About Me
I am a philosopher specialising in intimacy, love, and relationships.
Currently, I work as an Associate Professor in Applied Ethics at the IDEA ethics centre in the University of Leeds, which I joined in 2022. Before, I held positions at the University of Birmingham and the University of Oxford.
At Leeds, I co-established and run the Centre for Love, Sex, and Relationships, a research hub for the philosophy of intimacy. (Find it on Bluesky and Instagram.)
In 2024 I also co-established Ethical Dating Online, a research network of academics who want to improve online dating. (Find it on Bluesky and Instagram.)
My main research project currently focuses on online dating and digital intimacy. Projected outputs include a trade book, an edited collection on the ethics of dating apps (with Bloomsbury) and an impact case study of my practical work.
Some of my core roles outside academia include:
Acting as an independent advisor to the dating app Feeld.
Leading a review of the industry ethical standards of the Online Dating and Discovery Association.
Collaborated with the UK charity Brook.
Research
I have published on many topics around intimacy and relationships - from asexuality and polyamory, to envy and compersion - and have written three books: an accessible academic work Romantic Agency: loving well in modern life (Polity Press), a trade book Does Monogamy Work? (Thames & Hudson), and, with Natasha McKeever, a textbook The Philosophy of Love, Sex and Relationships: An Introduction (Polity).
I am also co-editor of an in-progress edited collection on the ethics of dating apps for Bloomsbury Books and working on a projected edited collection on philosophical engagement with asexuality and aromanticism.
My academic work appears in prestigious journals like Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, Analysis, Journal of Ethics and Social Philosophy, the European Journal of Philosophy, and the Journal of the American Philosophical Association.
Aside from intimacy, I have also written on blame, social role ethics, microaggression, striking healthcare workers, value pluralism, ideals of the integrated self, and the Buddhist doctrine of emptiness.
I have been funded by the British Academy, both as a post-doctoral researcher and to run my Ethical Dating Online research network.
Popular philosophy
My writing for popular audiences features in venues like the New Scientist (‘Dating apps should fix their problems before saddling us with new ones’), The Conversation (‘The problem with dating apps, and how they can be fixed’, ‘Relationship anarchy is about creating bonds that suit people, not social conventions’, and ‘AI can be your wingman when online dating, but should you let it?’), Aeon (‘Being asexual’ and ‘Imagine there is no jealousy’), the Times Literary Supplement, and many pieces about academia for the Times Higher Education and Independent.
Social commentary
I am a regular social commentator on topics related to my research, and have experience talking about the philosophy of intimacy with journalists and on television and radio.
My writing for popular audiences features in venues like the New Scientist, The Conversation, Aeon, the Times Literary Supplement, the Times Higher Education, and Independent. I have also provided 50+ pieces of commentary on the topic of dating app ethics to publications including: The Observer, The Guardian, BBC News, Financial Times, Le Monde (France), The Telegraph, Daily Mail, The Economist, The Atlantic, CNN, Les Echos (France), NRC (the Netherlands), New York Post, The London Standard, Metro, BBC In Depth, New Scientist, British Vogue, Huffington Post, Cosmopolitan, Prospect, Elle, Men’s Health, Times Higher Education, ABC Australia, Futur (France), Vice, Dazed, Vox, Pink News, Time Out London, Elle Australia, Prensa Libre (Guatemala), Mashable, Gooseberry Magazine, The Lead, and The Tab.
I have also appeared on BBC and ITV television, as well as on BBC 5 Live, LBC News Radion, Radio New Zealand, News Talk Radio Ireland, and BBC Leeds, as well as a range of podcasts.
