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CHESS people

Directorate

Dr Sarah Wieten CHESS Director
Prof Nancy Cartwright  CHESS Co-Director
Prof Robin Hendry CHESS Co-Director 
Dr Greg Lusk CHESS Co-Director 

 

Steering Group

Dr Jana Bacevic Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology
Prof Peter Vickers Head of Department in the Department of Philosophy
Dr Joseph D Martin Associate Professor (History of Science and Technology) in the Department of History
Dr Katherine Puddifoot Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy

 

Support 

Paivi Eerola: Administrator (CHESS) Email: admin.chess@durham.ac.uk 

 

Research Students

Safia Bano

Safia is an AHRC recipient PhD student. She holds an MPhil in Philosophy from the University of Karachi (Pakistan). Her area of interest is philosophy of chemistry, with special focus on its metaphysical debates. She is currently working on epistemological and metaphysical issues regarding chemical categories.

Elinor Bell-Clark

Elinor is a PhD student working on issues of trust in science. She has an MA in Philosophy of Science from Leibniz Universität Hannover and has published papers on trust in collectives and AI discovery and creation.

Sam Colclough

Sam is currently studying an interdisciplinary PhD in Sociology with Philosophy. His research uses the scientific response to COVID-19 in the UK as a site for understanding how the production of scientific knowledge is politically mediated, with a particular focus on the ways and extent to which politics became embedded in the knowledge claims made by the UK scientific advisory community during the pandemic. Prior to studying for a PhD, Sam worked as a parliamentary assistant to a Labour MP and spent three years at the University of Liverpool in an impact role.

 

Alexandre Fonseca 

Alexandre holds a BA in Law from the Franciscan University (Brazil), as well as a BA and a MA in Philosophy from the Federal University of Santa Maria (Brazil). He published papers on Philosophy of Law and Philosophy of Science. His general research interests are in the fields of Legal Theory, Philosophy of Science, Philosophy of the Social Sciences and Philosophy of Economics. Currently, his doctoral research focuses on the relationship between micro and macro patterns in Economics and Social Sciences. 

Cat Gillen (EURiCA project)

Cat is a PhD student within the EURiCA project (Exploring Uncertainty and Risk in Contemporary Astrobiology). She has an MA in Logic and Philosophy of Science from the MCMP, Munich and is currently researching uncertainties inherent in biosignatures in the face of their abiotic mimics.

 

Liyuan Jiao

Liyuan is a PhD student in philosophy. She holds a BA in financial management from the Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, China, and a MA in logic from the Nanjing University, China. Currently, her research focuses on causal models for causal inference.

Uzma Malik

Uzma is currently a DDTF Student and works under Nancy Cartwright as her primary supervisor. Her general topic of interest is scientific models in the philosophy of science. In particular she looks at a class of models called 'Minimal Models' . They are a set of explanatory models that use idealisation as a central and ineliminable part of their explanation. First introduced to the literature by Robert Batterman, Minimal Models have been only used successfully in physics. Uzma aims to use Batterman’s Minimal Models as a springboard for her own theory, Local Unification that has broader applicability.

 

