Contact

I am a Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Sussex, where I am affiliated with the Sussex Centre for Consciousness Science and Sussex AI. I am a member of the Council for the Royal Institute of Philosophy. 

Previously, from 2018-2022 I was an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Iona College, where I also co-ran the Neuroscience program. From 2017-2018 I was a Visiting Assistant Professor for the Scientific and Philosophical Studies of Mind Program at Franklin and Marshall College. From 2015-2017 I was a Lecturer in Philosophy at King's College London. From 2014-2015 I was a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Alabama. 

My research interests include philosophy of cognitive science (especially neuroscience and AI), philosophy of mind, metaphysics (especially free will), ethics and bioethics (including neuroethics and medical ethics).


Robyn Repko Waller

Department of Philosophy

School of Media, Arts, and Humanities

University of Sussex

Falmer, UK

@RobynRWaller


Click here to e-mail 

Click here for my PhilPapers page


Upcoming workshops/talks/seminars/engagements:

Chair and Discussant, Werkmeister Conference in honor of Prof. Alfred Mele, Department of Philosophy, Florida State University, in November 2024

“Prospective Forgiveness and Exemption: Shifting of Moral Regard in Anticipation of Wrongdoing”, Colloquium series on philosophical work on mental illness, M(m)adness and psychiatry, King’s College London, in November 2024

Comments on Four Views on Free Will, Second Edition (Fischer, Kane, Pereboom, Vargas, OUP), Book Symposium, Pacific Meeting of the American Philosophical Association, in April 2025


Recent workshops/talks/seminars/engagements:

“Free Agents and Neurotechnology: Where are agents in the brain and how can we find them?”, Philosophy of Cognitive Science Lecture series, University of Edinburgh, November 2023

 “Sourcehood compatibilism requires alternatives: New perspectives on Frankfurt cases and the garden of forking paths”, Colloquium talk, Department of Philosophy, University of Warwick, in November 2023

Speaker, “Consciousness Science: An update on current research”, on behalf of the Sussex Centre for Consciousness Science, Research with Impact Forum, University of Sussex, May 2024

“AI Behaviours”, Talk and Panelist, All Consuming AI: Societal & Cultural Impacts, Sussex Digital Humanities Lab, University of Sussex, June 2024

“Brain-Computer Interfaces: Disappearing or Extended Agent?”, Annual Meeting of the Society for Philosophy and Psychology, Purdue University, June 2024

"Assembled Bias: Biased Judgments and Exaggerated Images in Machine Learning" (with Russell Waller), Seminar, Sussex Centre for Cognitive Science, March 2023. Watch it here. 

Comments on Naturalizing Free Agency (Oisin Deery; OUP), Author Meets Critic Session, Society for Philosophy of Agency, Eastern American Philosophical Association, January 2023 

For my appearance on The Free Will Show podcast to discuss science of free will in August 2021, see here. 

"Naturalistic Paradigms of Agency" (with Elisabeth Parés-Pujolràs), Early Career Joint Talk Series, Neurophilosophy of Free Will Research Group (September 2021). Watch it here.

"The Case for Classical Compatibilism: Manipulation and Perspectival Judgments", Philosophy Department Colloquium, University of Delaware (October 2021)

Commenter, Eastern American Philosophical Association Meeting (January 2022). 

Panelist on the State of Agency Research, Brains Blog (January 2022). Watch it here.

Panelist (live-streamed) on the Neurophilosophy of Free Will (March 14, 2022). Watch it here.

Speaker, "Sleep Deprivation, Agency, and Responsibility", Mind and Moral Psychology Working Group, Department of Philosophy, University of Michigan (April 5, 2022). 

For my appearance on the Think Peace podcast to discuss neuroscience of free will and peacekeeping, see here. 

For my recent interview on the neuroscience of free will on the Beautiful Minds blog in Scientific American, see here.

For ongoing posts at 3 Quarks Daily on free will and ethics (as applied to the pandemic, parenting, politics, neuroimplants, and algorithmic nudging), see here.

"Neuroscience of Meaningful Agency," The Metaphysical Society, Trinity College, Dublin (February 2021)

"The Machine Mind: Beyond Transparent Biases" (with Russell L. Waller), NYU Bioethics Workshop (November 2020)

Also Kinds of Intelligence 3: Cognitive Science Beyond the Human, Cambridge, UK (June 2021). Watch it here.

"Agency During Sleep Deprivation: Neurological Underpinnings and Philosophical Implications", Society for Philosophy and Psychology annual meeting, poster, Princeton (June 2021)

In April 2020, Comments on C. E. Franklin's A Minimal Libertarianism: Free Will and the Promise of Reduction, Book symposium, American Philosophical Association Meeting, Pacific Division, San Francisco (cancelled due to COVID-19)

"A Case for Classical Compatibilism", Visiting Speaker Colloquium series, Department of Philosophy, Marist College (November 2019)

In August 2019 I  co-organized and spoke at the workshop "Localizing Representations using Neuroimaging" at Stanford University. 

In July 2019, I was a Visiting Collaborative Fellow at the Institute of Philosophy, University of London. While in the UK I presented at the following:

"Agency during Sleep Deprivation: Neurological Underpinnings and Philosophical Implications"  

"Disorders of Agency: Bridging Philosophical Theories of Control and Mechanisms of Psychotherapy"

Discussant-at-large, Actions: The Mental and Bodily Conference, University of Warwick

Visitor, Action and Body Lab, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London

"Weakness of Will: The Paradigm and the 'Borderline'", Symposium on Weakness of Will, Pacific Division Meeting of the American Philosophical Association, Vancouver, BC (April 2019)

"Manipulation, Compatibilism, and Perspectival Judgments", Group Session on Keith Lehrer on Free Will, Pacific Division Meeting of the American Philosophical Association, Vancouver, BC (April 2019)

"Agency under Sleep Deprivation: Neurological Underpinnings and Philosophical Implications", Cognitive Science speaker series, CUNY Graduate Center, April 2019

In May and June 2018 I was a Fellow in the Summer Seminars in Neuroscience and Philosophy program at Duke University. 


For other past talks and seminar fellowships, see Talks and Outreach and C.V.