Lisbon Conference on Intergenerational Justice

Lisbon, 15–16 December 2025

Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Axel Gosseries (UCLouvain)

Anca Gheaus (Central European University)

Intergenerational justice examines what is owed between different generations, addressing some of the most important political issues that we face today.  One set of problems concerns what is owed between generations that do not coexist. What do we owe to future people, for example, in terms of the resources, climate, and social order they will inherit? In what way should we address responsibility for historical injustices? In addition, intergenerational justice concerns what is owed between members of different coexisting generations, or age groups. What do we owe children, for example, in terms of how they are treated and the resources they are allocated? What does a fair pension system involve, especially in the context of population ageing (the fact that the size and proportion of citizens is increasing)? The Lisbon Conference on International Justice, First Edition, will bring together leading international scholars to work on these topics and more.

Organisation: Devon Cass (IFILNOVA, NOVA University Lisbon), André Santos Campos (IFILNOVA, NOVA University Lisbon) and Manuel Sá Valente (CEPS, University of Minho)

Programme

DAY 1 — 15 DECEMBER

9h45 Welcome!

10h–10h40 Sebastian Engler (Central European University)
Don’t “let them be children!” in unjust circumstances

10h40–11h20 Ben Sachs-Cobbe (St Andrews) and Alex Douglas (St Andrews)
Is a Fair Pension a Funded Pension? Not Necessarily!

11h20–11h50 Break

11h50–12h30 Sanjar Akayev (Central European University)
Do States Have a Duty to Prevent Population Decline?

12h30–14h Lunch

14h00–14h40 Aida Martínez Suárez (University of Oviedo)
On the permissibility of human extinction: the problem of the Loss of Value

14h40–15h20 Sibylle Léonard (Sciences Po Paris)
Constitutions and Guarantees of Non-Repetition: Intergenerational Justice following Atrocity

15h20–15h50 Break

15h50–16h30 Santiago Truccone (University of Graz)
The Need for Punishment in Global Climate Justice

16h30–16h50 Break

16h50–18h00 KEYNOTE 1 | Axel Gosseries (UCLouvain)

DAY 2 — 16 DECEMBER

10h–10h40 Sule Sahin Ceylan (Marmara University)
The Right to An Open Future as the Basis for Intergenerational Rights

10h40–11h20 Adelin Dumitru (National University of Science & Technology POLITEHNICA Bucharest)
Democratic resilience as a duty to future generations

11h20–11h50 Break

11h50–12h30 Jon Rueda (Spanish National Research Council)
Phenotypic justice between generations

12h30–14h00 Lunch

14h00–14h40 Pablo Magaña (Trinity College Dublin)
Moral Progress Across Generations

14h40–15h30 Manuel Sá Valente (UMinho) and Tim Meijers (Leiden University)
The Living, the Dead, and Past Injustice Today

15h30–15h50 Break

15h50–17h00 KEYNOTE 2 | Anca Gheaus (Central European University)