2023 Conference
Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada
10 - 12 August 2023
Conference updates and announcements
Conference program
Here is the official conference schedule.
Here is the final conference booklet.
Conference registration is now open.
Registration is required for all participants. To register for the conference or the summer school, please visit our Registration Page.
Summer School availability
There are still spaces available for our Summer School on August 8-9. For more information, visit our Summer School page.
We are grateful to have received financial support from:
Local information
Map
Many locations in this guide are included in our Conference Google Map, available here: https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/1/edit?mid=1yjasW4p-hNsX6dY2fstuj8Bu3EcubT8&usp=sharing
Travel to Halifax
Fly into Halifax Stanfield International Airport (YHZ), located 38km from Dalhousie and Downtown Halifax. Airport transportation options include:
⁃ Bus: The cheapest option is to take the 320 to Scotia Square (Downtown Halifax), but do check the schedules in advance. There are shuttle bus options as well, described here: https://halifaxstanfield.ca/parking-transport/buses-and-shuttles/
⁃ Taxi: Casino Taxi is the largest local taxi service: https://www.casinotaxi.ca/ . They have an app with similar functionality to Uber.
⁃ Rental car: recommended if you plan to stay longer and/or explore outside the city. (August is peak tourism season in Halifax, so book well in advance!)
⁃ Uber
Travel within Halifax
Transportation to and from Dalhousie is straightforward anywhere on the Halifax Peninsula. For many people, Halifax is a walkable city. Bus schedules are available here: https://www.halifax.ca/transportation/halifax-transit/routes-schedules . These well integrated with google maps.
Lodging
We recommend booking a room somewhere on the Halifax Peninsula. August is peak tourism season in Nova Scotia, so we recommend booking as soon as possible.
The following two hotels are downtown and near Dalhousie University:
Lord Nelson: https://lordnelsonhotel.ca/
Cambridge Suites: https://www.cambridgesuiteshalifax.com/
There are many other options. If you’re looking for the most economical one, Dalhousie offers dormitory room rentals during the summer: https://stay.dal.ca/ (Pick the Halifax campus, not the Truro campus.)
Dining
The following areas have a high concentration of restaurants:
- Downtown Halifax
- Coburg St. / Spring Garden Rd.
- Agricola St.
- Quinpool Rd.
Vegan and vegetarian dining options
- Heartwood
- EnVie
- Wild Leek
Recreation in Halifax (easily accessible by walk or public transit)
⁃ Point Pleasant Park
⁃ Halifax Citadel
⁃ Halifax Public Gardens
⁃ Halifax Waterfront
⁃ Halifax Farmers Market (weekends)
⁃ Alderney Ferry to Dartmouth (an easy, inexpensive way to spend a bit of time on the water): https://www.halifax.ca/transportation/halifax-transit/ferry-service
Recreation outside Halifax (accessible via car, though some locations, such as Peggy’s Cove and Lawrencetown Beach, can be accessed by bus or shuttle)
⁃ Beaches: Crystal Crescent Beach, Lawrencetown Beach, Martinique Beach
⁃ Hiking and other outdoor activities: Duncan’s Cove (rugged hike through coastal barrens), Polly Cove (rugged hike through coastal barrens), Peggy’s Cove Lighthouse (accessible!), Bluff Wilderness Trail (wooded hike along a chain of lakes)
Photo locations, descending: Lawrencetown Beach, Duncan’s Cove, Polly Cove, Harry Lake (near Kejimkujik National Park).
Call for papers
The Society for the Metaphysics of Science (SMS) will be hosting its 8th Annual Conference on 10-12 August 2023 at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Our keynote speaker will be Quayshawn Spencer (Penn).
In addition, Nina Emery (Mount Holyoke) will deliver the Presidential Address.
All other sessions will comprise submitted papers. Presentations will be 30 minutes, with 10 minutes reserved for a commentator, a 5 min reply from the speaker, and 15 minutes for Q&A. Submissions should be on a topic in the metaphysics of science broadly construed, of no more than 4,500 words and should include an abstract of 100-150 words and a word count. All papers must employ gender-neutral language and be prepared for anonymous review.
Please send your paper including title and abstract as a PDF document to socms2023@gmail.com (with your name, affiliation and the title of the paper in the body of the email and ‘Abstract Submission’ in the subject line).
The submission deadline has been extended to 10 March 2023 (11:59pm PST). Notifications of acceptance will be delivered by 1 May. Selected speakers should confirm their participation by 1 June.
As well as various presentations, the conference will also feature an organizational meeting of the Society which will elect officers, continue to make various policies, plan future conferences, etc. Both those interested in presenting papers and/or participating in the Society are invited to the conference.
In addition, the SMS will host a two-day summer school on 8-9 August at Dalhousie. It will consist of four three-hour workshops, each of which is designed to introduce the (approximately 20) participants to the state of play in a subdiscipline within the metaphysics of science. We are pleased to announce that Heather Demarest (Colorado) and Robin Hendry (Durham) have signed on to lead the workshop. Further details, including instructions for how to apply, are available on the summer school page.
Program committee
Chair: Sam Baron (Australian Catholic University)
Committee Members: Claudio Calosi (University of Geneva), Karen Crowther (University of Oslo), Finnur Dellsén (University of Iceland), Heather Demarest (University of Colorado, Boulder), Nick Huggett (University of Illinois, Chicago), Baptiste Le Bihan (University of Geneva), Kate Lynch (University of Sydney), Kristie Miller (University of Sydney), James Norton (University of Iceland), James Read (University of Oxford), Katie Robertson (University of Birmingham), Jessica Wilson (University of Toronto)
Local organizer: Tyler Hildebrand (Dalhousie)