Mathematics Education Researchers (MER) community
The Novembertagung on the History and Philosophy of Mathematics is an international conference aimed at PhD students and early-career researchers in the history, philosophy of mathematics and related areas. This event offers an opportunity to share your work in progress in a collegial atmosphere and receive feedback.
The 35th edition of the Novembertagung will take place in Nancy (France) from November 17th to 19th. It will be hosted by the Université de Lorraine. This year’s keynote speakers will be:
- Christophe Eckes (Archives Henri Poincaré, Université de Lorraine)
- Jingyi Wu (London School of Economics)
The conference is planned as an in-person event. For those who require financial assistance, please indicate so in your application as we may be able to provide some funding.
This year’s Novembertagung theme centres on “Mathematics and Communities”. The development of the social history of mathematics in the last decades has shown that the image of the mathematician doing solitary and abstract work in his/her ivory tower is a myth. Since then, research has focused on the networks and interactions between scientists, leading to the definition of mathematical communities. The concept of a community within the philosophy of mathematics has taken on many forms, from mathematical communities themselves, to communities that interact with mathematicians or are deeply involved in mathematical research. This 35th Novembertagung proposes to explore the constitution, functioning and interdependencies of these communities.
Abstracts about the following, non exhaustive, list of topics will be welcomed:
- Defining and forming mathematical communities
- What constitutes a mathematical community? What conditions are sufficient and required to form one?
- Do mathematical communities have specific characteristics compared to those in other sciences?
- Internal dynamics and interactions
- How do mathematical communities organize themselves internally and interact with each other?
- How do knowledge, methods, and practices circulate within and between communities?
- Institutions and social configurations
- How do institutions influence the formation and functioning of mathematical communities?
- What are the relationships and tensions between institutional structures and informal networks?
- How does mathematical teaching contribute to the structure of communities?
- Epistemic values and shared practices
- What values (e.g., rigor, purity, generality, efficiency, elegance) structure mathematical communities?
- How do these shared values evolve over time?
- What common practices and mental toolkits define mathematical communities?
- Hierarchies, identities and marginalized communities
- How are mathematical communities structured?
- What place do marginalized or peripheral figures hold (e.g., women, people of colour, non-academic actors, mathematical practitioners)?
- What effects do these power relations have on knowledge production (e.g., epistemic injustice)?
- Are the national criteria and geographical areas fruitful to characterize and analyze mathematical practices? (Chinese, Indian, French, German mathematics…)
- Historiographical and philosophical approaches
- How should we approach communities of historians and philosophers of mathematics?
- Is the concept of community historically situated?
- How does studying mathematical communities help to question historiographical categories such as “Chinese”, “Sanskrit”, “Greek”, “Arabic”, “Ancient” mathematics, …?
- Why is the word “community” problematic when it comes to ancient sources?
While the topic of the submission should ideally be related to the conference’s theme, most topics that fall under the broader heading of philosophy or history of mathematics, and that can fruitfully be connected to it will be welcomed as valuable additions to the conference.
PhD students and early-career researchers are invited to submit abstracts.
Abstracts should be written in English and not exceed 300 words.
All submissions should be suitable for a 20-minute presentation, followed by a 10-minute discussion.
Abstracts should be sent as a PDF file prepared for blind review (do not put your name your affiliation in the abstract, only in your email) to
Please include your full name and affiliation in your email.
We expect to secure funding for accommodation expenses, or travel in exceptional cases, as mentioned earlier. Please, let us know if you would like to be considered for funding.
The deadline for submissions is the 15th of August 2025.
If you have any further questions, feel free to contact us at novembert...@gmail.com