Associate Professor, Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics, Center for Neural Engineering and Rock Ethics Institute, The Pennsylvania State University
Laura Cabrera’s interests focus on the ethical and societal implications of neurotechnology and neuroscientific advances. She has been working on projects at the interface of normative, conceptual and empirical approaches, exploring attitudes and ethical concerns of professionals, patients and members of the public toward brain interventions. Her work has also focused on the ethical and social implications of environmental changes for brain and mental health.
Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, University of Utah
Joyce C. Havstad is a philosopher of science and values, with a background in scientific practice. She has worked on soil ecology at Bodega Marine Laboratory, on plant genetics at UC Davis, in a gene expression laboratory at the Salk Institute, and behind the scenes at the Field Museum. She has written on animal ethics, avian origins, climate science and policy, homology, human reproductive cloning, macroevolution, natural selection, philanthropic pedagogy, and voucher specimen collection. She has performed an extended ethnography of the laboratory—but also countless tail clips, PCRs, and Western blots. She is an editor at Philosophy, Theory, and Practice in Biology and is a founder and contributor at Extinct, the philosophy of paleontology blog. She teaches ethical theory, history, and practice to undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City—with joint appointments in the Department of Philosophy, the Office of Research Integrity and Compliance, and the Center for Clinical and Translational Science. Throughout her professional work, and whenever warranted, she aims to ensure that complex matters of scientific practice are nonetheless accessible, responsible, and rigorous.
Assistant Professor of the History and Philosophy of Science at Underwood International College, Yonsei University.
Bennett Holman’s research spans a diverse array of topics including the history of evidence-based medicine, the use of placebos in medical research, how industry funding can bias the social structure of scientific communities, the replication crisis, the role of diversity in science and democracy, political polarization, and the implication of post-truth politics for science studies.
His most recent research examines how evidence should be combined to assess the safety and efficacy of drugs. Recently, in collaboration with scholars at the Oxford Center for Evidence-based Medicine, he reexamined the safety of hormone pregnancy tests and found evidence that their use was associated with birth defects. Further work examining the methodological choices which led to difference between these conclusions and an independent expert working group convened by the British Government is now under way.
Associate Professor, Department of Knowledge Integration, University of Waterloo
Dr. Kathryn S. Plaisance’s research interests are in the areas of engaged philosophy of science, interdisciplinary collaboration, and interactional expertise. Dr. Plaisance began publishing on the topic of engaged philosophy of science over a decade ago, when she and Dr. Carla Fehr co-edited a special issue of Synthese on “Making Philosophy of Science More Socially Relevant.” This work led to the formation of the International Consortium of Socially Relevant Philosophy of/in Science and Engineering (SRPoiSE), the largest network of philosophers of science devoted to doing engaged work. In addition to her philosophical work on this topic, Dr. Plaisance has been conducting empirical research on the state of the discipline, using both quantitative and qualitative approaches to study philosophers’ experiences, attitudes, and values with respect to doing socially and scientifically engaged work. She plans to continue this work through a recently funded Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Insight Grant (2020-25) entitled, “Engaging Science with Philosophy: Best Practices for Fostering Effective Collaboration.”
Professor of Philosophy of Science and Technology, Institute of Philosophy & Centre for Ethics and Law in the Life Sciences (CELLS), Leibniz Universität Hannover
Thomas Reydon is Professor of Philosophy of Science and Technology in the Institute of Philosophy at Leibniz University Hannover, Germany, with a cross-appointment as Professor in the Centre for Ethics and Law in the Life Sciences (CELLS). He received his PhD degree from Leiden University, the Netherlands, where he also obtained Master’s degrees in physics and in philosophy of science. He is Editor in Chief of the Journal for General Philosophy of Science as well as the Springer book series History, Philosophy and Theory of the Life Sciences, and a founding member and Board Member of the German Society for Philosophy of Science (GWP). His research focuses on evolutionary theory, scientific explanations, classification in the sciences, natural kinds, connections between classification and nature conservation, research ethics and responsibility.