Claire Bremner  

Political Philosophy

 Having spent nearly 20 years in the Australian finance and investment sector (MBA, University of Sydney, Australia, 1990), Claire is interested in developing a better understanding of the nature and role of economic risktaking with regard to distributive outcomes and justice.  In particular, she is interested in how such an understanding could inform policy decisions that affect the incentives for and the regulation of economic risktaking.

E-mail: 6cab3@queensu.ca

William Brooke

Epistemology, Moral and Political Philosophy, Decision Theory 

E-mail: 11wb11@queensu.ca

William earned his B.A. in Philosophy at the University of the Fraser Valley.  His research focuses on social capital, well-being, happiness, and the ‘second person’.

Octavian A. Busuioc

Perception, Epistemology, Action Theory

Octavian's core philosophical interests lie at the intersection of the philosophy of perception and epistemology. His dissertation concerns the justificatory force of experience and argues that perception should be conceived as an activity whose end is knowledge.

E-mail :  octavian.busuioc@queensu.ca

Elaine Cheng 

Bioethics, Research Ethics, Epistemology, Symbolic Logic, Philosophy of Literature, Descartes

Elaine loves animals, especially dogs. Meet Plato and Didi, as shown in her profile picture. Further description coming soon.

E-mail: 5eyc@queensu.ca

Yual Chiek

 

Visiting research student at Yale University

Yual's core interests lie in the areas of Early-Modern Metaphysics (with a concentration on the systematic metaphysics of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz), Epistemology, contemporary Analytic Metaphysics, and Philosophy of Religion. He is also developing interest in Logic (particularly modal logic), the Philosophy of Language, and Social and Political Philosophy. In contemporary metaphysics, his research centres on the metaphysics of objects. His own musings on this topic have led him to the crazy view that there are, strictly speaking, no composite objects!

For more, see:  www.yualchiek.com  

E-mail: 7yc12@queensu.ca

Lana De Gasperis

Philosophy of Mind, Philosophy of Psychology

Torin Doppelt

Christine Esselmont

Moral Philosophy, Moral Psychology, Ancient Philosophy

Christine is interested in questions concerning moral responsibility and the grounds of moral criticism. Her doctoral work focuses on the extent to which constraints on moral deliberation and moral action ought to influence blame.

E-mail: christine.esselmont@queensu.ca

Epistemology, Philosophy of Science 

Omid Hejazi

Political Philosophy and Logic

Omid completed his undergraduate degree at University of Tehran. He has started his graduate study at Queen's University since 2006. His main philosophical interests lie in contemporary political philosophy. In particular his PhD research focuses on contemporary liberal theories of multiculturalism and national minority rights. He is also developing interest in issues such as neutrality/perfectionism and egalitarian justice. Other areas of interest include philosophy of logic, modality and possible worlds. 

E-mail: 5oh1@queensu.ca

Joshua Landry

Bioethics, Clinical Ethics

Josh completed his Honours BHSc. at the University of Western Ontario, and MSc in Health Care Ethics and Law at Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI). While abroad he focussed his dissertation on decision making in health care, particularly supporting the use of the Best Interests Standard when caring for neonatal and paediatric patients. Josh continued his professional education by earning a Certificate in Clinical Ethics and Health Policy from the Center for Practical Bioethics, former home of the American Journal of Bioethics. He now is focusing his doctoral research on duties and obligations that arise in the decision making arena of the patient-practitioner relationship, in health care. 

E-mail: 12jtl1@queensu.ca

Sheri Lucas

E-mail: 7sal2@queensu.ca

Akim McMath

Moral Philosophy, Political Philosophy

Akim’s primary interests lie in normative ethics, applied ethics, and political philosophy.  His previous research has focused on population ethics and on related issues in procreative ethics.  Other interests include practical rationality, distributive justice, and the relationship between normative philosophy and economics.  He is currently enrolled in the M.A. program at Queen’s.  Akim holds a B.A. in Philosophy from the University of Victoria.

E-mail:  akim.mcmath@queensu.ca

Ryan McSheffrey

Moral philosophy, political philosophy, and the philosophy of law

Ryan is interested in contemporary theories of punishment from the moral perspective, particularly regarding how concepts such as freedom, desert, and responsibility relate to putative moral justifications for the infliction of punishment. His other philosophical interests include (but are not limited to) contemporary liberal theories of justice and equality, the history of (Western) political and legal philosophy, and the philosophy of science. 

Jason Millar

Applied Ethics, Bioethics, Science and Technology Studies

Jason Miller's interests lie at the intersection of ethics, technology and society.  His current research focuses on applied ethics and science and technology studies, with particular interests in the democratization of science and technology and the (bio)ethical issues surrounding transhumanism and the human-machine merger.  Jason earned a B.Sc. in Engineering Physics from Queen's University and worked as an engineer for several years prior to earning a B.A. and M.A. in Philosophy at the University of Ottawa.  While at the University of Ottawa he worked for several years on On the Identity Trail, a multidisciplinary SSHRC funded project, researching the legal and philosophical issues surrounding privacy in the digital age.  While completing his M.A. Jason also worked as a technology policy analyst at the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada and published a book chapter on privacy (in the first ever Oxford University Press publication licensed under the Creative Commonts).  He maintains the Ethics, Technology and Society blog at jasonmillar.ca. 