Associate Members 

Prof. Catherine Alexander  Professor in the Department of Anthropology, Durham University
Prof. Chiara Ambrosio Professor of History and Philosophy of Science in UCL Department of Science and Technology Studies (STS)
Prof. Deryck Beyleveld
Professor of Durham Law School              
Member of Durham CELLS (Centre for Ethics and Law in the Life Sciences)                              
Member of the Human Rights Centre
Prof. Matt Brown Professor of Philosophy and the Jo Ann & Donald N. Boydston Chair of American Philosophy at Southern Illinois University (Carbondale); the Director of the Center for Dewey Studies
Anna de Bruyckere Previously: Research student at CHESS; Currently: Independent artist (theatre) and writer based in The Netherlands.
Emeritus Prof. David S. Byrne 
Emeritus Professor in the Department of Sociology          
Fellow in the Durham Research Methods Centre
Prof. Hasok Chang
Hans Rausing Professor at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge
Jeremy Clarke CBE 
National Adviser, Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) & DWP 
Consultant Adviser to New Economy
Dr Nick Cowen Lecturer in Criminology, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Lincoln
Prof. Sharon Crasnow Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, Norco College, California
Professor in the Department of Geography, Durham University                         
Principal Investigator in the Tipping Points Research Project        
Fellow of the Wolfson Research Institute for Health and Wellbeing
Professor in the Department of Theology and Religion 
Member in the Centre for Visual Arts and Culture 
Fellow of the Wolfson Research Institute for Health and Wellbeing
Prof. Matthew Daniel Eddy
Professor in the Department of Philosophy
Prof. Yulia Egorova  ORCID profile 
Professor in the Department of Anthropology 
Member in the Institute for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies 
Florian Fischer  Research Associate, University of Siegen
Areas of specialization: Laws of Nature, Dispositions, Persistence
Dr Katherine Furman 
Lecturer in Philosophy, Politics & Economics, University of Liverpool
Philosopher of Public Policy, working mostly on health policy cases
Dr Peter Garratt  Professor in the Department of English Studies
Dr Philip Goff  Associate Professor/Deputy Director of Phil MA/Tutor Manager in the Department of Philosophy
Prof. Mathew Guest  Professor in the Sociology of Religion in the Department of Theology and Religion 
Chaplain (Quaker) in the Chaplains
Jeremy Hardie  Research associate, CPNSS, LSE 
Former Chair of WH Smith, Loch Fyne Restaurants and the Centre for Economic Policy Research
Joyce Havstad Philosopher of science at the University of Utah.
Professor in the School of Education       
Fellow in the Durham Research Methods Centre                 
Fellow of the Wolfson Research Institute for Health and Wellbeing
B.V.E Hyde

Research Fellow at the Research on Research Institute at University College London. A metascientist and philosopher of science interested in scientific method and the method of policymaking as well as research ethics

Prof. Phyllis Illari Professor of Philosophy of Science in UCL Department of Science and Technology Studies (STS)
Prof. Simon James

Professor in the Department of English Studies

Personal web page

Dr Brendan Kelters Research Assistant, Durham University
Dr Donal Khosrowi  Postdoctoral researcher, Leibniz University Hannover 

Dr Ian Kidd Associate professor at the Department of Philosophy at the University of Nottingham
Marie-Helene Labbe  Member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies
Dr Christopher Lawless 

Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology

ORCID profile 
Personal web page 

Jessica Lee  PhD Candidate and Junior Researcher at the Climate System Analysis Group (CSAG), University of Cape Town, South Africa
Prof. Jane Macnaughton
Professor of Medical Humanities in the Department of Anthropology                     
Research Associate in the Department of English Studies    
Deputy to the Vice-Provost (Research) in the Vice-Chancellor's Office            
Fellow of the Wolfson Research Institute for Health and Wellbeing
Prof. Holger Maehle  Professor/Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of Philosophy 
Professor, History of Medicine and Disease in the Centre for the History of Medicine and Disease 
Dr Joseph D. Martin Assistant Professor (History of Science and Technology) in the Department of History, Durham University
Dr Coreen McGuire 

Lecturer (Twentieth-Century British History) in the Department of History, Durham University

ORCID profile 

Dr James Miller  Assistant Professor/Nat Science advisor and Exam Board Rep/Seminar Organiser in the Department of Philosophy 
ORCID profile 
Personal web page 
Prof. Eleonora Montuschi

Professor of Philosophy of Science in the Department of Philosophy, University of Venice Ca' Foscari and Coordinator/PI, Inclusive science and European democracies (ISEED -960366) https://iseedeurope.eu 

Her area of expertise is in the philosophy of science and social science. She works on objectivity, the theory and practice of evidence, and methodological issues of the social sciences
Tamlyn Munslow
Tamlyn was a CHESS/K4U PhD student on the ERC funded K4U project and is interested in whether evidence-based intervention and evaluation in fact harm the pursuit of knowledge for equitable policymaking
Professor of Systematic Theology in the Department of Theology and Religion 
Member of the Centre for Visual Arts and Culture                             
Member of the Institute of Medieval and Early Modern Studies
Prof. Wendy Parker Professor of Philosophy at Virginia Tech
Prof. Shaun Pattinson
Professor of Medical Law and Ethics in Durham Law School 
Member of Durham CELLS (Centre for Ethics and Law in the Life Sciences)                              
Member of the Human Rights Centre                    
Fellow of the Wolfson Research Institute for Health and Wellbeing
Dr William Peden  Postdoctoral Researcher, Erasmus University, Rotterdam  
John Pemberton 

AHRC sponsored PhD student in Philosophy, Durham University

Project Team Member of the Society for the Philosophy of Time (SPoT)


