Events & Calls for Paper

We invite submissions for the virtual special issue “Scientific understanding and Machine Learning in science: From traditional themes to recent developments and new vistas”, to be published with Studies in History and Philosophy of Science.

Machine Learning (ML) systems are increasingly central to scientific inquiry, from climate modeling and drug discovery to astro- and particle physics. These developments raise fundamental questions about the nature, role, and value of understanding in science:

• Does scientific understanding require interpretable models, or can it also be achieved through opaque models?

• What is the role of methods from ‘explainable Artificial Intelligence’? How do these connect to traditional notions of understanding and explanation?

• How do ML methods shift epistemic priorities between explanation and prediction?

• Can advances brought about by ML models in science shed new light on the relation between understanding and explanation?

• Are new forms of understanding with or without explanation emerging in data-intensive, ML-driven science?

• How does understanding with ML models trade on traditional notions related to understanding, such as grasping, skill, or the subject, object and medium of understanding?

• Historically, how did ML in science evolve from being mostly a classification device into a rich source of novel representations, knowledge and, potentially, understanding? 

• In this capacity, how does today’s Neural Network-driven ML compare to historically dominant forms of AI, including symbolic ones?

The VSI seeks to critically examine how ML is reshaping the epistemic landscape in science, with a particular focus on the concept of scientific understanding. It aims to provide a forum for philosophers of science and ML, as well as philosophically inclined ML practitioners, to assess whether and how ML methods are altering the conceptual and methodological foundations of scientific inquiry. By bringing these debates together in one collection, the VSI will clarify ongoing debates, identify emerging philosophical topics and frameworks, and situate ML within longer historical trajectories of scientific reasoning and inquiry.

The VSI will be open towards interdisciplinary contributions, covering both philosophical analysis and empirical case studies across a range of scientific domains where ML is currently playing a transformative role, including the physical, life and social sciences.

The 4th Lake Como INEM Summer School in Philosophy of Economics will be held in Villa del Grumello, Como, Italy, June 7-12, 2026.

Invited speakers

• Emrah Aydinonat (University of Helsinki)
• Alessandra Basso (London School of Economics)
• Antoinette Baujard (Université Saint-Etienne)
• Shaun Hargreaves Heap (King’s College)
• Catherine Herfeld (Leibniz University Hannover)
• Guilhem Lecouteux (Université Côte d’Azur)
• Patricia Rich (University of Bayreuth)
• Jack Vromen (Erasmus University Rotterdam)

Activities

The School’s program will feature lectures by the invited speakers, student presentations, one-to-one tutorials, workshops, and social activities.

Participation

Participation is reserved to PhD students, young scholars (PhD degree obtained after January 2022), and advanced master students who intend to pursue a PhD.

Applications

To apply, please send a CV, contact details of an academic reference, and a paper in English to caterina.marchionni@unimi.it. The paper should either be an extended abstract (750-1,000 words), or a full draft of up to 7,500 words. Send your applications by January 31, 2026. Decisions will be communicated by early March 2026. The school will accept up to 21 participants.
 

Scientific and Organizing Committee

• Malte Dold (Pomona College)
• Francesco Guala (University of Milan)
• Conrad Heilmann (Erasmus University Rotterdam)
• Chiara Lisciandra (Düsseldorf University)
• Magdalena Malecka (University of Copenhagen)
• Caterina Marchionni (University of Milan)
• Ivan Moscati (University of Insubria)
• Raffaello Seri (University of Insubria)

Organizers

The 4th Lake Como INEM Summer School is co-organized by the Lake Como School of Advanced Studies, the International Network for Economic Method (INEM), the University of Insubria, and the University of Milan.

Additional details are available on the conference website: https://www.cusri-sts2026.com/ 

POBAM is a philosophy of biology workshop that began at the University of Wisconsin, Madison in 2010 and moved to the University of Utah in 2018.  As of 2026, it will be back in Madison! At its core, POBAM aims to showcase innovative work in philosophy of biology and to identify new areas that philosophers of biology might work on.  Workshops are structured to provide constructive feedback, training with peers and for junior scholars, and opportunity for informal and friendly discussions, while encouraging work bridging philosophy, biology, and other cognate fields. Keynote speakers include Yasmin Haddad (Université du Québec à Montréal), Rose Novick (University of Washington) and Anne Pringle (UW Madison, Botany).