Call for Papers

 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

Environmental Ethics: Justice, Sustainability, and Eco(theo)logy

Societas Ethica’s 63rd Annual Conference 2027
August 18–21 2027, University of Geneva, Switzerland

The 63rd Annual Conference of the Societas Ethica, “Environmental Ethics: Justice, Sustainability, and Eco(theo)logy,” hosted at the University of Geneva, addresses contemporary environmental ethics with an emphasis on justice, sustainability, and eco(theo)logy. This comes at an important stage for environmental ethics, as the debates currently stand at a productive but precarious bifurcation.

On the one hand, the foundational questions that have defined the field in the last decades – for example, whether nature has intrinsic value, whether future generations hold rights, whether anthropocentrism can be reformed from within or must be abandoned – have generated a rich body of philosophical, theological, and also political argument.

On the other hand, the urgency and the intersectional character of the concrete problems addressed in the field have created a remarkable diversification concerning its applications – for example, on climate migration, biodiversity offsetting, energy transition related problems, or green trade and industrial policy.

Both sides are equally important. However, the dialogue between applied cases and the more foundational questions has become sparse. The cost runs in both directions: applied debates inherit contested normative concepts – justice, value, responsibility – as if they were settled, while foundational theory deprives itself of the hard cases in which its distinctions would prove their worth.

The conference explores the intertwined challenges of eco- and climate justice, where structural and epistemic injustices – such as those between nations, generations, and human/non-human beings – reveal the limits of universal answers.

Sustainability, while institutionally dominant, is critiqued as both a tool for greenwashing and a projection of power that may perpetuate injustice, prompting questions about the world we aim to sustain. Ecotheology adds a third perspective, offering normative arguments (e.g., non-anthropocentric moral status) and highlighting faith-based activism, which raises ethical questions about praxis, worldviews, and civil society’s role.

Together, these lenses invite a reexamination of eco-ethics in light of contemporary practices and historical harms.

Thematic fields

We encourage contributions from the fields of philosophy, theology, and applied ethics, as well as political science, legal theory, social and economic sciences, religious studies, environmental humanities, and Indigenous studies.

We welcome submissions addressing topics related to the conference theme, including but not limited to:

• Climate justice, reparations, and the grounds of reparative obligation

• Rights of Nature, legal personhood, and the structure of multispecies justice

• Sustainability, degrowth, and the limits of welfare-based distributive frameworks

• Indigenous knowledge systems, epistemic injustice, and climate governance

• Theological and spiritual resources for ecological ethics

• Ecofeminist ethics

• Ecophenomenology

• Geoengineering, planetary intervention, and the ethics of technological agency

• Environmental ethics and democratic theory in times of ecological crisis

• Non-human agency, animal ethics, and moral consideration beyond the human

• Intergenerational justice and obligations to future persons

• Environmental virtue ethics and the formation of ecological character

• Ecocide, international law, and the criminalization of environmental harm

• Migration, displacement, and the ethics of climate refuge

• Environmental aesthetics and environmental ethics

The conference languages will be English, German, and French.

The conference is a collaboration between Societas Ethica – the European Society for Research in Ethics – and the University of Geneva (UNIGE).

Keynote-Speakers

• Celia Deane-Drummond (University of Oxford)

• Ernst M. Conradie (University of the Western Cape)

• Anna Wienhues (KU Leuven)

More speakers will be announced soon.

Submission Guidelines and Process

• Paper proposals will be collected till December 10, 2026.

• Paper proposals should include a significant title (please indicate the thematic field) and not exceed 800 words in length (bibliography excluded).

• Paper proposals should be focusing on an ethical argument or problem in relation to the conference topic.

  Please ensure that your abstract clearly outlines the research question, methodology, and potential contribution to the thematic fields of ethics.

• Visit our website and fill out the submission form: https://www.societasethica.info/2027-call-for-papers

• Attach your manuscript in Word format, including bibliography (max. 10 references), keywords and title with all identifying references removed. Please use Times New Roman 12 pt for body, references and keywords, and Ariel (bold) 16 pt for headline.

• All submissions will be subjected to rigorous blind peer review.

Further questions about thematic issues as well as any technical or financial question can be addressed to the Quaestora of Societas Ethica, Lea Schlenker, at quaestor@societasethica.info.

Open Channel

The conference will reserve a limited number of Open Channel slots for doctoral researchers and early-career scholars to present work that falls outside the specific focus of this year’s conference thematic field.

Submissions may address any topic within philosophical, theological, or applied ethics and should present a clear research question, argument, and contribution to their respective field. The Open Channel is intended to provide space for doctoral and early-career research to showcase their research, including work in the early stages and work in progress.

Given the limited number of available slots, submissions will be competitively selected through the same peer-review process as the thematic papers. Accepted papers will be presented in designated Open Channel sessions during the conference.

Submission form

Important Dates:

While registrations to the conference will open in spring 2027, important dates for proposal submissions are as follows:

Deadline for Abstract Submission: December 10, 2026.
Notification of Accepted Papers: the latest 23rd of February 2027.
Deadline for Registration: June 1st, 2027.
Conference Date: 18–21 of August 2027.

If the paper is accepted by the board members, you are kindly asked to register for the conference and confirm your participation with the Scriba.

Societas Ethica Young Scholars’ Award is awarded to the best presentation by a young scholar. Young scholars for the purpose of this competition are doctoral students and researchers who earned their degree less than two years ago and do not have a tenure-track academic position. For more information about Societas Ethica Young Scholars’ Award, please visit the website at www.societasethica.info.

Societas Ethica – the European Society for Research in Ethics – has more than 270 members from approximately 35 countries. Led by the current president Prof. Dr. Gotlind Ulshöfer, Societas Ethica endeavors to promote contacts between scholars in different countries, transcending political, ideological and religious boundaries. The society is open for researchers in theological ethics, philosophical ethics, and applied ethics. We welcome papers from non-members and members.

After the annual conference, De Ethica will publish a special issue on the conference theme. The abstract of the conference papers will be published in the conference proceedings. Selected papers will be (voluntary) published. As always, all submissions will be subjected to double-blind peer review. For information on submission guidelines, please see: https://de-ethica.com/about/submissions.

De Ethica seeks to publish scholarly works in Philosophical, Theological, and Applied Ethics. It is a fully peer-reviewed, open-access publication hosted by Linköping University Electronic Press. We are committed to making papers of high academic quality accessible to a broad audience. For further information, see https://de-ethica.com/.

Funding

Following a decision of the General Assembly in 2025, Societas Ethica has established a Conference Participation Fund.

This fund is intended to support scholars whose paper proposals have been accepted through our rigorous double-blind review process but who face significant financial barriers to attending the conference. Eligible participants may apply for assistance by contacting the quaestora.

The aim of this initiative is to ensure that excellent academic work can be presented at our conferences regardless of financial constraints – whether institutional, national, or international in nature. By reducing such barriers, we seek to promote inclusivity, diversity, and equal opportunity within our scholarly community.

The fund is supported, among other sources, by voluntary member donations.