Dr Menno Rol  Lecturer, University of Groningen
Prof. Frederica Russo Professor in Philosophy and Ethics of Techno-Science. She holds the Westerdijk Chair at the Freudenthal Institute, Utrecht University

Fanidh Senanta Sanogo


PhD student, University of Cape Town
Doug Scott  Managing Director, What You See Is All There Is Ltd 
Holder, Queen’s Award for Enterprise Promotion, Lifetime Achievement Award
Prof. Leonard A Smith  Research Professor, Department of Statistics, London School of Economics 
Director, Centre for the Analysis of Time Series (CATS), London School of Economics 
Member of Oxford Centre for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, University of Oxford  
Prof. Robert Song Professor in the Department of Theology and Religion 
Member of Durham CELLS (Centre for Ethics and Law in the Life Sciences)
Dr Erman Sozudogru Lecturer in Philosophy of Science and Medicine at Dept of Science & Technology Studies in Faculty of Maths & Physical Sciences at UCL
Dr Waney Squier  Honorary Clinical lecturer, University of Oxford
Dr Jack Stilgoe Senior Lecturer in Social Studies of Science in UCL Department of Science and Technology Studies (STS)
Prof. Veronica Strang ORCID profile 
Oxford University
Pieter Streicher Research Associate, University of Johannesburg
Dr Emily Thomas  Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy 
Member of the Institute of Medieval and Early Modern Studies 
Fellow of University College
Prof. Emma Tobin Professor in Philosophy of Science at UCL Department of Science and Technology Studies (STS)
Leader of Work Package 5 in Tipping Points Research Project
Dr Peter West  Assistant Professor at Northeastern University London
Prof. Jon Williamson Professor at the University of Manchester
Prof. Alison Wylie  Professor of Philosophy, University of British Columbia

 

 

 

CHESS Partners

Centre for Philosophy of Epidemiology, Medicine, and Public Health - CPEMPH

The Centre for Philosophy of Epidemiology, Medicine, and Public Health (CPEMPH) is a platform for interdisciplinary research into the philosophical aspects of human health. It is a joint venture between Durham University and the University of Johannesburg. The Centre’s work includes methodological and conceptual foundations of health research, which raise philosophical questions with practical implications. It also includes the social and political context of medical science and practice, and the way these shape methods, goals, and strategies. 

The Leverhulme Centre for Algorithmic life

Durham University has won one of three 2025 Leverhulme Research Centre grants. The Leverhulme Centre for Algorithmic life is being set up at the moment. For next ten years it will work cross-disciplinary to investigate ways algorithms can influence how we behave, how we think, and even what it means to be human.  

Global Policy Institute 

The Global Policy Institute conducts multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research focused on the scholarship, politics, and policy of pressing global collective action problems. Our network of world-class researchers, practitioners, and policymakers provides international intellectual leadership in the field of global challenges, and multilateral and transborder governance arrangements. 

Rotman Institute of Philosophy 

The Rotman Institute is committed to fostering and supporting dialogue and collaboration between philosophers and scientists, and building bridges between the humanities and the sciences. 

Center for Values in Medicine, Science and Technology, UT Dallas 

The Center for Values in Medicine, Science and Technology promotes public understanding of the complex, crucial role that technological innovations and scientific discoveries play in shaping the values of contemporary culture. 

John J. Reilly Center 

The Reilly Center explores conceptual, ethical, and policy issues where science and technology intersect with society from different disciplinary perspectives. Our purpose is to promote the advancement of science and technology for the common good. 

Center for the History of Political Economy at Duke University 

The mission of the Center for the History of Political Economy is to promote and support research in, and the teaching of, the history of economics.

Trust in Philosophy and Science at Ca' Foscari University

Against the backdrop of the contemporary decline of trust in democratic institutions, can science be (and be perceived as) both reliable and useful? TiPS aims at rethinking the fundamentals of the idea of trust in science in a framework that brings together philosophical analysis and practical applications. TiPS originates from a Ca’ Foscari seed grant (SPIN project "Trust in Science") allocated for the purpose of identifying an international network of expertise on trust in science and related topics, and of suggesting lines of research that can have an impact on social debate.

The Institute for Ascertaining Scientific Consensus

IASC is a global network that can survey tens of thousands of scientists at a time, collating opinion regarding specific statement of interest.