Staff profile

Alex Broadbent is Professor of Philosophy of Science at Durham University and Visiting Professor at the University of Johannesburg. He is Director of the Durham-Johannesburg Centre for Philosophy of Epidemiology, Medicine, and Public Health. Besides his academic research in these areas, he publishes opinion pieces on the interface between science and policy and on the role of the humanities in society, and engages with policy and litigation in relation to epidemiology and public health. He is founding Editor in Chief of the journal Philosophy of Medicine and an Associate Member of Millennium Chambers of The Barrister Network, London.

• Philosophy of Epidemiology
• Philosophy of Public and Global Health
• Philosophy of science
• Philosophy of law
• Causation and causal inference
• Prediction and forecasting
• Philosophy of Medicine

Available for media contact about:

• Philosophy:
• Africa:
• Public policy, health and well-being:

Authored book

• Broadbent, Alex (2013). Philosophy of Epidemiology.

Chapter in book

• Broadbent, A. & Smart, B (2022). Kinds of explanation in public health policy. In Explaining Health Across the Sciences. Sholl, J & Rattan S Springer. 405-415.
• Broadbent, A (2022). Philosophy of Epidemiology. In Routledge Companion to the Philosophy of Medicine. McClimans, L Rowman & Littlefield Publishers / Rowman & Littlefield International. 248-256.
• Broadbent, A (2017). Philosophy of Epidemiology. In The Bloomsbury Companion to Contemporary Philosophy of Medicine. Marcum, JA
• Broadbent, Alex (2016). Is Stability a Stable Category in Medical Epistemology? In Angewandte Philosophie. Eine internationale Zeitschrift / Applied Philosophy. An International Journal. 24.
• Broadbent, A (2013). Explanation and Responsibility. In Critical Essays on "Causation and Responsibility". Kahmen, B & Stepanians, M 239.
• Broadbent, A (2011). Inferring causation in epidemiology: Mechanisms, black boxes, and contrasts. In Causality in the Sciences. McKay Illari, P, Russo, F & Williamson, J 45.

