I have held the Chair of Aesthetics in the Philosophy Department since January 2014. Previously, I was Senior Lecturer at Durham University (2006-14). My research interests include the relations between aesthetic, moral and epistemic value, normative judgements, Kant, Hume, aesthetic reasons, non-perceptual beauty, subjectivism and objectivism, realism and anti-realism. I have also worked on conceptual art, neuroaesthetics and the cognitive value of art.

I am Editor (with John Hyman) of the British Journal of Aesthetics (Oxford University Press).

After completing my MA (Hons.) and MSc (Res) at the University of Edinburgh, I moved to King's College London, where I was awarded my PhD in 2003. I held a post-doctoral research fellowship there from 2003 to 2006, when I was appointed at Durham (as Lecturer 2006-08, and Senior Lecturer 2008-14).

I have worked on several research projects, including on the philosophy of conceptual art, empirical aesthetics and the ethics and aesthetics of archaeology.

I am currently the Principal Investigator of 'Aesthetic Perception and Aesthetic Cognition', a project funded by Vetenskapsrådet (2019-2022). In addition, I am Network Leader for 'Ethics and Aesthetics of Cultural Heritage' (2019-2020).

I am married to Guy Dammann, with whom I have two children (Cecilia Viola b.2009 and Gabriel b.2012).