Professor Keith Ansell-Pearson has been appointed Honorary President of The Friedrich Nietzsche Society, in recognition of his outstanding contribution to Nietzsche studies over the course of his illustrious academic career. Keith launched the Nietzsche Society of Great Britain (as the Friedrich Nietzsche Society was originally called) in April 1990, accompanied by a hugely successful inaugural conference, supported by and held at the Philosophy Department at the University of Essex. The first edition of the Journal of Nietzsche Studies subsequently appeared in Spring 1990; Keith has continued as a long-serving contributor and member of the Editorial Board. Keith has published widely, and to great acclaim, on both the life and work of Friedrich Nietzsche, and has received many accolades in recognition of his Nietzschean scholarship. Further details here: https://www.fns.org.uk/honorary-president.html

We are delighted to announce the appointment, from 1 September 2020, of Dr Adina Covaci as a Teaching Fellow, specialising in moral and political Philosophy. Adina, who studied for her PhD at the University of Leeds, has previously taught at the University of Bristol. Adina will develop her research interests during her Fellowship, which include moral deference and topics in applied ethics, and will undertake teaching in both moral and political philosophy.

 Dr Thomas Crowther is a Commendee in this year’s WATE Awards, which recognises his outstanding contribution to the teaching of Philosophy during the course of this academic year. Tom says:

I am very happy to have been recognised through WATE. I am very proud to be a teacher, and particularly proud to be a teacher at the University of Warwick. I care very much about the work I do in teaching and supporting my students, whether it is inside or outside the classroom. Being recognized by WATE is evidence that I am doing at least something right! This will invigorate me to develop further as a teacher; particularly in negotiating the challenges of moving to blended learning.

Irene Dal Poz and Lorenzo Serini have also won awards in the WATE PGR category. This award acknowledges respectively both Irene and Lorenzo’s gifts of communication and their imaginative flair for engaging students through their teaching. 

Three members of the Philosophy Department have been nominated in this year’s WATE and WATE PGR Awards for their outstanding contribution to Teaching Excellence.

Dr Thomas Crowther has been shortlisted for this year’s WATE Awards in recognition of his inspirational teaching – as well as his dedication to outreach and well-being support for philosophy students. Irene Dal Poz and Lorenzo Serini, both studying for PhDs in Philosophy, have been shortlisted for the WATE PGR Awards. This nomination recognises Irene’s and Lorenzo’s natural flair for teaching in the classroom, as well as their ability to engage and motivate students. Congratulations to all three shortlisted candidates on their nominations. Winners of both categories will be announced in the summer.

Dr Patrick Tomlin has been awarded a year-long Research Fellowship by the Leverhulme Trust, to run throughout 2021. The Fellowship will fund Patrick’s continuing research into the concept of proportionate harm or violence. There is widespread agreement between philosophers working on the ethics of war, self-defence, punishment and many other areas that, if harm or violence is to be justified, it must be proportionate. Patrick will use his Fellowship to develop the argument that this apparent consensus conceals a wide range of knotty philosophical puzzles about proportionality, including how to make proportionality calculations under uncertainty; what the relationship is between the proportionality of courses of action and individual acts; and how we should aggregate small harms or goods in thinking about proportionality. Patrick will publish his research on proportionality in a book which will be published by Oxford University Press.