St Hilda's College Oxford, the Herbert Simon Society in Turin and Inter-University Centre Dubrovnik (IUC), run the annual Kathy Wilkes Memorial Conference collaboratively. The three institutions are taking turns to host the event. The 2022 conference took place in Dubrovnik, while in 2023 it is hosted by St Hilda’s College Oxford. In 2024 it will take place in Turin.
Dr Kathy Wilkes was a Fellow of St Hilda's from 1973 until her death in 2003. She was one of the College's most distinguished female academics, who worked in an interdisciplinary way before this became fashionable. In particular, Dr Wilkes was a philosopher who was informed by experimental work in psychology. One of her collaborators was Professor Riccardo Viale, who has joined with St Hilda’s College and the IUC to support this annual conference to honour Dr Wilkes.
At the IUC, she played a key role in many of the centres’ academic programmes and especially in one of the most prominent IUC courses: Philosophy of Science, held every year since its initiation. She also served as a very active and innovative Chair of the IUC Executive Committee in the period 1988-96. Dr Wilkes was present in Dubrovnik at the time when the brutal attack upon the city began in 1991. She stayed on and dispatched to the world a number of reports from Dubrovnik as well as sought help and assistance, medical resources and even mine removal equipment. In 1993, in recognition of her work, Kathy Wilkes was made an honorary citizen of the city of Dubrovnik (and a plaque in her honour can be found just outside the city walls), and in 2001 the University of Zagreb awarded her the honorary doctoral degree.
Besides her engagement in Croatia, she was a well-known supporter of academics struggling under communism in Eastern Europe. She played an important part in the so-called Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia. President Vaclav Havel awarded her the Commemorative Medal of the President of the Czech Republic in October 1998.
For all her achievements - philosophical and political - St Hilda's College and Inter-University Centre Dubrovnik have much to be proud of in Kathy Wilkes. This conference is to honour her achievements.
Tickets for the event are first come, first served. Once the first 25 tickets for dinner are taken it will be priced at £25 each. Click here to reserve a ticket.
