Durham PhD Studentships in Philosophy of the Natural, Social and Policy Sciences



Durham University - Two PhD Positions in Philosophy of the Natural, Social and Policy Sciences

The Department of Philosophy at Durham University and Centre for Humanities Engaging Science and Society (CHESS) are inviting applications for two full-time, three-year PhD positions in philosophy of the natural, social and policy sciences, starting in October, 2014. Suitable candidates should have a Masters degree (with merit or distinction) or equivalent, an interest in science and policy and are expected to work in one of the six areas below. We are especially interested in work on these topics that interfaces with climate science, medicine, economics and other social sciences, and social policy.

Evidence, conviction, endeavour
The nature of evidence; policy deliberation,; policy formation and implementation; evidence-based medicine; evidence-based social policy; hierarchies of evidence; evidence amalgamation; non-randomised and randomised experiments; theory and practice of measurement.

Expertise
The nature of scientific expertise; problems of legitimacy and extension; experts in democracy; experts versus mechanical objectivity; the nature of tacit knowledge.

Moral and social order
Visions of well-ordered and disordered, decent and indecent societies; strategies of creating and maintaining order in society; the nature and role of institutions; justifying economic systems; studies of specific cases

Narratives, modelling and representation Models and representation in science; representation in art versus representation in the sciences; literary methods and thought experiments in the sciences and humanities; narratives as evidence; understanding and narratives.

Modality and power
Causality and causal powers; theories of causation; causal inference; counterfactuals.

Values in science and policy
What role values play and why; whose values and who decides; well-ordered science; areas of special concern, e.g. genetic engineering, human subject research, politically sensitive issues where scientific results matter.

Primary supervisors of PhD dissertations will be CHESS directors Professors Nancy Cartwright and Julian Reiss (julian.reiss@durham.ac.uk) or associate director Dr Wendy Parker. Successful candidates are expected to contribute to the research environment at the Centre. Application deadline is February 17, 2014.

To apply for a post please go to the university online system at https://www.dur.ac.uk/postgraduate/apply/ and please note that candidates should also discuss their research proposal with a member of CHESS. Please send a CV, grade average and two-page research proposal to Nicola Craigs atn.j.craigs@durham.ac.uk.

Dr Matthew D Eddy
Durham University, Department of Philosophy, 50/51 Old Elvet, Durham, DH1 3HN, United Kingdom.  http://community.dur.ac.uk/m.d.eddy/