E-mail:  7jm55@queensu.ca

Dimitrios (Jim) Molos

E-mail: jmolos@hotmail.com

Nikoo Najand

Bioethics, feminist philosophy, reproductive technology, applied ethics, ethical theory

E-mail: n.najand@queensu.ca

Josephine Nielsen

Social and Political Philosophy, Multiculturalism, Reproductive Ethics

Josephine completed her honours BA in Philosophy at Acadia University, and her MA in Philosophy at Carleton University with a thesis focusing on the role group mobilization plays in multicultural societies. Her core interests remain in the area of multiculturalism generally, but for her PhD dissertation she hopes to focus on the intersection of liberal multicultural theories and feminist theories. She has recently also become interested in reproductive ethics.

David Pitcher

Moral Philosophy, Environmental Ethics, Metaethics

David completed his honours BA in Philosophy and MA in Philosophy at the University of Alberta with a thesis focusing on problems of citizenship in Rawls's liberal philosophy.  His core interests are in moral and political philosophy, and his PhD dissertation will address meta-ethical problems in environmental ethics and the role of wonder in moral and environmental philosophy.  Other areas of interest include applied ethics, continental philosophy and feminist philosophy.

Nolan Ritcey

Visiting Research Student at University of California, Berkeley

E-mail: 6nr6@queensu.ca

Mark Rosner 

E-mail: 6mr29@queensu.ca

Andrew D.F. Ross

E-mail: 7adfr@queensu.ca

Andrew P. Ross

Andrew is primarily interested in contemporary moral theory. In particular, he is interested in deontic constraints, rights, and the authority of morality. Additional interests include aesthetics and self-knowledge.

E-mail: 5apr2@queensu.ca

Sarah Ruggins

Applied Ethics, Social and Political Philosophy 

Sarah attended the University of Alberta and University of Prince Edward Island prior to entering the M.A. Programme at Queen's. Having spent 6 years working in the Canadian financial sector, she hopes to gain a more in-depth understanding of the relationship between fairness, efficiency, and distribution in financial markets. How can efficiency be constrained by principles of fairness? Sarah is hoping to better understand how policy can be formulated to satisfy both the needs for speculation and risk-taking while being considerate of the distributive consequences to all free market participants. 

  E-mail :  11sr63@queensu.ca

Mastoureh Sadeghnia

E-mail: 5ms67@queensu.ca

Philip Shadd

Social and Political Philosophy, Philosophy of Law, Political Theology

Phil arrived at Queen’s after completing his M.A. in philosophy at The University of Western Ontario.  His dissertation research explores the question of political legitimacy by seeking to supplement the political liberal answer with insights from the Christian Reformed tradition of political theory.  In other words, he’s endeavouring to bring the likes of Rawls and Habermas into deeper dialogue with the likes of Abraham Kuyper and Nicholas Wolterstorff.  His M.A. research project critically examined Rawls’ claim that the doctrine of Rawlsian public reason is implicit in liberal democratic institutions, and he remains unsure of what to make of this sort of public reason.  In addition to political theory, Phil finds himself routinely engaged in philosophy of law and democratic theory, and also has a burgeoning interest in the philosophy of religion.  When he’s not at work, he enjoys sports (both as a fan and participant), going to church, and spending time with his wife.

E-mail:  8pds@queensu.ca

Ayesha Shah

Social and Political Philosophy, and Ethics

Ayesha obtained her B.A. in Public Policy Management and B.A. Hons. in Philosophy at York University in Toronto. She is mainly interested in contemporary political philosophy, especially in cosmopolitan and global distributive justice. She is planning on writing her MA thesis on this topic. She is also interested in biomedical ethics and global health ethics.

E-mail:  ayesha.shah@queensu.ca  

Jennifer Szende

Jennifer is a doctoral candidate completing her dissertation on human rights and their role in liberal theories of international relations, including debates on global justice and humanitarian intervention. She completed her Master's degree at the University of Sheffield (UK) with a thesis on multiculturalism and feminism, and completed her undergraduate degree at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec. Her research interests include political theory, feminist theory, philosophy of law, and, when she has time, the infinite. She is kept sane in this endeavour by a close community of fellow rock climbers.

E-mail: 4js6@queensu.ca

Matthew Taylor

Political Philosophy and Applied Ethics

Matthew has an honours BA in Philosophy from Wilfrid Laurier University and an MSc in Philosophy and Public Policy from the London School of Economics and Political Science. His master’s thesis examined whether or not the United Nations’ “Responsibility to Protect” policy could be endorsed as a duty of justice. He’s primarily interested in Hobbesian social contract theories and questions of the division of powers between different levels of government.

E-mail: 11mwjt@queensu.ca

Radhika Tikku

E-mail: 5rt13@queensu.ca

Krista Videchak 

Multiculturalism, Justice, Applied Ethics, Race Theory, Feminism

Krista completed her B.A. at The University of Western Ontario and her M.A. at Wilfrid Laurier University. Her Master’s thesis focused on the idea of enduring injustice and how this changes our approach to reparations for slave descendants. She hopes to further this idea in her doctoral research. Krista’s research in this area has led to other area of interests, including race theory and feminism. 

Katherine Wayne

Katherine received her Master’s degree in Philosophy with Specialization in Biomedical Ethics from McGill University in 2008. Her primary philosophical interests are in ethics, both theoretical and applied, and social/ political philosophy. Her doctoral dissertation examines the morality of childbearing; in particular she wishes to understand the nature and role of beneficence in the context of deciding whether to bear children. She is also currently interested in the ethics of the relationship between humans and domestic animals, and how that relationship is improperly conceptualized within the welfarist-abolitionist debate.