Utrecht Philosophy of Astronomy & Cosmology Conference
The COSMO-MASTER team and UPAC group are organising a three-day conference on the philosophy and foundations of astronomy & cosmology, taking place in Utrecht (NL) from 3-5 September 2025. This conference follows after EPSA2025 Groningen (27-30 Aug), and directly after the Spacetime Matters conference in Utrecht (1-2 Sept). We welcome physicists, philosophers, and anyone else who may be interested, to submit an abstract or register as a participant (registration opening in the spring).
Possible topics include but are not limited to:
- dark matter
- dark energy
- inflation
- black holes
- exoplanets
- anti-matter
- the methodology of astronomy & cosmology (as historical sciences)
- the demarcation problem
- experiment vs mere observation
- underdetermination
- scientific realism
- idealisations
- simulations & modelling
- Big Astronomy
- telescopes
- guiding principles (anthropic, cosmological, equivalence, Mach, etc.)
- multiverse(s)
- fine-tuning
- analogue experiments
- arrow of time
- cosmological constant problem
- singularities
Confirmed keynote speakers:
- Saakshi Dulani
- Peter Galison
- Licia Verde (tbc)
- More coming soon
Submissions of proposals for contributed presentations should be submitted to cosmo-master@uu.nl by the 25th of April 2025 as a pdf, and should consist of a title, an extended abstract of 300-500 words (excluding bibliography), and a short one-paragraph narrative CV that describes your research profile and includes your current affiliation (if any). Presenters are expected to be present at the in-person conference. We hope to have (a small amount of) funding available towards travel costs for student speakers. We expect to have selected contributing speakers by the first week of May.
Organisers: n.c.m.martens@uu.nl, a.e.ferreirodeaguiar@uu.nl, s.h.vergouwen@uu.nl
