Profile

Highly motivated and successful student currently studying philosophy at Ph.D. level in preparation for an academic career in philosophy research and teaching. Excellent problem solving, analytical and interpersonal skills. Previous work includes essays on Thomas Reid’s theory of visual perception, representational content and attention, connectionism and the language of thought, externalism and privileged access, and the grammar of psychological concepts.

Research Interests

Primary: philosophy of mind and perception; mental representation; non-conceptual content.

Secondary: philosophy of time and time consciousness; connectionism; embodied mind and cognition; philosophy of science (esp. psychology, cognitive science, physics); Thomas Reid; Ludwig Wittgenstein.

Education

University of Warwick — Ph.D., 2008–2011 (currently studying)
Working on the distinction and connections between conceptual and non-conceptual content in the philosophy of perception, and its implications for traditional problems of perception such as whether and how we can have knowledge of the world. Supervisor: Bill Brewer.

St Andrews and Stirling Philosophy Graduate Programme (SASP) — M.Litt., 2008 (Distinction)
Modules studied: Philosophy of Mind; Advanced Epistemology & Philosophy of Perception; Philosophers of the Scottish Enlightenment (esp. Thomas Reid’s Theory of Perception); Research Methods; Current Issues in Philosophy (Language, Epistemology, Mind, Ethics); Dissertation (‘Time-Consciousness and the Present’, supervisor: Simon Prosser).

University of York — BA Hons. in Philosophy, 2007 (First with Distinction)
Modules studied: Philosophy of Mind (I & II); Philosophy of Language; Intermediate Logic; Merleau-Ponty (Philosophy of Perception); Philosophy of Science; Space, Time & Causality (I & II); Kant; Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations; Hegel’s Social Philosophy; Reason & Argument; Ethics; Introduction to Metaphysics; Introduction to Ancient Philosophy; Analytic Aesthetics; Special Subject (Philosophy of Time, supervisor: Thomas Baldwin).

Awards and Achievements

AHRC doctoral award / Ph.D. Fellowship, University of Warwick, 2008–2011.

Highest mark in year, St Andrews and Stirling Graduate Programme (SASP) M.Litt., 2008.

AHRC postgraduate award, University of St Andrews, 2007.

Designed and developed PhilosophyWiki.org as part of an ongoing research project with Dr Tom Stoneham at the University of York. Funded by the Research Information Network, 2006–2007.

Highest mark in year, University of York B.A. (Hons.) Philosophy, 2007.

Chair of the Philosophy Society, 2005–2006. Webmaster in 2006–2007. University of York.

Ede and Ravenscroft Prize for academic excellence and outstanding contribution to the Department and University life, University of York, 2005.

First Year Prize for highest overall mark in year, University of York Philosophy Department, 2005.

Board of Studies representative. University of York, 2005–2006.

Gateway Scholarship to study for a Higher Diploma in Recording, Music Technology and Music Business Studies, Kingston University, 1997. Passed with Distinction.

Royal Institution Mathematics Masterclasses for Young People, Napier University, 1984.

Talks

‘Time-Consciousness and the Present: A Dynamical Systems Perspective’, Work in Progress Seminar, University of Warwick, November 2008.

‘PhilosophyWiki.org: A New Tool for Philosophy Research’, Research Information Network, May 2008.

‘Time, Tense and Adverbial Change’, Raasay Reading Party, University of St Andrews, October 2007.

‘Is the Denial of Bivalence Absurd?’, British Undergraduate Philosophy Society Skills Conference, University of Durham, 2007.

‘Does Plato Have a Theory of Happiness?’, British Undergraduate Philosophy Society Spring Conference,  University of Sheffield, 2006.

Response to ‘MacTaggart’s Argument for the Unreality of Time’, British Undergraduate Philosophy Society Conference, University of Durham, 2006.

Response to Peter Lamarque, ‘Nausea, Art and Existence’, University of York Philosophy Society, 2006.

Publications

‘Reflecting Upon Death’, Dialectic, 4, Spring 2009.

‘Does Attention Exist?’, British Undergraduate Journal of Philosophy, 2 (2), July 2007, pp. 153–68.

‘What Is Philosophy?’, Dialectic, Online Edition, 1, Autumn/Winter 2007, <http://dialecticonline.
wordpress.com/what-is-philosophy/>.

Conferences and Workshops

Minds, Brains, and Beyond: Susan Hurley Memorial Conference, University of Bristol, March 2009.

MindGrad 2008, University of Warwick, December 2008.

12th Annual Oxford Philosophy Graduate Conference, University of Oxford, November 2008.

Time and Consciousness Interdisciplinary Graduate Conference, University of Birmingham, June 2008.

Consciousness and Time Workshop, University of Edinburgh, April 2008.

Knowledge: Themes from McDowell Workshop, Stirling University, November 2007.

Arché / CSMN Graduate Conference, University of St Andrews, November 2007.

Chaired papers at MindGrad 2008, the National Postgraduate Analytic Philosophy Conference 2004, British Undergraduate Philosophy Society Conferences 2005 and 2007, and University of York Philosophy Society 2005–2006.

Employment

Researcher / Developer, PhilosophyWiki.org, University of York, 2006–2007 (part-time).

Senior Software Engineer, Ingenta plc, Bath. 2001–2003 (full-time), 2003–2006 (part-time).

Software Designer, MousePower, Hartham Park, Wiltshire, 2000–2001.

Record Label Manager, Gateway Education Services, Kingston University, Surrey, 1998–1999.

Senior Analyst Programmer, Digita International, Exmouth, Devon, 1993–1996.

Programmer, HiSoft, Greenfield, Bedford, 1990–1993.

Software Manager, Rombo Productions, Livingston, Scotland, 1989–1990.

Programmer, Ocean/Imagine Software, Manchester, 1985–1988 (freelance).

Other Interests

Reading, music, walking, cinema and photography. I have been actively involved with a number of students groups, including the University of York Philosophy Society, which I founded in 2005, and have previously published articles in several leading UK computer magazines.