Dear PSA Friends and Colleagues
I write this letter as I am about to embark my two-year Presidency in January 2023. I
cannot begin to express what a humbling experience it is for me to be able to serve
the PSA in such a role. The Philosophy of Science Association has been my
professional community of reference and my intellectual home for as long as I can
remember.
I have seen that community grow and expand over the past decade in myriad new
directions. New generations of graduate students and early career scholars are
coming to the Biennial Meetings to present cutting-edge work in emerging areas and
topics. The latest Biennial Meeting in Pittsburgh in November 2022 has been a case
in point. It was wonderful to see the PSA community come together at the same preCOVID pandemic level in terms of numbers. And the program showcased a rich
variety of talks and sessions, many from graduate students at their first PSA
meeting, and an extraordinary array of interesting cross-disciplinary topics. To each
and all of you, a heartfelt thank you.
It is my intention to continue to build on the work done by the outstanding
predecessors I had the honour of working with so far, Alison Wylie (President 2018-
2020) and John Dupré (President 2020-2022). Together with the Governing Board
members, the PSA committees and the whole community, it is my aim to continue
fostering a more diverse and inclusive PSA.
As a first-generation academic myself, born in Italy, I feel very strongly about serving
the PSA community and tackling possible barriers that might prevent graduate
students and early career scholars from accessing the profession and thriving in it.
I am delighted to report that in May 2022 the PSA Governing Board adopted the
Barcelona Principles for a Globally Inclusive Philosophy (drafted by Filippo Contesi)
to show a commitment against linguistic barriers for non-native English speakers
(you can read the Barcelona Principles here: https://contesi.wordpress.com/bp/ and
there is an interview in the APA blog: https://blog.apaonline.org/2021/11/25/barcelona-principles-for-a-globally-inclusivephilosophy-interview-with-filippo-contesi/ ).
I applaud the sterling work done by the Co-Chairs Cailin O’Connor and Sarah Roe in
consultation with the PSA membership to broaden the remit of the now Diversity
Equality and Inclusion (DEI) Caucus and cater to the specific needs of different
affinity groups who face structural inequities to access the profession on various
grounds. I invite you all to actively engage with the DEI caucus and their call for
affinity groups if you are not already (see
https://philsci.org/about_the_diversity_equity_i.php).
Likewise, I commend the tireless work of Alisa Bokulich for the Underrepresented
Philosophy of Science Scholars (UPSS, https://www.philsci.org/upss.php ) initiative,
whose mentoring program, UPSS Session at the Biennial Meetings, as well as
Travel Grant, Delegate Program and PSA Prize in Philosophy of Science & Race is
doing so much to tackle ethnic, social, and geographical barriers. To all of you, DEI
caucus members and UPSS mentors and mentees, my deep gratitude.
The year 2022 has been a tough year for colleagues around the world that have been
affected by tragic events including those in Ukraine and in Iran. My thoughts go to all
of you, your families, and loved ones.
On a more general note, for philosophy of science scholars worldwide who are keen
to remain connected with the PSA community and are facing financial needs on
whatever grounds, the PSA has traditionally offered a Sponsor-a-Scholar initiative that
through a generous donation of past President Alison Wylie and other donors makes
possible for scholars outside the US and Canada and in financial needs to enjoy a free
membership of the PSA and a waiver of the registration fee for the PSA biennial
conference (the next one will be in New Orleans in November 2024). For full details
please see: https://www.philsci.org/sponsor-a-scholar.php
As the new year 2023 starts, one of the new initiatives that the PSA will launch is the
PSA Around the World conference, which will run fully online on Zoom for three days
and in different time slots to accommodate a global audience on various time zones.
Please mark your diaries for Sunday 5th November 2023; Saturday 11th November 2023; Friday 17th November 2023 (precise timing for each day TBA). In May 2022, I
proposed to the Governing Board the idea of organising the PSA Around the World
initiative as a series of fully online conferences with a different regional focus every
time, rotating in the years when the Biennial Meetings in person do not run.
There were various reasons behind this new initiative, which I will briefly list here. A
previous survey of the PSA membership had already highlighted the desire of the
community to have more frequent meetings. Moreover, the Sustainability and Climate
Task Force (https://www.philsci.org/sustainability_climate_task.php) chaired by Kerry
McKenzie had drawn attention to the environmental impact of intercontinental
conference travelling and encouraged us all to think about possible online options,
especially since during the pandemic we have become adjusted to some extent to
online conferences. At their end, colleagues in the International Relations Committee
(https://mms.philsci.org/projects/moreinfo.php?org_id=PSA&pid=5209065) chaired
by Hasok Chang were consolidating efforts to reach out to a global PSA community.
