Workshop | 13–17 Apr 2026: Introduction to Category Theory for Non-Mathematicians

[Mathematics Education Researchers (MER) community]

Dear colleagues,

We are pleased to announce the workshop “Introduction to Category Theory for Non-Mathematicians”, taught by Gabriel Catren (SPHERE, CNRS–Université Paris Cité). The workshop is offered within the UGent Doctoral School specialist course programme and is co-organised by UGent, KU Leuven, and VUB (Belgium).

Dates & time (Ghent, Belgium/CEST):

• Monday 13 April 2026 — 09:30–12:30 and 14:30–17:30
• Wednesday 15 April 2026 — 09:30–12:30 and 14:30–17:30
• Friday 17 April 2026 — 09:30–12:30 and 14:30–17:30

Location: Faculty of Arts and Philosophy, Blandijnberg 2, Room 2.24 (Ghent, Belgium)
Language: English
Participants: max. 25

About the workshop:

This workshop introduces core ideas of category theory—categories, functors, natural transformations, (co)limits, adjunctions—aimed at participants from the humanities, philosophy, arts, and the social/natural sciences. No formal mathematical background is required; the emphasis is on conceptual understanding and connections to questions about identity, equality, abstraction, and structural thinking.

Registration & practical info:
Please register via the UGent page

Fee: free for UGent / KU Leuven / VUB participants; €50 for others. Coffee and lunch are provided.

We warmly welcome you (and interested PhD students, postdocs, and research master’s students) to participate.

For questions, please contact marjolei...@ugent.be.