“I had the opportunity of workshopping my paper at the VSPC in summer 2021 (online). The slate of papers was fantastic and wide-ranging from metaphysics to (social) epistemology to social and political philosophy and history of philosophy, among others. The VSPC has the best discussion policy among all the online conferences I’ve attended. Given that the conference’s format is pre-read, there was a lot of time designated for discussion which I think was what was truly needed to get a project off the ground. The feedback I received was critical yet incredibly constructive and helpful. I learned so much from other participants’ questions, comments, and suggestions. The VSPC offers a truly welcoming atmosphere that makes young philosophers like myself feel comfortable discussing my work with others.”
— Linh Mac, University of Tennessee Knoxville
“The VSPC is an exceedingly well-thought-out conference. Every aspect — from the schedule, to the discussion policy, to the choice of papers — is organized to give participants a chance to meet and engage in philosophical discussion in a fair, relaxed, and welcoming atmosphere.”
— Jelena Markovic, University of British Columbia
“The atmosphere of the VSPC was constructive and supportive. The schedule and events really facilitated meeting and getting to know the other participants. And it all happened in a beautiful setting, with walks through the woods, a party on the beach, and a bike ride through around the city. Thanks for a great conference!”
— Ben Lennertz, Colgate University
“The VSPC was easily the most fun, supportive, and productive conference I’ve ever been to. Everyone there pretty clearly wanted everyone else to succeed, and the comfort and collegiality that that gives rise to makes an enormous difference to what we can get out of a conference. It certainly did for me. I hope other conferences can strive to be as warm and helpful as this conference is! (Plus, Vancouver in the late summer is just a wonderful place to be.)”
— Daniel Drucker, University of Helsinki
“Beside being a welcoming and stimulating conference, the VSPC has perhaps the wisest and most creative discussion policy I’ve ever encountered at a conference. The “sticks” system made me reflect more on which of my questions I thought to be the most important, and the Slido platform encouraged me to try out questions outside of my main areas of expertise that I wasn’t sure about.”
— David Mark Kovacs, Tel Aviv University
“As a graduate student, I appreciate the well-organized yet relaxed atmosphere of the VSPC. The fact that participants read the selected papers in advance means ample time for discussion, and I enjoyed reading papers in areas of philosophy I might not have otherwise. I left this conference feeling fortunate to have met so many wonderful philosophers and to be part of the Vancouver-area philosophical community.”
— Kristin Conrad, University of British Columbia
“As someone who left academic philosophy because of its toxic environments, including environments at many of its mainstream conferences, the VSPC stood out for me as perhaps my only positive experience at a philosophy conference. The organizers take extraordinary care to make sure everyone feels welcome, the diversity of attendees is much higher than at other conferences, and management of discussions is stellar. Icebreaker activities help introverts and first-timers to get into conversations with others. The workshop format, where everyone has pre-read the papers, means that introverts, those who are bad at thinking on the spot, and those who are intimidated by asking questions in other contexts get sufficient time to both think of questions and to gather the courage to ask questions. The moderators make sure that no one monopolizes Q&A time and the “ice cream stick” system of rationing out question-asking opportunities ensures that everyone gets a fair chance to speak. I highly recommend the VSPC to introverts and others who find other conferences overly intimidating.”
