People

Sergio Tenenbaum is the Director of the Centre for Ethics and Professor of Philosophy at the University of Toronto. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Jerusalem in the Fall of 2011, Visiting Fellow at Magdalen College, Oxford University in the Spring of 2012, Visiting Professor at Université Paris I (Pantheon-Sorbonne) March 2016, and Visiting Fellow at the Australian National University in the August 2019. He is the author of Appearances of the Good (Cambridge University Press, 2007), and Rational Powers in Action (Oxford 2021) as well as the editor of Desire, Practical Reason, and the Good (Oxford University Press, 2010), Moral Psychology (Rodopi, 2007), and co-editor (together with Chrisoula Andreou) of Belief, Action, and Rationality over Time (Routledge 2016). 

William Paris is an Assistant Professor in Philosophy at the University of Toronto. He is also an Associate Editor for the journal Critical Philosophy of Race. His research focuses on History of African American philosophy, 20th century continental philosophy, and political philosophy.  He has published on Frantz Fanon and Gender, Sylvia Wynter’s phenomenology of imagination, and C.L.R. James and Hannah Arendt. He is also at work on his book manuscript Racial Justice and Forms of Life: Towards a Critical Theory of Utopia (under contract with Oxford University Press) that aims to provide a novel theory of racial justice that focuses on the imperative of collective control over our shared social time in a new form of life and the transformation of our conceptions of rights. 

Dr. Karina Vold is an Assistant Professor at the Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology at the University of Toronto. She is also a Research Lead at the U of T Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society, an AI2050 Early Career Fellow with the Schmidt Sciences Foundation, a Faculty Associate at the U of T Centre for Ethics, and an Associate Fellow at the University of Cambridge’s Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence. She specializes in Philosophy of Cognitive Science and Philosophy of Artificial Intelligence, with research interested in cognitive enhancement, human autonomy, and the ethics and safety of AI.  

Alisabeth Ayars is an assistant professor of philosophy at the University of British Columbia. Beginning August 2025, she will be an assistant professor at Washington University in St. Louis. Her research focuses on metaethics, ethics, and moral psychology. Topics include the normative judgment, the nature of evaluative states like emotion and desire, and norms governing the coherence among mental states.   

Neil Hibbert is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Studies at the University of Saskatchewan.  He served as Department Head from 2020-2025. Neil works in contemporary political theory, with research interests in social justice and social policy, as well as political obligation and political legitimacy. He is co-editor of Canadian Politics and Applied Political Theory (UTP, 2019) and Justice, Rights, and Toleration (MQUP, 2023). 

Jiewuh Song is a Professor of Political Science and International Relations at Seoul National University. She works on issues at the intersection of law, philosophy, and politics, and has special interests in international legal theory, egalitarian theory, human rights, and theories of justice.  Her publications include “Human Rights and Inequality” (Philosophy and Public Affairs) and “Pirates and Torturers: A Gap-Filling Account of Universal Jurisdiction” (Journal of Political Philosophy). Song’s current projects include papers on climate change and human rights, obligations of international cooperation, and positive anti-discrimination policies and equal opportunity. Further information can be accessed via Song’s website.

Garrath Williams is Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at Lancaster University (UK). He has published widely in moral philosophy, political theory, applied ethics, and public policy. He edited the four volume collection, Hannah Arendt: Critical Assessments of Leading Political Philosophers (Routledge, 2006). With Kristin Voigt and Stuart Nicholls, he co-authored Childhood Obesity: Ethical and Policy Issues (Oxford University Press, 2014). Most recently, Kant Incorporated (Cambridge University Press, 2025), analyses corporations – universities, businesses, churches and more – from the perspective of Kant’s moral and political philosophy. He is currently working on Kantian approaches to political economy. For more information, you can check out Garrath Williams' website.

Miron J. Clay-Gilmore is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Centre for Ethics at the University of Toronto. He is the first Black philosopher to earn a Ph.D. from the University of Edinburgh. His research examines the racialized applications of artificial intelligence, big data, and predictive policing within broader regimes of counterinsurgency and state violence. Drawing from Africana philosophy, Black Male Studies, and the thought of Dr. Huey P. Newton, his work explores how emerging technologies reproduce militarized systems of racial control. Dr. Clay-Gilmore has published in AI and Ethics, Res Philosophica, and The Journal of African American Studies. 

