EUROPEAN PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE ASSOCIATION |
| EPSA25 | Practical InformationEPSA25 in Groningen The EPSA conference 2025 is hosted in the beautiful town of Groningen, from August 27 to August 30. Host institution will be the Faculty of Philosophy in the University of Groningen. Since its founding in 1614, the University of Groningen has been a dynamic centre of higher education, offering high-quality teaching and research. With a very diverse community of 36,000 students and researchers, it is among the largest universities in the Netherlands. It has a strong international orientation, maintaining a network with a wide variety of prestigious partner universities. It is truly an international place of knowledge. The Faculty of Philosophy is a vibrant, international community of excellent researchers and teachers, in which some 40 permanent staff members and 50 temporary researchers jointly maintain several bachelor and master programs for about 600 students. Besides the large philosophy of science community residing in the Department of Theoretical Philosophy, there are colleagues in the departments for History of Philosophy and for Ethics, Social and Political Philosophy. Also in these other departments, ties to the philosophy of science are strong, through research interests in the history of science and the role of science in society. As the core organizing team, we are all very excited at the prospect of hosting EPSA25! Conference location The conference location is the “Academiegebouw”, or Academy Building, depicted on the title page. Together with the library on the opposite side of the square, it is at the heart of the usual hustle-and-bustle of our academic life, and it serves as the primary location for all formal academic ceremonies.
The map shows the 10-minute walking route from the train station to the Academy Building. The Faculty of Philosophy, where childcare facilities will be available, is located about 200 metres away. Around the Academy Building there is a multitude of cafés and restaurants, routinely catering for a large number of students. You can see the Academy Building on the inside with Google Street view here. Owing to the historical character of the building, drinks and snacks are not allowed outside of the designated lunch and coffee areas. This also holds for take-away coffees and packed lunches. Session chairs are instructed to check for compliance to this rule. Registration desk Upon arrival you can obtain your conference badge from the registration desk. Signs inside the Academy Building will direct you there. The badge provides access to the lectures and opening reception. Depending on your registration, it will indicate if you have reserved for the conference dinner and the optional lunches. Please keep your badge with you! Presentations and posters The conference program will be provided separately. Symposia are held in sessions with 4 slots of 30 minutes, and contributed papers are distributed according to thematic coherence over sessions of 3 or 4 slots. All talks must follow, or at least approximate the format of 20 minutes for presentation and 10 minutes for discussion. To facilitate that attendants move between rooms during the sessions, symposiasts are requested to stick to the format of 30 minute slots as much as possible. Every conference room is equipped with AV-facilities, and with an internet connection for the occasional remote talk within symposia. Speakers must be present well before the start of their session to upload their presentations via memory stick or internet, and discuss further details with their session chair. Poster sessions will be in the afternoons on days 1 and 3, spread over the large inside areas of the Academy Building. The posters can be hung up already at the start of the day, so that people can scan them and make a selection according to their interests. Coffee and snacks will be provided… Accessibility The whole building and the garden are accessible for wheelchairs. Please contact the local organization at EPSA25-local-organization@rug.nl so that we can organize assistance on site.Weather, currency, phone code, time zone, and language Late August in Groningen typically features mild temperatures ranging from 12-22°C (54-72°F). Rain showers are not uncommon, neither is sunshine. Check the forecast before traveling, as weather in the Netherlands can be changeable. The local currency is the Euro. There are cash machines dotted around the city and in supermarkets and credit or debit card payments are accepted practically everywhere. The international dialing code is +31, the local code is +31 50, followed by the number. The time zone is Central European Time, and people speak Dutch or English or, mostly, both. Coffee breaks, lunches and reception Reception Dinner Lunches Lodging There are many hotels and platform-based room rental arrangements in the city centre of Groningen to give everyone walking-distance access to the conference location. However, because the summer brings tourists and because many students return to town or arrive there as new students in the last week of August, hotels will be busy. We strongly urge participants to reserve rooms immediately when they register, and make travel arrangements accordingly. Below is a list of hotels that, in exchange for being mentioned in this document, offer a reduced room rate. This list will be updated regularly:
Restaurants and bars There are very many restaurants and bars within walking distance of the conference location. Closer to the conference date we will post a list of somewhat larger places that can often cater for larger groups. Childcare Childcare facilities are available for the youngest age group (0-6 years) in a lecture room next to the garden in the Faculty of Philosophy, where trained child rearing staff are available. As indicated on the map, the faculty is a 2-minute walk from the conference location. On request, older children (6-12 years) can be hosted there as well; we can also contract people with experience in catering for this age group. Photography Some photos will be taken of the event, and offered to conference participants after the event. Please contact the local organizers at EPSA25-local-organization@rug.nl if you do not wish to be recognised in the photos. Getting there and back Train Groningen can be reached very easily by train, with fast and direct half-hourly connections to Amsterdam, Utrecht and Arnhem in 2 hours, and to Rotterdam in 2 hours and 45 minutes, and further connections to the European railways from there. There is also a 2 hour, direct, half-hourly connection to Schiphol Airport. Note that trains have free wireless internet in all classes and 220V AC outlets in first class. Food and drinks are not normally sold on the trains. Travel by air When you arrive at Schiphol, Amsterdam international airport, the easiest way to travel to Groningen is by train. The railway station is located at walking distance from the luggage claim areas. The Dutch railway system is called Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS). Train tickets can be bought in advance via the NS site. Groningen has an airport, but it has few connections. Alternative airport options are Eindhoven and German airports such as Bremen and Münster/Osnabrück. Train connections from there to Groningen tend to be less straightforward than from Schiphol. Other public transport You may also wish to use www.9292.nl to plan your journey in the Netherlands. This website offers a planner that combines all available public transportation schedules (for trains, buses, trams, metro, and boats) to provide an optimal route. It also offers real-time updates on any delays and disruptions. Internet access There is wireless internet throughout the Academy Building and indeed in most of the town centre via Eduroam. For those not able to join this network, we can make available guest accounts. Please ask at the registration desk. Medical help, ombudsperson and emergency contact Emergency In case of emergency, you can call 112 and state if you need police, ambulance, a fire brigade, or a combination of those. Medical help For any medical problems that are not life-threatening, there is a general practice with ample experience in helping foreigners and university students near the conference site: GP Ossenmarkt. For after-office-hours requests and calamities, there is a first-aid medical service available at a local hospital and one at the university hospital. Police There is a police station in the centre on Rademarkt 12. If you need police for a non-urgent matter, please call 0900-8844. Ombudsperson For any work-related problems, you may contact the EPSA’s ombudsperson; details will be provided soon. During the conference they work in collaboration with the ombudsperson of the University of Groningen, who can also be approached at any time. Local organizers The local organizing committee, listed below, is of course willing to assist in anything you might need help for. In case of emergency, you may call the committee’s chair Jan-Willem Romeijn directly on +31 62 9698 034. The local organisation committee The local organizing committee can be reached most easily via EPSA25-local-organization@rug.nl. This address is only for practical matters to do with local organisation, not for questions and remarks regarding the conference program. During the conference, you will find the local organizers in room A12 on the ground floor of the Academy Building. A large number of people have helped putting this conference together. Core team members to whom you can turn during the conference are:
Other members of the committee, namely Chloé de Canson, Leah Henderson, Daniel Herrmann, Sean Gryb, and Gabri Heinrichs, will not be around to assist you during the conference but have lent their support in the run-up. Besides this team, there will be a small army of volunteers helping out on the conference days. Fun facts Groningen is a town rich in cultural activities. There are some nice events happening during the conference.
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