David Lewis in Sturt National Park Australia

Part of the ‘impact’ component of our research project — that is, how it will benefit wider society — is promoting sustainability. Our project has a very small carbon footprint compared to most research projects of its size. That is because we do not fly in external speakers for conferences, workshops, and seminar presentations. Instead we sometimes use UK and European speakers who travel by train, and sometimes use virtual conferencing. Our communication with American and Australian experts is almost wholly virtual.

We will trial several kinds of technology and software which reduce the carbon footprint, such as GoToWebinar, Google Hangout, and Skype. Academics have had access to these for years, but hardly ever use them for virtual conferencing. Eventually we will write down our findings as a report on our environmental impact activity. For more details, see http://www.projects.socialsciences.manchester.ac.uk/lewis/impact-environme…l-sustainability/ 

Planned Virtual Events

Dr Frederique Janssen-Lauret will virtually present a paper at the American Philosophical Association’s Chicago meeting on 21 February. She will speak about the relationship between Lewis and his PhD supervisor W. V. Quine. Her paper will focus on Quine’s ontology and Lewis’s influence on Quine’s shifting position on physicalism.