Yiran works on ethics and aesthetics. Before coming to Toronto, she was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Notre Dame’s Institute for Ethics and the Common Good. She received her doctorate from Brown University, and her BA from UNC-Chapel Hill. When doing philosophy, Yiran thinks about intimacy, love and beauty, and social/political relationships. She also has research interests in tech ethics, feminist philosophy, and Chinese philosophy. When not doing philosophy, Yiran is a creative writer.

Stefan is a doctoral candidate in the department of political science. His research is in normative political theory, with a particular focus on global distributive justice and the global financial system. His dissertation provides a critical reinterpretation of the social and political significance of money in order to marshal a normative diagnosis of the global financial system and the distributional implications of the hegemony of the US dollar. The dissertation is part of a broader project in political theory to understand the relationship between social theoretic models of economic activity and normative ideals of global justice. Prior to his doctoral studies at UofT, Stefan completed a joint BA in philosophy and political science at McGill University (2017) and a MA in philosophy from Queen’s University (2018).

Emily is a PhD candidate in the Department of Philosophy. Her research primarily focuses on mental disorder and assessments of moral and legal responsibility. Emily was called to the Bar of Ontario in 2022. Before returning to her PhD, she worked as a lawyer in private practice with a focus in health and mental health law. Emily holds a JD from the University of Toronto, an MA in philosophy from Western University, and a BA (hons.) in psychology from the University of Manitoba.

Zach Hollander is a PhD candidate in political theory at the University of Toronto. His research focuses on 20th century critical and continental theory, black political thought, and social movements. His dissertation focuses on the politics of emancipation contra forms of domination embedded within racial capitalism and the role of praxis in reorienting and reconstituting political subjects. Zach holds a BA in Philosophy and Political Science from George Washington University and two MScs in Comparative Social Policy and Critical Environmental Studies from the University of Oxford.  

Tim McKee is a PhD student in the Department of Philosophy. His main area of research is moral psychology, especially as it relates to personal identity. He is also interested in Ancient Greek ethics, philosophy in the Mahābhārata, and existentialism. The topics that engage him the most are moral motivation, mental conflict, habituation, selfhood, trust, and friendship. 

Mynt is PhD candidate at the Cinema Studies Institute at the University of Toronto. Their dissertation project argues for a new approach to authorship in cinema studies by staging an encounter between recent work in film philosophy, particularly concerning the works of Stanley Cavell, and classical auteurist writings. 

Allison is an SJD student in the Faculty of Law. Her research focuses on the relationship between accessory liability in private law and moral responsibility. Allison was called to the Bars of Alberta and Ontario in 2022. She previously served as a judicial law clerk at the Court of Appeal of Alberta and at the Supreme Court of Canada in the chambers of the Honourable Mary T. Moreau. She also worked as a lawyer in private practice. Allison holds an LLM from the University of Cambridge, a JD from the University of Alberta, an MSc in Molecular Genetics from the University of Toronto, and a BSc in Biological Sciences from the University of Alberta. 

Iddan is a PhD candidate in the department of Political Science. His dissertation project attempts to reintroduce into political philosophy neglected arguments from cultural and social critiques of the institution of the market. It explores the relationship of economic competition to concerns about social instability and distress; individuals’ spontaneous conduct and freedom; social investment; and addiction, distraction, and personal agency. Besides working in the intersection of political philosophy and political economy, Iddan also has broad interests in democratic theory, constitutional theory, and philosophical theories of freedom. He holds a master's degree in Political Science from the Hebrew university of Jerusalem and a bachelor's degree in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics (PPE) from Tel Aviv University. Before arriving to the University of Toronto, Iddan worked as a journalist.  

William Lloyd Gregson is a PhD candidate in the Department of Political Science at the University of Toronto. He specializes in political theory, especially critical theory and the history of political thought. William's dissertation focuses on the relationship between freedom and recognition and explores how intersubjective recognition is vital for achieving freedom even as it has the potential to inculcate new forms of dependence. Through an engagement with Frederick Douglass, Frantz Fanon, and Judith Butler, the dissertation seeks to paint a more complex historical and theoretical picture of how the concept of recognition evolved to become an important modern category. His work can be found in Political Theory, The Review of Metaphysics, and Hegel Bulletin.

