About

I work in the philosophy of mind broadly construed. I am especially interested in the interface between cognitive science and philosophy.

Natural Kinds:

I am currently focussing mainly on natural kinds in psychology. Psychologists use particular categories to talk about the mind, such as consciousness, memory, and perception. I am interested in how these categories are developed, and what they must be like in order to explain the success of science. I am currently writing a monograph on this topic.

Other interests:

• Attention (what is attention? How does attention interact with perception, and consciousness?)
• Consciousness (is consciousness just a feature of the brain? How should consciousness be studied scientifically?)
• Perception (can perception occur unconsciously?)
• The metaphysics of properties (how should we understand the properties that make up our world?)

Interdisciplinary Collaborations:

I have also collaborated on three issues with researchers from other disciplines.

• I am fascinated by cultural robotics. Which robots, if any, should be culturally sensitive? What does ‘culture’ mean when we’re talking about robot design? This work is with Dr Masoumeh Mansouri, a computer scientist at the University of Birmingham.
• I have worked on consciousness in infants. When does consciousness emerge in gestation, or infancy? This work is with Professor Andrew Bremner, a developmental psychologist at the University of Birmingham.
• I am very interested in visual crowding. This is when objects in the periphery of the visual field become harder to identify when placed near other objects. This work is with Dr Bilge Sayim, a perceptual psychologist at the University of Bern.

Before Birmingham:

I was a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at the University of Cambridge. I got my PhD in 2015 from the University of Durham.