me

I am a philosopher, and the concept of responsibility occupies centre stage in my scholarly pursuits.

A significant portion of my work is in the fields of neuroethics, neurolaw, ethics, philosophy of tort and criminal law, and political philosophy. For example, I have written and delivered talks on such topics as the different meanings of the term “responsibility”, the compatibility of responsibility and determinism, medical interventions to make criminal offenders competent for execution, how neuroscience and behavioural genetics fit into criminal responsibility adjudication procedures, tort liability for failure to use cognitive enhancement medications, whether people who live unhealthy lifestyles should have de-prioritised access to public health care resources and to organ transplants, and whether neuroscience can help us lead happier lives.

More recently, I have branched out into philosophy of technology, ethics of technology, feminism, gender studies, and bioethics. For example, I am currently working on talks and papers about conscientious objection, transgender-related public policy, depictions of transhumanism and posthumanism in film, gendered cyberhate and cybercrime, and value-sensitive design and regulation of emerging technologies — in particular, gene editing, blockchain, biometrics, and autonomous vehicles. Socially responsible innovation and value-sensitive design are core features of how I approach topics in these areas.

In mid-2007 I obtained my PhD in philosophy of tort law from the University of Adelaide in South Australia, with a dissertation entitled “Responsibility, Compensation and Accident Law Reform”. From late 2007 until early 2016 I was affiliated with the Philosophy Section at Technische Universiteit Delft in The Netherlands. Initially, as a postdoc working on Dr Gert-Jan Lokhorst’s neurolaw research project entitled “The Brain and The Law”; and then as chief investigator of the international research project “Enhancing Responsibility: the effects of cognitive enhancement on moral and legal responsibility”. From February 2011 until July 2013 I was a research fellow in the Department of Philosophy at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia working on a project entitled “Reappraising the Capacitarian Foundation of Neurolaw”. From August 2013 until December 2016 I was an Associate Professor of Philosophy, Law, and Neuroscience at Georgia State University in Atlanta, GA, USA.

In 2018 I joined the Faculty of Transdisciplinary Innovation at University of Technology Sydney (UTS) as Senior Lecturer.