Courses I’m teaching this year and next year
- ASTRO200/200G: Astrobiology (Semester 2 2026 and 2027; team-taught course)
- BIOSCI739: Dialogues in Biology (Semester 1 2026 and 2027)
- PHIL105/105G: Critical Thinking (Semester 1 2026 and 2027, co-taught with Patrick Girard and Andrew Withy)
- PHIL711: Topics in Philosophy of Science (Semester 2 2027)
Supervision
I supervise theses and dissertations on a range of topics across the philosophy of biology, general philosophy of science, and some areas of environmental philosophy and bioscience ethics. See below for some examples. I’m happy to hear from prospective PhD, MA or BA(Hons) students; please feel free to get in touch.
Current students
- Ben Grobler-Kalinowski (BAHons)
- Peeta Khan (MSc in Biology; co-supervisor) — Navigating community attitudes towards feral and companion cat management for effective biodiversity conservation in Aotearoa New Zealand.
- Kari Peng (MA)
- Ana Shapiro (PhD in Psychology; co-supervisor) — Understanding the global response to climate change through the cultural evolution of paradigms.
- Hiva Sharebiani (PhD) — HTLV-1 Oncogenesis as an exceptional example for investigating multi-level selection.
- Sam Woolley (PhD) — Assessing the evolutionary debunking of morality.
- Yichen Zhang (MA)
Recent former students
You can find a complete list of former students in my CV.
- James Macfarlane (MA 2026) — Epistemic authority: science and mātauranga Māori as knowledge systems.
- Flynn Adams (Summer Research Scholar 2025–2026) — Localising the philosophy of biology.
- Ben Grobler-Kalinowski (Summer Research Scholar 2025–2026) — Localising the philosophy of biology.
- Jiyoon Yeam (Summer Research Scholar 2025–2026) — Conceptualising knowledge systems.
- James Mansell (PhD 2025; co-supervisor) — The information commons: building Blockchain-based information networks for shared social and economic value.
- Fiona Miles (PhD 2025; co-supervisor) — Decision-making for critically ill children in Aotearoa NZ: review of current practice and a new mana-enhancing tikanga approach.
- Sam Bennett (BAHons 2025) — Addiction without dysfunction: an evolutionary mismatch account.
- James Rowarth-Bell (MA 2025) — The cluster hierarchy framework: a methodology for working through the species problem.
- Finn Zhou (MA 2024; co-supervisor) — Mātauranga Māori and science as evolving practices: a philosophical bricolage.
- James Garner (PhD 2024 in Computer Science; co-supervisor) — An information theoretic approach to detecting interactional asymmetry in simulated robots.
- Natalie Sullivan (MA 2024) — Compassionate conservation and animal sentience: navigating ethical grounds in moral consideration and animal well-being.
- Ethan McCormick & Grace Zhao (Summer Research Scholarship 2023–2024) — ‘Emergency’ framing in conservation.
- André Alessi (MA 2023) — Partial recall: extended memory and personal identity.
- Lauren Baal (MSc 2023 in Environmental Science; co-supervisor) — Do androids dream of transgenic sheep? An examination of the state of genetic engineering regulations in Aotearoa New Zealand.
- Gabbi Courtenay (MA 2023) — Too hot to handle: the manhandling of gender in human attraction research.
- Cealagh Taillon (Summer Research Scholarship 2022–2023) — Concepts and values in conservation and invasive species management.
- David Kelley (PhD 2022) — Group agency and biological individuality.
- Lysandra Zheng (BAHons 2022) — The value-laden ideal: an examination of roles for social values in science.