Jules is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Philosophy, working primarily on social and political philosophy. He is writing his dissertation on prisons, aiming to interrogate the normative and empirical justification of imprisonment. His research seeks to put philosophy of punishment into closer dialogue with work in legal theory, criminology, and sociology. He is also interested in moral psychology, cultural politics and counterculture, feminist philosophy, and aesthetics. Jules holds an MPhil in Philosophy and a BA (Hons.) in Philosophy and Political Economy, each from the University of Sydney.

Lintao Dong is a PhD candidate at the Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology (IHPST) at the University of Toronto. His research, at the intersection of philosophy, law, and technology, examines the ethical and epistemic foundations of AI-driven behavioural modelling. He holds an M.A. in Philosophy from Western University and a B.A. from McGill University with an Honours Major in Philosophy and a Minor in Computer Science. 

Kwesi Thomas is a PhD Candidate in the Philosophy Department at the University of Toronto, where he is completing a dissertation on the early thought of W.E.B. Du Bois. His research focuses on the history of social theory in Africana Philosophy. You can find his work in the British Journal for the History of Philosophy and the Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie. Besides his dissertation, he is working on a larger monograph entitled Between Souls: The Radicalization of W.E.B. Du Bois. 

Leena is a PhD candidate in the Philosophy Department at the University of Toronto. Leena’s research focuses on the relationship between communication and knowledge, particularly how social power dynamics influence communication, and in turn knowledge. In general, Leena has research interests in social epistemology, the social impacts of AI, and feminist philosophy.

David Benatar is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. He has been a visiting fellow at Emory (2004), Princeton (2009-2010), the US National Institutes of Health (2014-2015), the Rotman Institute of Philosophy at Western University (2022-2023), and the Centre for Ethics at the University of Toronto (2023-2025). His books include Better Never to Have Been (Oxford, 2006), The Second Sexism (Wiley-Blackwell, 2012), The Human Predicament (Oxford, 2017), and Very Practical Ethics (Oxford, 2024).

Zeynep Kadirbeyoğlu is a political scientist with an interest in political ecology, decentralization, local governments, civil society organizations, and citizenship. She worked as a faculty member at the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Boğaziçi University and was the Faculty Leave Fellow at the Crown Center for Middle East Studies at Brandeis University during the 2023/24 academic year. She is a member of the interdisciplinary political ecology working group in Turkey and the Centre for the Study of Social and Global Justice in the UK. She is a country expert (Turkey) for the European University Institute’s Global Citizenship Observatory. She received her PhD from McGill University and an MPhil from the University of Cambridge.   

Inbar Peled researches and teaches in the areas of identity studies, criminal law, and professional ethics. Her work explores inequality in the criminal justice system, focusing on the professional and moral responsibilities of institutional actors. A long-time human rights lawyer working on transformation of legal institutions, she is particularly interested in bridging practice and ethics in discussions of role morality.

Peled holds a PhD from Osgoode Hall Law School, where she was a Vanier Scholar and previously taught as an adjunct professor, an LL.M. from Columbia University as a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar, an additional master’s degree from the University of Toronto, and an LL.B. from Tel Aviv University.

Daniel Telech will be lecturer in philosophy at the University of the Fraser Valley, beginning December 2025. He specializes in ethics, moral psychology, and agency & responsibility. Topics of particular interest to him are the nature and norms of blame and (especially) praise, the emotions integral to our responsibility practices, and non-deontic relational normativity. 

Lima is a 4th-year student majoring in philosophy and political science. She is interested in various aspects of algorithmic governance, including the implications of their aggregating powers for sovereignty, or how they might gain legitimacy without explainability. She also has interests in moral psychology and intellectual ownership. 

