SMS’s 11th

Annual Conference

@ University of Toronto, Canada

25 May - 27 May 2026

Registration details TBA

Local Information

The conference will be held at the Bahen Building on the U of T St. George campus. Address: 40 St George St, Toronto, ON M5S 2E4

Accommodations

Nice options that are walking distance from the conference venue:

Mid-range options that are walking distance from the conference venue:

Budget options that are walking distance from the conference venue:

  • Samesun Toronto (10 minute walk, this is a hostel chain, https://samesun.com/toronto-hostel/)

  • New College Residence: (10 minute walk, this is a University dormitory that operates as a hotel in the summer, can be booked on trip.com)

There are also many nice hotels and AirBnB options that are well-connected to the campus by public transit. 

Getting Here

Taxis and Ubers/Lyfts are available at Toronto Pearson Airport.

Public transit from Toronto Pearson Airport to the University of Toronto St. George campus is also possible. At the airport, look for signs for the UP Express (Terminal 1) which travels directly to Union Station in downtown Toronto. To pay, you can either purchase a Presto Card at a Kiosk, or you can tap your contactless credit/debit card. You also need to tap your payment method when you exit. Once at Union Station, follow the signs to the TTC subway. You will need to tap your payment method again at the subway fare gates. Take Line 1 (Yonge-University) northbound and ride it to St. George Station, which will bring you directly to the northern edge of the campus. (Depending which hotel you are staying at a different stop might be more optimal. Check google maps for your specific destination.)

Call for Papers

UPDATE: CFP deadline has been extended to February 15th, 2026.

The Society for the Metaphysics of Science (SMS) will be hosting its 11th Annual Conference, in person at University of Toronto, 25th-27th May, 2026.

The Keynote speaker will be Heather Demarest (University of Colorado, Boulder). In addition, Giuliano Torrengo (University of Milan) will deliver the Presidential Address.

We invite submission for papers on any aspect of the metaphysics of science, broadly construed. Whilst we are pleased to see the sustained interest in the metaphysics of physics within the SMS, we are committed to foster a plurality of views and topics. In the light of this we particularly encourage submissions in subfields such as, e.g., philosophy of biology, philosophy of chemistry, philosophy of cognitive science and neurosciences,  philosophy of the social sciences to mention a few.

In the light of this, we are happy to announce that the SMS will host a symposium on Philosophy of Chemistry, “Identity, Persistence and Change in Chemistry”, organized by Vanessa Seifert (University of Athens), with invited speakers Julia Bursten, James Ladyman, Lauren Ross, Pieter Thyssen, and Lauren Wigod.

As well as various presentations, the conference will also feature an organizational meeting of the Society to elect officers, plan future conferences, etc. Both those interested in presenting papers and/or participating in the Society are invited to attend the conference.

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Submissions should be full papers in PDF format, of no more than 4,000 words (excluding references and footnotes), and should include an abstract of 150-250 words and a word count. All papers must employ gender-neutral language and be prepared for anonymous review.

Paper presentations will be 30 minutes, followed by: 10 minutes for a commentator, 5 minutes for the speaker’s reply, and 15 minutes for Q&A.

Please send your paper including title and abstract as a single PDF document to sms2026.toronto@gmail.com Subject line should read: ‘Abstract Submission SMS 2026’  Your name, affiliation, and the title of the paper should instead appear in the body of the email.

The submission deadline is January 30th, 2026 February 15th, 2026. Notification of acceptance is expected the first week of March 2026. Selected speakers should confirm their attendance by March 14th, 2026.

Program committee:

Chair: Claudio Calosi (Ca' Foscari University, Venice)

Committee Members:

Sam Baron (Melbourne)

Elena Casetta (Turin)

Saaskshi Dulani (Johns Hopkins)

Sam Fletcher (Oxford)

Francesco Guala (Milan)

Laurie Lertetre (Munich)

Cristian Mariani (USI)

Robert Michels (Lisbon)

Mike Miller (Toronto)

Ulrich Meyer (Colgate)

Marco Nathan (Boulder, Colorado)

Alyssa Ney (Munich)

Vanessa Seifert (Athens & Bristol)

Alessandro Torza (Parma)

Jessica Wilson (Toronto)

Local organizers: Jessica Wilson (University of Toronto); Michael Miller (University of Toronto)