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A black and white photo of a white man with a cat on his shoulder

A warm welcome to Robert Chapman who joins us as Assistant Professor of Critical Neurodiversity Studies in the Measurement Lab on the Discovery Research Platform for Medical Humanities.

Robert Chapman is a philosopher and social theorist focusing on neurodiversity, Madness, and disability. They completed their doctorate on the concept of autistic thriving in the Philosophy Department at the University of Essex in 2018. They have taught at King’s College London, Bristol University, and Sheffield Hallam University. Between 2019 and 2021 they have also worked as a Vice Chancellor’s Research Fellow working on neurodiversity and wellbeing at the University of Bristol, and they were invited to be a Visiting Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities at the University of Edinburgh in 2023. 

Robert’s work has covered a range of issues in philosophy of science, social epistemology, and critical theory, with a particular focus on Madness and neurodiversity. Robert’s first book Empire of Normality: Neurodiversity and Capitalism will be published by Pluto Press in November 2023. They are also in the process of writing a second book, co-authored with Professor Sue Fletcher-Watson, providing a general introduction to neurodiversity. This will be published by Oxford University Press in 2024.  

They recently moved with their partner and two cats in Newcastle to take up their role as Assistant Professor in Critical Neurodiversity Studies. They are socially neurodivergent and fiscally communist.

We warmly welcome Robert to Durham University and look forward to working with them in the future.

Find out more about the Measurement Lab

Find out more about the Discovery Research Platform for Medical Humanities