PGSA 33rd Annual Graduate Student Conference Program Schedule
Conference Day 1: Thursday, April 9th, 2026 (Hagey Hall 373)
10:20 — 10:30 a.m. Opening Remarks – Kyle Adams
10:30 — 11:15 a.m. Speaker #1: Manuela Rondón, McMaster University
“Standpoints and Accepting you Belong to a Minority Group (argument from the testimony of some autistic/disabled and indigenous people)”
Chair: Kyle Adams
11:30 — 12:15 p.m. Speaker #2: Johan du Plessis, University of Ottawa
“Population Ethics After the Singularity or Post-Human Population Ethics”
Chair: Curtis Brown
12:15 — 1:30 p.m.Lunch
1:30 — 2:15 p.m. Speaker #3: Sara Varón Echeverri, Western University
“How to know where we belong and who we owe things to?”
Chair: Juan Marquez Leon
2:30 — 3:15 p.m. Speaker #4: Connor Cosgrove, University of Ottawa
“In Defense of Anecdotal Reason: Anecdote as a Facilitator of Epistemic Community”
Chair: Juan Marquez Leon
3:30 — 4:15 p.m. Speaker #5: Cathy Zhu, McMaster University
“Culpable Ignorance and Akrasia”
Chair: James Ralph
4:30 — 5:15 p.m. Speaker #6: Carmela Vieites Figueiras, University of Valencia
“Who are we? Slurs, target groups and reclamation”
Chair: Kyle Adams
5:30 p.m. UW Graduate House Social
Conference Day 2: Friday, April 10th, 2026 (Hagey Hall 373)
Tea, coffee, and snacks will be available throughout the day
9:45 — 10:00 a.m. Opening Remarks – Dr. Mathieu Doucet
10:00 — 10:45 a.m. Speaker #7: Carson Johnston, Western University
“Epistemic Technologies, Epistemic Agents, & Knowledge work”
Chair: Vanita Fernandes
11:00 — 11:45 a.m. Speaker #8: Amanda Narvali, University of Guelph
“Menstrual Tracking Apps and Self-Trust: Belonging in Digital Spaces”
Chair: Vanita Fernandes
11:45 — 1:30 p.m.Lunch (provided)
1:30 — 2:15 p.m. Speaker # 9: Wilfred Jensen, Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador
“Belonging in Philosophy: Disciplinary Hostility towards Queerness and New Methodologies for Knowledge-making”
Chair: James Ralph
2:30 — 3:15 p.m. Speaker # 10: Vivian Deng, McMaster University
“Subordination and Asymmetrical Grounds for Discrimination: A Case for Intersectional Identities”
Chair: Curtis Brown
3:30 — 5:00 p.m. Keynote: Dr. Carolyn McLeod, Western University
“Patient Belonging”
Chair: Kyle Adams
5:00 p.m. Closing Remarks –Kyle Adams
6:00 p.m.Conference Dinner at Solé Uptown (for speakers and organizers)
Keynote Abstract
Belonging has recently become a strategic priority for many institutions or organizations, particularly in education and business. A similar rise in interest in belonging has not occurred in health care. ‘Belonging’ in this context refers to feeling at home or at ease and an integral part of something. Belonging in health care can refer to health care providers, health professional students, or patients feeling this way within a health care system or specific health care organizations (e.g., a hospital or medical school). The focus of this talk will be patient belonging. I will ask whether the relations patients have with health care institutions and providers should be oriented by belonging. While skeptics will say that patient belonging is inconceivable or unnecessary, I will argue that it is the ideal we should strive for.
Acknowledgements
The 33rd Annual PGSA Graduate Conference is made possible by generous support from the Canadian Journal of Philosophy, the Graduate Studies Endowment Fund, and the University of Waterloo Department of Philosophy