Projects

We support a number of projects, working with a wide range of partners.

Kantian Justice: A Desert-sensitive Responsibility-enhancing Theory

Sorin Baiasu’s €2m (UKRI-funded) ERC Advanced Grant project is designed to formulate a new model of distributive justice in response to growing global economic disparities by drawing on new reconstructions of Kant’s accounts of freedom, moral agency and justice, in order to formulate a distinctive position within dominant egalitarianisms in current political philosophy. Read more about the project.

AHRC-funded Collaborative Doctoral Award on ‘Restorative Practice and Second Victimisation’

Supported jointly by the University of Liverpool and the Stoke-on-Trent City Council, this doctoral project is designed to achieve two interrelated objectives: first, to provide guidance for the application and expansion of the restorative approach in the concrete context of Stoke-on-Trent City Council’s services with particular emphasis on local issues generated by potential economic, social and cultural exclusion (e.g., leading to problems of fairness, including, secondary victimisation, e.g., when the victim is placed under pressure to accept the restorative approach); and secondly, in response to an acknowledged problem for the restorative approach – that its theory has always lagged behind practice – to develop the theoretical framework underpinning the recommended guidance. Christopher Valentine is the doctoral reseacher working on the project and is supervised by Sorin Baiasu together with James Doble (Director – Legal, Governance & Customer Services at the Stoke-on-Trent City Council), Simon Hailwood and Phil Catney (Keele). Read more about the project.

Autonomy, Capital, and Institutional Breakdown: Kantian and Marxian Perspectives on Contemporary Global Crises

This project explores how the philosophical ideas of Kant and Marx can help make sense of today’s interconnected global crises – such as climate change, geopolitical conflict, inequality, and weakening international institutions – by examining the tension between ethical responsibility and the structures of capitalist political economy. Through a structured reading group engaging recent scholarship on the links between Kant and Marx, followed by a two-day workshop with invited academics from multiple fields, the project aims to foster dialogue on rethinking concepts like accountability, authority, autonomy and justice in a rapidly destabilising global context. Read more about the project.

Philosophy and Well-being

The Philosophy and Well-being project explores the contribution academic philosophy can make to our well-being, including mental health. One component of the project consists of a reading group on philosophical counselling; the interdisciplinary group meets once per month to discuss recent and established texts in philosophical counselling (a type of counselling that relies on the approaches and tools made available by philosophical traditions throughout history). Another component of the project explores the role that academic philosophy can play as part of the NHS, in particular as part of mental health interventions.