The Centre for Philosophy and Critical Thought, Goldsmiths University of London

Research Centre run jointly between the Departments of Sociology and English and Comparative Literature at Goldsmiths University, London

phi-net: an early career network for philosophy and critical theory (CHASE-AHRC)


As disciplines whose sources and references point to contributions to wider intellectual histories, philosophy and critical theory continue to influence and reflect interdisciplinarity in fields across the arts and the humanities. The CHASE Early Career Network for Philosophy and Critical Theory (phi-net) provides a forum for engaging with and preserving the spirit of this collective exchange with a view to adapting and incorporating perspectives from its guests and participants and to supporting ongoing interdisciplinary research in doctoral and early-career researcher communities.

Provocation for 2026-27: Against Frictionlessness

phi-net’s programme for AY 2026-27 considers friction and frictionlessness through three lenses: ecology, capital, and poetics. Taking up objects, super-objects, flesh, spectres, parasites, diamonds, shipping containers, seams, data, rhetoric, ground, and the other, we ask: how can we grasp friction as an affective, aesthetic, or ontological category? And how has its classification evolved up to our historical-critical present? How does philosophy and critical theory account for desires for and aversions to friction? How does friction(lessness) figure in our political ideals and alternatives, in our hopes and fears? Collaborators on our programme so far include Prof. Ken McMullen (Kingston), Prof. Oscar Guardiola-Rivera (Birkbeck) and Prof. Esther Leslie (Birkbeck), with more to be announced soon.

phi-net’s programme provides an opportunity for training and development for all CHASE (Consortium for the Humanities and the Arts South-east England) researchers seeking to adopt topics and methods in philosophy and critical theory into their research, including researcher-led workshops, film screenings, and an annual postgraduate conference. Our programme is organised in collaboration with the Centre for Philosophy and Critical Thought (CPCT) at Goldsmiths, University of London and the Birkbeck Institute for the Moving Image (BIMI). We are supported by the CHASE doctoral training partnership.

phi-net is co-coordinated by Anna Titov (University of East Anglia, Philosophy), Grace Marshall (Birkbeck, History) and Jack Morson (Goldsmiths, Literary and Critical Theory).

To join our mailing list, or to express interest in contributing to the Network’s activities, please contact: chasephinet@gmail.com