Journal Article

• Broadbent, Alex & Streicher, Pieter (2022). Can you lock down in a slum? And who would benefit if you tried? Difficult questions about epidemiology's commitment to global health inequalities during Covid-19. Global Epidemiology 4: 100074.
• Broadbent, Alex & Grote, Thomas (2022). Can Robots Do Epidemiology? Machine Learning, Causal Inference, and Predicting the Outcomes of Public Health Interventions. Philosophy & Technology 35(1): 14.
• Momoniat, Ebrahim, Ade-Ibijola, Abejide, Harley, Charis, Broadbent, Alex & Nyabadza, Farai (2021). Models and muddles in the COVID-19 pandemic. South African Journal of Science 117(9/10).
• Broadbent, Alex (2021). The C-word, the P-word, and realism in epidemiology. Synthese 198(S10): 2613.
• Broadbent, Alex, Combrink, Herkulaas & Smart, Benjamin (2020). COVID-19 in South Africa. Global Epidemiology 2: 100034.
• Broadbent, Alexander, Walker, Damian, Chalkidou, Kalipso, Sullivan, Richard & Glassman, Amanda (2020). Lockdown is not egalitarian: the costs fall on the global poor. The Lancet 396(10243): 21.
• Broadbent, Alex (2020). Better the drug you know: Commentary on “Daughton 2020, Natural experiment concept to accelerate the re-purposing of existing therapeutics for Covid-19”. Global Epidemiology 2: 100027.
• Broadbent, Alex (2019). The inquiry model of medicine. Canadian Medical Association Journal 191(4): E105.
• Broadbent, Alex (2019). Health as a Secondary Property. The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 70(2): 609.
• Broadbent, Alex (2018). Prediction, Understanding, and Medicine. The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy: A Forum for Bioethics and Philosophy of Medicine 43(3): 289.
• Broadbent, Alex (2018). Intellectualizing Medicine: A Reply to Commentaries on “Prediction, Understanding, and Medicine”. The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy: A Forum for Bioethics and Philosophy of Medicine 43(3): 325.
• Broadbent, Alex, Vandenbroucke, Jan P. & Pearce, Neil (2017). Formalism or pluralism? A reply to commentaries on ‘Causality and causal inference in epidemiology’. International Journal of Epidemiology dyw298.
• Broadbent, Alex, Vandenbroucke, Jan & Pearce, Neil (2016). Authors’ Reply to: VanderWeeleet al., Chiolero, and Schoolinget al. International Journal of Epidemiology dyw163.
• Vandenbroucke, Jan P, Broadbent, Alex & Pearce, Neil (2016). Causality and causal inference in epidemiology: the need for a pluralistic approach. International Journal of Epidemiology 45(6): 1776.
• Broadbent, Alex & Hwang, Seung-sik (2016). Tobacco and epidemiology in Korea: old tricks, new answers? Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 70(6): 527.
• Fuller, Jonathan, Broadbent, Alex & Flores, Luis J. (2015). Prediction in epidemiology and medicine. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 54: 45.
• Vlerick, Michael & Broadbent, Alex (2015). Evolution and Epistemic Justification. Dialectica 69(2): 185.
• Broadbent, Alex (2015). Causation and prediction in epidemiology: A guide to the “Methodological Revolution”. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 54: 72.
• Broadbent, Alex (2015). Epidemiological evidence in law: a comment on Supreme Court Decision 2011Da22092, South Korea. Epidemiology and Health 37: e2015025.
• Simon, JR Broadbent, A & Gifford, F (2015). Beyond bioethics: the 5th International Philosophy of Medicine Roundtable. Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics 36: 1-5.
• Broadbent, Alex (2015). Risk Relativism and physical law. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health (69): 92-94.
• Broadbent, Alex (2014). Disease as a theoretical concept: The case of “HPV-itis”. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 48: 250.
• Broadbent, Alex (2012). Philosophy and preventive medicine. Preventive Medicine 55(6): 575.
• Broadbent, Alex (2012). Causes of causes. Philosophical Studies 158: 457–476.
• Broadbent, Alex (2011). EPIDEMIOLOGICAL EVIDENCE IN PROOF OF SPECIFIC CAUSATION. Legal Theory 17(4): 237.
• Broadbent, Alex (2011). What could possibly go wrong? — A heuristic for predicting population health outcomes of interventions. Preventive Medicine 53(4-5): 256.
• Broadbent, Alex (2011). Conceptual and methodological issues in epidemiology: An overview. Preventive Medicine 53(4-5): 215.
• Broadbent, Alex (2011). Defining neglected disease. BioSocieties 6(1): 51.
• Broadbent, Alex (2009). Causation and models of disease in epidemiology. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 40(4): 302.
• Broadbent, Alex (2009). FACT AND LAW IN THE CAUSAL INQUIRY. Legal Theory 15(3): 173.
• Broadbent, Alex (2008). For analytic bioethics. Clinical Ethics 3(4): 185.
• Broadbent, Alex (2008). The Difference Between Cause and Condition. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society (Hardback) 108(1pt3): 355.
• Broadbent, Alex (2007). Reversing the Counterfactual Analysis of Causation. International Journal of Philosophical Studies 15(2): 169.

Monograph

• Broadbent, A (2019). Philosophy of Medicine. OUP.
• Broadbent, Alex (2016). Philosophy for Graduate Students: Metaphysics and Epistemology. Routledge.

Other (Digital/Visual Media)

• Broadbent, A (2020). Causation.

Working Paper

• Bayani, DBS Krubiner, C Barasa, E Biribawa, C Broadbent, A, Casas, L Chalkidou, K Chi, YL Combrink, H Denis, O Kaakyo, M Kabia, E Kasera, K Kazungu, J Ogero, M Organi, S Paterno, A Regan, L Smart, B Streicher, P Tan, J Tumwesigye, N Ulep, VG Uy, J Van, VS & Walker, D (2021). The Indirect Health Effects of COVID-19: Emerging Findings from Kenya, the Philippines, South Africa, and Uganda.