Dear Colleagues and Friends,

On behalf of the Executive Committee of the Society for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy, we are delighted to welcome you to our 63rd Annual Conference and our second virtual conference. As you may recall, our first virtual conference was held in 2021 due to the pandemic. Since then, we have successfully returned to our in-person meeting format. Despite the circumstances, our first virtual conference was innovative and inclusive, allowing members more flexible access to the conference. Given the feedback we received, we are currently exploring whether or not to regularly offer a virtual conference every 3–5 years. We hope you take full advantage of the new opportunities afforded by the virtual platform, including having digital access to all of the conference panels for a full year. Recordings will be posted to the conference platform in the weeks following the conference.

The main 2025 SPEP program will take place on two consecutive Fridays and Saturdays (October 17–18 and 24–25). Please note that all of the session times listed on the program are United States Eastern Standard Time (EST). Manuel DeLanda will deliver the first Plenary Address on Friday October 17, 4:45 – 6:45 pm. Sara Ahmed will deliver the second Plenary Address on Friday October 24, 11:00 am – 1:00 pm, and the Business Meeting will be held on Saturday October 18, 5:15 pm – 6:45 pm, and all program participants are encouraged to attend. The meetings of our affiliate societies will take place on: Friday October 17, 9:00 am – 12:00 pm; October 18, 7:00 pm – 10:00 pm; October 24, 8:00 am – 11:00 am; and October 25, 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm. 

Our conference website platform features a mix of live Zoom sessions and Zoom Webinars for the Plenary Addresses and Business Meeting. There is a separate page accessible from the tab above for memorial remarks for those members and other significant figures in continental philosophy who have passed away since our last annual meeting. As noted above, all sessions will be recorded and will remain available for viewing, both during and following the conference.

We are hoping that you find the OpenWater platform easy to navigate, but support is also available throughout the conference for any questions or technical difficulties that you may experience. If you are having difficulty during a virtual session, we recommend using the 'launch chat' button to communicate any issues you may be having to the designated tech support person assigned to each panel.

We wish you all an excellent conference and look forward very much to meeting again in person in fall 2026 for our 64th Annual Conference hosted by Loyola University Chicago.

Shannon Mussett and Antonio Calcagno, SPEP Executive Co-Directors