I am a Lecturer at the Philosophy Department at the University of Manchester. Previously I was a Marie Curie fellow at the Leibniz-Zentrum Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft (ZAS Berlin), an independent research fellow at the University of Birmingham, and a Beatriu de Pinos Fellow at LOGOS Barcelona.

My main research interests are in Philosophy of Language and Linguistics, Meta-ethics, Social and Political Philosophy, Social Epistemology, Philosophy and Race and Gender. My recent work focuses on how slurs and oppressive speech shift social norms and re-entrench social hierarchies. I’m currently using tools from game-theoretic and social norms theories to make testable predictions about e.g. the spread of oppressive speech use, coalitions formation, and the emergence of discriminatory norms.

I lead the following two grants:

2023 - 2025. Rebuilding Trust in Public Discourse: The Good Speech Project (postdoc: Justina Berškytė).

2022 - 2023. Online Harms and Trust: Incel Communities. Centre for Digital Trust and Society Seedcorn (co-Is: Justina Berškytė, Graham Stevens, Miriam Ronzoni, Vera Hohaus, Leigh Leigh Harrington; RAs Adelina-Dalia Valoschi, Maurits Bekkers, Iqra Zahid, Lily Calloway). 

I teach Applied Philosophy (PHIL20032) and Language and Oppression (PHIL30811).

I am the Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion officer.

I co-organise the Philosophy Film Club with Jonathan Hourigan, MA Director in Creative Writing. 

Public Engagement & Workshops Organised

2023 (10 Feb). How Hate Speech Works. London lectures Words and Worlds. The Royal Institute of Philosophy. 

2023 (10-11 July). (with Justina Berškytė): Harmful Content (Online and Offline): Challenges and Ways Out.

2022 (3 March). (with Justina Berškytė): Themes in Oppressive Speech. 

2022. Open for Debate Blog: Social media: a viral promoter of social ills?

2020 - 2021. ZAS Berlin: Oppressive Speech, Societies & Norms series. HaLO YouTube channel.

→ Theme 1: Social Norms & Institutions: Game Theory (3-4 December 2020)

→ Theme 2: Silencing, Speaking up & Free Speech (28-29 January 2021)

→ Theme 3: Social Meaning & Semantics/Pragmatics of Harmful Speech (18-19 February 2021)

→ Theme 4: Oppressive Practices & Norms: Speech Acts, Conversational Dynamics (24-26 March 2021)

→ Theme 5: Disinformation, Epistemic Vices & Online Harm (6-7 May 2021)

→ Theme 6: Structural Oppression and the Road to Justice (15-16 July 2021)