Current PhD Students - Philosophy | Trinity College Dublin

Mackenzie Batista

Research

My primary research focus is political philosophy, with a specific interest in the rights and responsibilities of groups and collectives, justice, social issues, and human rights. My PhD project Independence Movements and the Pursuit of Statehood has 2 central aims, firstly, to to present an account of political legitimacy that adequately accommodates independence movements; and secondly, to clarify the pathway to statehood for a legitimatized independence movement.

I will take a rights-based approach to accomplish these aims, addressing topics such as the right to self determination, territory, independence movement rights, issues of secession, and collective decision-making procedures.

Supervisor | Adina Preda

Thesis Committee | Farbod Akhlaghi, John Divers

Educational Background
Master of Arts (MA) in Philosophy | McMaster University | 2023

Philip Browne

Research

My interests fall in the intersection between philosophy and theology. My research project is looking at the problem of God and abstract objects, with some help from Thomas Aquinas and other mediaeval thinkers.

Basically, the problem is that if God is the source of all that exists, what do we do with abstract objects such as numbers which seem to exist independent of God?

While most theists hold to some kind of realism regarding abstract objects, I hope to explore the nominalist tradition as a way of solving the problem, by denying that there are such things as abstract objects.

Supervisor | Paul O'Grady

Educational Background
I worked as an apprentice coachbuilder before completing an access programme to get into university. At undergraduate level I studied politics, philosophy, and economics for a year at Queen’s University Belfast before changing my degree pathway to study a BD in theology. I then completed my MPhil in philosophy at Trinity College Dublin, and I am currently a PhD candidate at the same institution.

Elizabeth Ann Corbett

Research

My research focuses on Plato’s Parmenides one of Plato’s most enigmatic dialogues. This dialogue presents a critical examination of the theory of forms as well as an investigation into the one or unity and being. There is much argument among scholars on the structure and validity of the deductions of the second part of the dialogue and their philosophical significance as well the interrelatedness of the first and second part of the dialogue.

In this research doctorate I aim to present a reading of the second half of the Parmenides in a way that shows the unity of the dialogue and its significant metaphysical importance.

Supervisor | Vasilis Politis

Thesis Committee | James Levine, Alison Fernandes

Educational Background
MBA | Trinity College Dublin
BSc in Computer Science | University College Cork

Jun Han

Research

My research focuses on Ancient Philosophy, specializing in the purification problem in Plato’s soul account. It surrounds Plato’s Phaedo, drawing attention to the tension between the metaphysical immortality of the soul and the ethical significance of its purification.

This research aims to provide an interpretation that dissolves this philosophical tension, by examining the soul’s purifiability which involves critical engagements with other dialogues, rather than merely critiquing Plato’s argument. I also attempt to disclose the contemporary relevance of this problem in one way or another.

Besides the current research, I distribute my interests in ethical issues in everyday life, especially the ones rooted in socio-tech causes. Furthermore, Philosophy of Technology is one of the two pillars that support me passing through the journey till date.

Supervisor | Vasilis Politis

Thesis Committee | Paul O’Grady, Lilian Alweiss

Educational Background
MA in Philosophy | University of Leeds
MPA | Fudan University
BS in Electronics | Fudan University

Minfei Jiang

Research

My research focuses on Plato’s philosophy, with particular interest in the intersections of metaphysics, cosmology, ethics and moral psychology in his post-Republic dialogues, especially the Timaeus, Statesman, Philebus, and Laws.

My intended doctoral work will examine the relationship between god, the cosmos, and the human soul in these texts. I am also interested in contemporary philosophical discussions that share affinities with themes in Plato’s thought.

Supervisor | Vasilis Politis

Thesis Committee | Paul O'Grady, Ashley Shaw

Educational Background
B.A. in Finance | Central University of Finance and Economics
M.A. in Philosophy | China University of Political Science and Law

Mustafa Khuramy

Research

My research interests are in metaphysics (i.e. what things exist), value theory (i.e. what things are valuable), and epistemology (i.e. how we can know anything).

Some of my research has appeared in venues such as the Asian Journal of Philosophy, Res Philosophica, and Synthese. I have also delivered talks on some of my research at conferences at Cambridge, KCL, Oxford, and UCL.

Supervisor | Farbod Akhlaghi

Educational Background
BA (First Class Hons) in Philosophy | University of Hertfordshire | 2026

Personal website | khuramy.uk

Alexander McQuibban

Research

My research interests lie at the intersection between various sub-disciplines and everything 'meta': meta-ontology, (meta-)metaphysics, meta-ethics, and meta-philosophy. Ultimately, I'm most interested in challenging philosophical assumptions and methodology.

My PhD applies this scrutiny to explanatory appeals to abstracta and across three sub-disciplines: mathematics, modality, and morality. I suspect these appeals to be critically faulty failing to confer ontological legitimacy to the abstracta they rely on.

Elsewhere, I am interested in the philosophy of religion, the philosophy of language, epistemology, non-Western philosophy, and philosophical education (particularly, outside tertiary education and in underserved communities). I am also a Gaeilgeoir-in-training.

Supervisor | Farbod Akhlaghi

Camilla Persello

Supervisor | Lilian Alweiss

Francesco Piscitello

Research

My primary research interests are in phenomenology, existentialism and the philosophy of Kant.

The aim of my research is to study the nature and meaning of “forward-looking responsibility for structural injustice”. I will be focusing on what motivates an individual to take on this kind of responsibility, according to three perspectives which concur in shaping who we are: the "Self", the "Immediate Other", and the "Shared World".

I wish to show that this tripartite structure allows us to grasp fully the nature of forward-looking responsibility for structural injustice and what it means to take charge of it in our lives.

Supervisor | Lilian Alweiss

Thesis Committee | Adina Preda, Farbod Akhlaghi

Educational Background
MPhil in Philosophy | Trinity College Dublin |2022-2023