Madness, Disorder, and Society International Graduate Conference in Philosophy
Samantha Hirshland
May 7, 2016
After my first philosophy class in fall 2015, Moral and Social Problems in Healthcare, my professor encouraged me to submit an abstract of my final paper, which was about practical harms of so-called “disability-positive” positions in psychiatry, to a graduate conference at the University of Essex in Colchester, England. Since it was my first semester, I was barely aware of what an abstract was, let alone how to write one. I spent most of my winter break learning about what to include in an abstract and eventually submitted it in early January. About a month later, the conference organizers had notified me that my abstract had been selected as one of eight, out of fifty applicants. My professor suggested I practice the talk I would give at the conference by guest lecturing in another section of the class I had written the paper for. I also got feedback on a draft of my speech from my Business and Professional Speaking classmates and Professor.
I went into the experience without many expectations, since at that point; I did not know students who had done anything similar. My main purpose in attending was to learn more about what academic philosophy was like at the graduate level. The other participants were all masters and Ph.D. students in Philosophy, and many of them exposed me to new ideas that were useful when I went back to revise my paper when I returned to Boston.
Going to a conference so early in my college career was good preparation for writing long papers and participating in upper-level seminars. I am still using concepts that I’m learning in my current classes to refine my position on the topic. I am now able to understand what it’s like to work on a long-term academic project. I’m excited to see many other students in the department attending similar conferences.
Here is a link to the program and abstract from the conference: https://www1.essex.ac.uk/philosophy/documents/madness-disorder-society-programme.pdf