Thank you everyone for a great conference and for participating FPC 2021 Online from NUIG, the IPS, and the BSP.
We want to conclude by saying thank you everyone for a great conference and for participating in ‘The Future as a Present Concern’ 2021 Online – our joint event between the National University of Ireland, Galway, The Irish Philosophical Society, and the British Society for Phenomenology.
To our speakers – without you FPC2021 Online wouldn’t have happened. There were 122 abstract submissions during our call for papers and we were really impressed overall, but there were just far too many proposals of quality than for which we are able to provide (virtual) space. Accordingly, we selected 84 abstracts for presentation. Given the nature of the online event and what is happening in the world, we knew quite a few people just would not be able to submit. In the end we had 65 presentations from 68 speakers – pretty much what we had banked on to be able to run three parallel sessions over three days.
And thank you to keynotes Andrew Benjamin, Rebecca Braun, Shaun Gallagher, Fiona Hallinan, Sara Heinämaa, and Alessandro Salice: your support every step of the way from launch, through the CfP, to the promotion and delivery of the conference was just awesome.
Together you gave over 70 papers providing us with a multitude of approaches to the conference theme, a rich and diverse series of perspectives that were incisive, challenging, and creative.
To our 90 or so delegates – thank you for joining the speakers and keynotes at FPC2021 and for bringing your ideas, concerns, and energy to the event. During the conference there were over 500 questions asked, answers given, and discussions initiated by our 152 attendees. Your engagement with the conference papers was essential in making the event a success: you have offered encouragement, provided insights, and suggested new and additional avenues of research. And no doubt, many of you will have been inspired in your own research too.
Thank you to the chairs of the keynote sessions: Keith Crome, Tsarina Doyle, Lucy Elvis, Susan Gottlöber, Darian Meacham, and Felix Ó Murchadha. You did a brilliant job of mediating the audience discussion sessions, giving them the vitality of a face-to-face event. Thank you also to the National University of Ireland, Galway, The Irish Philosophical Society, and the British Society for Phenomenology for supporting and sponsoring the event and making the possible actual.
We really hope you all have enjoyed FPC2021, and with the timetabled three day event got something of the feel of face-to-face conferences we are all more familiar with and missing, even given the limitations of the online experience. Saying that, we also hope the 17 days from build-up week to catch-up week and the international scope provided something equally valuable, just a bit different
Best regards
The conference team