Social and Political Sciences, Philosophy, and Anthropology

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Please write an email so that we can arrange a time to meet at MS Teams.

 

Areas of Expertise:

I am a philosopher with training in sociology and psychology also. My research interests include a range of topics in Moral Philosophy and Empirical Ethics, Feminist Philosophy and Decolonizing Approaches; Frankfurt School Critical Theory, Philosophy of Medicine and the Life Sciences (especially psychedelic psychotherapy, genetics and stem cell research), and Science and Technology Studies.

 

Present research foci are

- Philosophy and Psychedelics - for more info see sites.exeter.ac.uk/philosophyandpsychedelics/

- Decolonial and Feminist Ethics,

- Contemporary Relevance of Critical Theory and the Frankfurt School

- Philosophies of Nature

- Life science epistemology, governance and practice (esp. stem cell research and genomics)

 

Commissions of Trust include

Leopoldina, German Academy of Sciences working group Ethic of Research with Brain Organoids 2020 - 22

German Zentrale Ethikkommission Stammzellforschung am Robert Koch Institut, 2014 - 2023

BBSRC Science and Society Strategy Panel, 2010-2016

ERC Grant Panels 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, Vice Chair Synergy Panel 2019

Panel member for a range of government and private research funding organizations across Europe.

 

Visiting Fellowships

2019 Aug. - Sept. Brocher Foundation, Geneva, Switzerland

2018 Sept. - Oct. Beikçizade Center for Medical Humanities, Istanbul, Turkey

2017 May - June Visiting Fellow NUS and Nanyang Technical University, Singapore

2015 Oct. - Dec. Hanse-Wissenschafts-Kolleg, Delmenhorst, Germany

2015 June - July Visit to Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

2014 Sep. - Nov. Brocher Foundation, Geneva - Hermance, Switzerland

2008 Mar. - April Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin, Germany


Biography:

M.A. (1992) University Frankfurt on Main in Philosophy, Sociology and Psychoanalysis. MA dissertation (supervised by Axel Honneth, distinction).

Ph.D. (1999) Technical University Darmstadt. Dissertation on Michel Foucault's and Judith Butler's works, entitled "The Paradoxical Subject" (published monograph in German: Das paradoxe Subjekt, Unterwerfung und Widerstand bei Michel Foucault und Judith Butler, Tübingen edition diskord, 2000).

In January 1999 I was appointed postdoctoral researcher in a project to explore ethical aspects of the then new area of stem cell research and set up a mutlidisciplinary working group on the topic. I published some of its discusison as a book.

In 2002 I came to Exeter as a research fellow in the ESRC Centre for Genomics in Society. I became its Co-Director (2009 - 2012), managing a team of over 30 people and setting up working gorups such as the genetics and identity workstream with the UKs ESRC Genomics Network.

Since 2012 I have been teaching Philosophy and Sociology at Exeter University progressing to Professor.

I have served on many Expert Panels including the BBSRC Science and Society Strategy Panel, the workign group brian organoids at the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (2019-2023) as well as the German Ethics Commission Stem Cell Research (since 2014). I have served on many research funding panels, including the European Research Council from 2010 to 2019 - when I was Vice-Chair of the ERC Synergy Panel-, and industrial as well as many research council panels across Europe and in the UK.


Research supervision:

Please contact me via email with a project outline or a sketch of your initial idea if you want to apply for supervision in the following subject areas:

  • Philosophy and Psychedelics
  • Decolonial and Feminist Ethics and Philosopy
  • Frankfurt School Critical Theory
  • Ethics and Philosophy of Medicine
  • Humanitarian Ethics
  • Norms and knowledge practices
  • Foucault

I hold a bi-weekly researcher colloquium in which we discuss draft student work, chapters as well as readings suggested by members of the group. The seminar is for my postgraduate students and researchers but open to others upon request. Please contact me via email to be added to the participant email list.

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