Centre for Humanities Engaging Science and Society

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
Prof. Sarah Elizabeth Curtis	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
Prof. Douglas James Davies	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 Member of the Centre for Visual Arts and Culture Member of the Institute of Medieval and Early Modern Studies
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.
Prof. Steve Higgins	Researcher ID profile ORCID profile 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
Prof. Paul D. Murray	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 Researcher ID profile ORCID profile
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)
Prof. Patricia Waugh	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

Our 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.