So, when I approached Hasok Chang with the idea of a PSA Around the World, I found
an enthusiastic reception, and together with Chuang Liu and Teru Miyake (both also
members of the International Relations Committee) we put together a program
committee for the inaugural PSA 2023 Around the World that reflects the wealth of
knowledge and expertise in the region of East Asia including South East Asia. I am
proud to announce that the program committee for PSA 2023 Around the World
comprises of the following colleagues:
Natalja Deng, Yonsei University, South Korea
Jing Zhu, Xiamen University, China
Qiaoying Lu, Peking University, China
Yuko Murakami, Rikkyo University, Japan
Jun Otsuka, Kyoto University, Japan
Karen Yan, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taiwan
Sang Wook Yi, Hanyang University, South Korea
Wei Wang, Tsinghua University, China
Billy Wheeler, College of Arts and Sciences,
VinUniversity, Hanoi, Vietnam
Jiji Zhang, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
I am grateful to Hasok Chang, Chuang Liu, Teru Miyake and all the program committee
members for kindly agreeing to serve for this new initiative. We now have an open
Call for Papers until 31 March 2023, accepting 1000-word abstracts on any topic
and from any member of the PSA wherever they are. We will accompany the selected
contributed papers with plenary panel sessions dedicated to Philosophy of Science in
the context of East Asia including South East Asia. Please spread the world and I
encourage all of you to submit an abstract following the EasyChair link in the CfP:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yH3r5T7wYFHUmfUVF0itroMt2IeVY6Zk/view
While the PSA 2023 Around the World gets off the ground, I invite all of you (wherever
you are) to contact me at president@philsci.org if you have any specific idea and
suggestion for the next PSA 2025 Around the World with a different regional focus.
We would love to hear from you, receive suggestions for the next iteration in another
part of the globe, and shine a light on different local communities working in philosophy
of science. This is your Philosophy of Science Association.
On other fronts, as you know, the journal Philosophy of Science celebrates the first
anniversary of the transition from University of Chicago Press to Cambridge University
Press. One of the motivations for that transition (under the watch of President Alison
Wylie) was the need to ensure a publisher for the journal that was keen to align with
the fast-changing landscape of Open Access publishing. But some significant
challenges remain and it is with an eye to monitoring those and ensuring that the PSA
is well equipped to address them, that an Open Access Task Force has been created
and led by David Teira, with the help of Chiara Lisciandra and Sophia Crüwell,
comprising the PSA (with myself), the EPSA (with Sabina Leonelli) and the BSPS (with
Bryan Roberts). I very much look forward to working with these colleagues in the
months ahead as well as with the new Editor in Chief for Philosophy of Science, Jim
Weatherall, and the whole new expanded editorial team. A big thank you to Jim for
taking the helm of the journal; to Andrea Woody, who stepped down in December
5 2022, for the sterling past six years of editorial service; and to all the Associate Editors
for their work on the journal.
I find myself as incoming PSA President in more fortunate circumstances than those
that my predecessors found themselves in back in 2020 when the pandemic broke out
and the following two years saw the PSA having to face a number of substantial
organisational and financial challenges (from the postponement of the 2020
conference, to two New Executive Officers being appointed within two years). I want
to express my gratitude to Alison Wylie and John Dupré for steering the PSA through
such difficult times.
Over the next year, the PSA hopes to come up with a 5-year Strategic Plan. I would
like the PSA membership to be actively consulted in shaping this plan. As part of my
service to the global PSA community, I would therefore like to hear from members
ideas and suggestions you might have for what a society like the PSA should do, or
do more, or do better, or do differently, and what kind of activities, initiatives, and
service you would like to see the PSA offering. To this purpose, I am planning to run
townhall meetings online open to all PSA members to hear your voices, listen to
your ideas, and make sure that the Strategic Plan reflects the voices of our global
community. The next townhall meetings will take place on March 21st and 22nd with
different times to accommodate members in different time zones. Zoom links and
registration for the townhall meetings will be announced in the next PSA newsletter in
March. Please stay tuned.
I would like to close with a couple of personal notes, if I may. Over the past 12 months,
I have had the great fortune of working with the PSA New Executive Director Max
Cormendy, who is based at the University of Cincinnati with whom the PSA has a
memorandum of understanding signed by President Alison Wylie with the Center for
Public Engagement With Science (PEWS) led by Angela Potochnik. Working with Max
has been an absolute pleasure and the PSA owes him and his team in Cincinnati a
sincere thank you for coming into the job in the middle of an urgent crisis (just in the
aftermath of the Baltimore 2021 conference that was postponed because of COVID
and with the PSA 2022 in Pittsburgh getting under way). Within a short period of time,
Max quickly learned the ropes of the job and has excelled in serving the PSA, the
Governing Board and the membership. I very much look forward to continuing working with Max, as well as with past President John Dupré, incoming President-Elect Craig
Callender and the Governing Board.
Finally, it is often said that to assess how promising the future of a community is, one
should look back at its origins laid out by its founding members. The PSA I saw at the
Pittsburgh 2022 conference was a lively and brilliant community of active scholars
keen to engage in respectful dialogue and constructive comments. In the past two
years, the philosophy of science community has lost some towering figures, who
significantly contributed to our field worldwide. I wish to conclude my letter by
remembering their names --- no doubt an incomplete and personal list of scholars who
have been supervisors, mentors, inspiring colleagues, and dear friends to myself:
• Peter Clark (1948-2021)
• Ron Giere (1938-2020)
• Katherine Hawley (1971-2021)
• Paul Humphreys (1950-2022)
• Larry Laudan (1941-2022)
• Margaret Morrison (1954-2021)
• Michael Redhead (1929-2020)
• Roberto Torretti (1930-2022)
I humbly stand on the shoulders of these colleagues to look into a promising future for
the PSA community worldwide.
I wish you all a Happy Year 2023 and I look forward to working with you all!
-Michela Massimi
