The annual conference ‘PPEL in the Global South,’ focussed on Philosophy, Politics, Economics, and Law, was held from December 11-14, 2025 at the NLSIU campus. The primary objective of the conference was to provide a visible platform for scholars from India and other regions of the Global South to engage in sustained dialogue with peers from across the world. It also aimed to contribute to building a coherent intellectual community in India across philosophy, law, political theory, economics, and related disciplines.

About the Conference

The conference brought together 65 participants from universities across India, South Asia, Southeast Asia, North America, Europe, the UK, and Australia. A total of 59 papers were presented across 22 thematically organised panels. Panel themes included, among others, AI and Ethics, Free Speech, Structural Wrongs and Power, New Directions in Law, Constitutional Law in the Global South, Economic Competition and Exploitation, and Rethinking Political Theory in India.

Reflecting the objectives of the conference, participants represented diverse career stages as well as institutional and disciplinary backgrounds. The conference included 15 PhD scholars and participants from 23 Indian universities and 28 universities abroad, spanning the Global North and South. In addition, two special sessions were organised for NLSIU students on Navigating Academic Careers and Writing and Publishing in philosophy, the social sciences, and law. Several NLSIU faculty members participated as presenters and moderators, alongside students, particularly from the BA and BA LL.B. programmes, who were actively involved as student organisers.

The final day of the conference featured an open roundtable discussion on the outcomes and future directions of the PPEL network. Participants agreed to establish a formal mailing list to sustain the network, organise a series of smaller workshops in both online and offline formats, and initiate a mentorship programme involving early-career and senior scholars. The possibility of special journal issues based on thematic groupings of conference papers was also discussed.

Overall, the philosophical anchoring of the conference enabled dialogue among participants from diverse disciplinary backgrounds and affirmed the importance of collaborative and interdisciplinary research across philosophy, politics, economics, and law.

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