Speakers

Engaging critically with the history of Western philosophy, she works at the intersection of feminist theory, psychoanalysis, and philosophy of race. Her research addresses sex, gender, and translation through sustained engagement with canonical figures including Plato, Kant, Freud, Beauvoir, and Aristotle. More recent work turns to plant life and sex categories, exploring how philosophical concepts of life, reproduction, and difference circulate across scientific, cultural, and political contexts. This work examines how inherited philosophical frameworks continue to shape contemporary understandings of nature, embodiment, and exclusion.

Working within phenomenology, she focuses on embodiment, lived agency, and bodily perception. Much of her work engages with Merleau-Ponty and Fanon to examine how race, power, and cultural context shape embodied experience. Alongside this, she works on art, diaspora identity, and creative practices involving sound, exploring how aesthetic forms register displacement and belonging. These strands connect phenomenological analysis with contemporary cultural and political questions concerning identity, expression, and lived difference.

Working in social and political philosophy, her research addresses the foundations of socioeconomic injustice and the implications of these foundations for public policy, welfare, media, and education. She directs undergraduate programmes in Philosophy and PPE and is co-director of the Ethics, Values and Policy initiative. Alongside her academic work, she is Chair of the Advisory Board for the Philosophy in Prison charity and has led international work on pedagogy through her ‘Class in the Classroom’ project. She is also engaged in initiatives addressing structural barriers to education, including The Access Project, Minorities and Philosophy UK, and Lancaster University’s Success Programme.

Working in social and political philosophy, his research examines how ideas of what counts as ‘normal’ shape supposedly neutral areas of social life, and how these norms affect marginalised groups, including people experiencing poverty or mental ill-health. Alongside his research, he is active in widening participation in philosophy, including organising undergraduate events for Minorities and Philosophy and co-developing the Thought Experiments in Schools Project, supported by the Royal Institute of Philosophy. He has worked with the Philosophy in Prison charity for over five years, delivering courses, developing remote-learning materials, and serving as Vice-Chair of its advisory board.

Drawing on political theory and the history of political thought, she examines liberalism, colonialism, and identity politics. Her work has made sustained contributions to feminist political theory and debates on social justice, including extensive engagement with canonical thinkers and their political legacies. Current research explores citizenship and belonging, with particular attention to the enduring influence of colonial political ideas on democratic institutions and social membership. This work analyses how historical theories of governance continue to shape contemporary exclusions and claims to political inclusion.