Professor Catriona McKinnon

BA (Hons) Philosophy (UCL), MA Philosophy (UCL), PhD Philosophy (UCL)

I am a political philosopher working on environmental ethics and climate justice with a particular focus on what we owe to future people in the face of our multiple environmental crises. I am the co-director of RENEW: Renewing Biodiversity Through a People-in-Nature Approach. This five year programme funded by NERC (£12m) brings together academics from all Faculties at Exeter, and dozens of external partners, to research and implement solutions to the UK's biodiversity crisis.

Biography:

I was educated in the Philosophy department at University College London. Under the supervision of Professor Jo Wolff and Professor Veronique Munoz-Darde, my PhD explored the importance of self-respect and its social bases in the political philosophy of John Rawls. Before completing my PhD I took up a Lectureship in the Politics department at Exeter in 1997. In 2000 I moved to the Politics department at the University of York, and then to the Politics department at the University of Reading in 2004. I became a Reader in Political Theory at Reading in 2008 and was promoted to Professor in 2010. Coming full circle, I rejoined the department of Politics at Exeter in 2019.

Research supervision:

I welcome proposals from political theorists, philosophers, and ethicists on topics related to environmental ethics, climate justice, the theory and practice of toleration, liberal political philosophy, and geoengineering.