Call for abstracts

Call for abstracts: Ruhr-University Bochum & London School of Economics joint workshop “Animal Minds: New Theories and New Observations”, 9th-10th
of February 2026 in Bochum, abstract deadline: 01.12.2025

https://philevents.org/event/show/140806

The workshop will combine discussions of new theoretical and methodological approaches with presentations of novel empirical findings about animal minds.

We are inviting contributions from philosophy, psychology, ethology, neuroscience, biology, and other relevant disciplines. Potential topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

• What do we know about capacities such as reasoning, sentience, or social understanding in other species?
• How do the cognitive and affective capacities of different species compare and contrast with each other and with human capacities?
• What is the evolutionary origin of important human psychological features?
• What are promising methodological frameworks and experimental paradigms for investigating animal minds?
• Which theories about animal minds are supported by recent empirical findings?
• What are the promises and limitations of multidimensional profile and signature testing accounts in comparative psychology?

To be considered for a talk (30 minutes + 15 minutes discussion) or poster presentation, please send an abstract of your proposed presentation of up
to 500 words (excluding references) to: hilfskraefte-newen@rub.de

The abstract should be anonymous, allowing blinded review, and accompanied by a second Word or PDF file containing author name(s), affiliation(s), and contact details. The deadline for abstract submissions is the 1st of December 2025. We plan to notify everyone about whether their abstract is accepted within two weeks after the deadline.