Chiara is a fourth-year student at Trinity College, majoring in Ethics, Society & Law and Political Science, with a minor in Urban Studies. Her prior research as a 2024 Laidlaw Scholar focuses on how anti-fascists can utilize political theory from across the entire post-WWII era to recognize fascism on a cultural level. More recently, she has focused on the disturbing ability of highly accessible AI tools to nullify a state’s ability to protect women’s rights. Broadly, her interests are in locating the ethical balance between freedom and restriction which can most meaningfully foster individual freedom without enabling the growth of political extremisms. In her spare time, she is the Editor-In-Chief of the Mindful Journal of Ethics and a painter.

I am a fifth-year student double majoring in Political Science and Ethics, Society and Law. My prior research has namely concerned mobilizing political theory within legal and policy interventions to expand the sociopolitical rights of marginalized groups. More specifically, I am interested in the role of ethical and theoretical considerations in expanding Indigenous jurisdiction and land rights; realizing the right to housing; and constructing poverty eradication solutions. Outside the classroom, I have further explored these interests through research with the University of Toronto Model United Nations and Daniels Housing Initiative. In my spare time, I coach gymnastics and play trumpet.

Sandra is a 4th year student majoring in Philosophy and Technology, Communication, and Society (TCS). Her primary research interests consists of: metaethics (broadly defined), philosophy of mind, philosophy of language, and particulary the intersection between ethics and modal logic, and how traditional ethical concepts are being redefined by technology. She is currently a TA for PHL245, and in her free time loves to paint, draw, and work on her collaborative podcast Thonk! With former fellow Glenda Fu.

Ava is a 4th-year student double-majoring in Philosophy and Political Science. Her academic interests include migration, justice, and environmental ethics, with a particular focus on how social and institutional forces shape the lives of marginalized groups. Through her interdisciplinary studies, she has explored how legal and ethical frameworks respond to the realities faced by those most affected by structural change. She is committed to understanding how theory connects to lived experience, and how complex social issues challenge and deepen our approaches to ethics and justice.

Andrea Cheung is a fourth-year student at the University of Toronto, double majoring in Ethics, Society & Law and Women & Gender Studies. Her academic interests focus on AI and its ethical applications in supporting underprivileged communities, particularly how emerging technologies can be leveraged while recognizing and mitigating discriminatory biases. She explores how AI can support Indigenous communities in trauma-informed ways and was part of the award-winning team behind modU, an AI platform supporting trauma recovery for individuals with PTSD. Expanding her work into the ethical regulation of digital spaces, she is a research member of the American Moot Court Team, where she has explored privacy issues related to facial recognition technology and the Fifth Amendment. Outside of academics, she is a Big Sister with Big Brothers Big Sisters Toronto. 

Emily Huynh is a fifth-year undergraduate student double majoring in Molecular Genetics and Microbiology as well as Cell and Molecular Biology. Her research interests are in ethics of AI, philosophy of AI, responsible AI, algorithmic bias, and social determinants of health. More specifically, she has conducted research on the Ethical Considerations of using AI in Organ Transplantation, to be published in the University of Toronto Press. Emily is also increasingly interested in philosophy of race and ethics of AI in surveillance. Outside of research, she enjoys listening to music and playing badminton. 

Petrina is a Philosophy Specialist, Laidlaw Scholar, and Jackman Humanities Research Fellow at the University of Toronto, where she also works as a teaching assistant in the philosophy department. Her current research broadly examines the conceptual and structural preconditions for meaningful civil discourse. Recently, she has presented work on how competing definitions of “miracle” reflect distinct ontological commitments, shaping both their possibility and the epistemic frameworks for interfaith dialogue. She is also interested in the ethics of algorithmically produced art and its implications for our collective capacity to reimagine the political world and sustain meaningful public discourse. Outside of academia, she is the Co‑Chair of Summit Studies at the G7 Research Group and works with Odd Arts, a theatre organisation delivering creative and wellbeing programmes in prisons, schools, and community settings. 

Sasha Wong is a second-year undergraduate student specializing in Finance at the University of Toronto Mississauga. She will be joining the Centre for Ethics as a Work-Study Communications Assistant. Sasha is passionate about volunteer work and contributing to meaningful causes, and she looks forward to supporting the Centre’s initiatives. Beyond her academic and professional interests, she enjoys art and design and is excited to bring her creativity to her role at the Centre for Ethics.