booked)
Tuesday 9th September
0830 – 0920: Coffee, pastries and networking
0930 – 1100: Choice of 3 parallel workshops
Workshop 1
0930: Adultery, Open Marriage and Autonomy – Mark Piper
1000: free session
1030: A respect-based approach to vulnerability – Stefano Pinzan
Workshop 2
0930: A Case Study of Teaching Medical Ethics to Law Students – Emma Topham
1000: Periviability and Parental Decision Making – Teresa Baron
1030: Pregnancy, Corporations and Reproductive Rights – Megan Rawson
Workshop 3
0930: On the Foundations and Scope of Moral Standing – Vikas Beniwal
1000: A Kantian Argument for the Balance of Power – Tom Bailey
1030: Deception, Privacy and Self-defence – Benedict Rumbold and Kasim Khorasanee
1100 – 1130: Morning refreshments
1130 – 1300: Keynote 2 – Clare Chambers
1300 – 1415: Lunch
1415 – 1515: Choice of 3 parallel workshops / papers
Workshop 1
1415: Friendship, Loneliness, and the Ethics of AI Companions – Gabi Arriagada Bruneau & Abel Wajnerman
1445: Engineering Responsibility in the age of AI – Fabio Tollon and Enrico Galvagni
Workshop 2
1415: In Harm’s Way – Conscription and Fairness – Tim Taylor
1445: On Nuclearism: The Temptations and Unfulfilled Promises of a Timeless Fear. – Riccardo Valenti
Workshop 3
1415: Against Rewilding – Joshua Jarvis-Campbell
1445: Three Views of Animal Disability: Aristotelian, Wabi Sabi, and Oliver Sacks – Jennifer Mundale
1515 – 1600: Tea & Coffee Break
1600 – 1730: Discussion Panel on AI with Andy Kirton, Paula Satne, Kevin MacNish and Mick Yates
1730 – 1800: Break
1800: Drink/walk into town
1900: Trinity shopping centre food court
Wednesday 10th September
0800 – 0850: Coffee, pastries and networking
0915 – 1045: Keynote 3 – Elselijn Kingma
1045 – 1145: Choice of 3 parallel workshops
Workshop 1
1045: Infertility, Genetic Parenthood and Assisted Procreation – Giulia Cavaliere
1115 : Body-Identity Dysphoria surgery can be in the best interests of BID patients– Matthew Williams
Workshop 2
1045: Transhumanism Amidst Capitalism: How Framing Biotechnologies as “Consumer Choice” Evades the Moral Question – Maria Kenney
1115: free session
Workshop 3
1045: Searching for New Final Values and Addressing the Existential Crisis: Implications for the Future of Practical Philosophy – Yury Tikhonravov
1115: IDEA session
1115 – 1145 Morning coffee
1145: End of conference
Conference Programme PDF for printing