Welcome to the 7th Annual Philosophy and Theory of Higher Education Society Conference!
The Annual Philosophy and Theory of Higher Education Society (PaTHES) Conference invites scholars, educators, and thinkers to engage in a thought-provoking exploration of creativity within higher education. This year, the conference examines the discourse surrounding creativity in academia—where terms like ‘creative teaching,’ ‘creative learning spaces,’ and ‘creative graduates’ are often touted as essential to addressing global challenges. In a time of environmental crisis and social upheaval, creativity is hailed as the key to problem-solving.
However, the concept of creativity is increasingly viewed with scepticism by both students and academics, as it becomes commodified and reduced to a buzzword. The conference will address is there a way to sidestep ‘creativity’ as Higher Education discourse, and to reclaim its conceptual richness as a life-giving and individual (if unpredictable) force? Is there a more philosophical account that roots the concept not in ‘innovation’ or ‘problem-solving’ but in quieter and incremental actions that enrich our daily lives.
This year’s PaTHES conference seeks to honour those smaller and less obvious experiences of the creative. It is inspired by Professor Barbara Grant’s idea of ‘a thousand tiny universities’ where progress happens incrementally and where the ambition for seismic shifts is replaced with the hope for thoughtful change. For Grant, the university must facilitate those creative spaces where we resist the status quo, test the boundaries of the acceptable, and put some steam back into protest.
We hope that the theme of The Creative University will inspire broad-ranging reflection on imagination and the artful while exploring the role of the university and higher education in expressing and reclaiming creativity as a critical, affirmative, life-giving force for contemporary life.
The conference will take place in Trinity College Dublin, a setting testifying to an institutional commitment to creativity, the arts, and the humanities. We are looking forward to exploring these issues with our speakers:
RICHARD KEARNEY, Seelig Professor of Philosophy, Boston College
ORLAITH DARLING, Irish Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow, University College Dublin
BRUCE MACFARLANE, Chair Professor of Educational Leadership, The Education University of Hong Kong
For more information about accommodation, including discounts, please see the PaTHES website conference page: https://pathesorg.wordpress.com/pathes-conference-2025-the-creative-university/
For a list of low-GDP countries, please click here: https://eera-ecer.de/ecer-annual-conference/registration-and-fees/low-gdp-countries
