I joined Stirling's Philosophy department as a Lecturer in August 2019 to pursue my research and teaching interests in political philosophy and ethics.
Before taking up this role, I was a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Ethics in Society at Stanford University for two years. I completed my PhD at the University of Warwick in 2017 (thesis title: "Living Well by Design: An Account of Permissible Public Nudging"), and was awarded my MPhil in political theory from the University of Oxford in 2013. I first studied philosophy and politics while doing my BA (Hons) at Trinity College Dublin.
You can check out the Table of Contents, Foreword (by Onora O'Neill), and Introduction (by Aveek Bhattacharya and myself) of my forthcoming book, Political Philosophy in a Pandemic: Routes to a More Just Future, here: .
General Editor, Justice Everywhere
I am an editor of a collaborative blog, Justice Everywhere, about philosophy in public affairs. I took on this role in 2018, but have been contributing to the site since 2014.
Nominated for Research Culture Award 2021
Together with Professor Rowan Cruft, I run the Stirling Political Philosophy Group, which meets several times per semester to discuss work from political philosophers both at Stirling and elsewhere. This group was nominated for a Research Culture Award in the Best Activity that Enhances Research Culture category, on account of its sense of inclusion and warm atmosphere in addition to its intellectual rigour.
Elected to the Council of The Royal Institute of Philosophy
Member of the Centre of Ethics, Philosophy and Public Affairs (CEPPA)
University of St Andrews
Member of The Neuroethics Collective
University of British Columbia
Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA)
Higher Education Academy
My main research interests are in political philosophy and (practical) ethics, though increasingly these interests are moving me towards exploring topics in moral psychology and social epistemology too.
My work focuses primarily on the ethics of influence, broadly understood. Within this, I've been working on: the political morality of nudging (i.e., behavioural public policy); how we might accommodate social embeddedness into our understanding of autonomy and paternalism (including some work on trust); salience and attention, and the ways in which these can be adjusted or curated for the purposes of epistemic and/or ethical ends; and the ethics and politics of “caring technologies”.
Given the close relationship between my philosophical topics and public policy, I'm keen to be involved in projects that reach beyond the academy.
I am a member of the Neuroethics Collective (based out of the University of British Columbia) and the Centre for Ethics, Philosophy and Public Affairs (CEPPA, University of St Andrew's). I also co-edit a collaborative blog, Justice Everywhere, about philosophy in public affairs ().
You can check out the Table of Contents, Foreword (by Onora O'Neill), and Introduction (by Aveek Bhattacharya and myself) of my forthcoming book, Political Philosophy in a Pandemic: Routes to a More Just Future, here: .
Book Review
Niker F (2022) Frame It Again: New Tools for Rational Decision-Making, José Luis Bermúdez. Cambridge University Press, 2020, x + 330 pages.. Review of: Frame It Again: New Tools for Rational Decision-Making, José Luis Bermúdez. Cambridge University Press, 2020, x + 330 pages. ISBN: 9781107192935. Economics and Philosophy, 38 (2), pp. 320-326. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0266267121000316
Edited Book
Political Philosophy in a Pandemic: Routes to a More Just Future
Niker F & Bhattacharya A (eds.) (2021) Political Philosophy in a Pandemic: Routes to a More Just Future. London: Bloomsbury Academic. https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/political-philosophy-in-a-pandemic-9781350225893/
Article
Introduction: Regulating the Public Sphere in a Post‐Truth World
Niker F & Yarrow D (2021) Introduction: Regulating the Public Sphere in a Post‐Truth World. Political Quarterly, 92 (4), pp. 594-597. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-923x.13030
Book Chapter
Autonomy, Evidence-Responsiveness, and the Ethics of Influence
Niker F, Felsen G, Nagel S & Reiner P (2021) Autonomy, Evidence-Responsiveness, and the Ethics of Influence. In: Blitz M & Bublitz JC (eds.) The Law and Ethics of Freedom of Thought, Volume 1: Neuroscience, Autonomy, and Individual Rights. Palgrave Studies in Law, Neuroscience, and Human Behavior. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 183-212. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-84494-3_6
Article
What Social Media Facilitates, Social Media should Regulate: Duties in the New Public Sphere
Smith L & Niker F (2021) What Social Media Facilitates, Social Media should Regulate: Duties in the New Public Sphere. The Political Quarterly, 92 (4), pp. 613-620. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-923x.13011
Book Chapter
Bhattacharya A & Niker F (2021) Introduction. In: Niker F & Bhattacharya A (eds.) Political Philosophy in a Pandemic: Routes to a Most Just Future. London: Bloomsbury Academic, pp. 1-10. https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/political-philosophy-in-a-pandemic-9781350225893/
Book Chapter
Harnessing the Epistemic Value of Crises for Just Ends
Adams M & Niker F (2021) Harnessing the Epistemic Value of Crises for Just Ends. In: Niker F & Bhattacharya A (eds.) Political Philosophy in a Pandemic: Routes to a More Just Future. London: Bloomsbury Academic, pp. 219-232. https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/political-philosophy-in-a-pandemic-9781350225893/
Book Chapter
Niker F (2020) Iris Murdoch. In: Buxton R & Whiting L (eds.) The Philosopher Queens: The lives and legacies of philosophy's unsung women. London: Unbound, pp. 103-112. https://unbound.com/books/philosopher-queens/
Book Chapter
Trusting Relationships and the Ethics of Interpersonal Action
Niker F & Specker Sullivan L (2019) Trusting Relationships and the Ethics of Interpersonal Action. In: Baghramian M (ed.) From Trust to Trustworthiness. London: Routledge. https://www.routledge.com/From-Trust-to-Trustworthiness/Baghramian/p/book/9780367183103
Research Report
Coding Caring: Human Values for an Intimate AI
Niker F, Himmelreich J, Feldman J & Currie M (2019) Coding Caring: Human Values for an Intimate AI. Stanford University's One Hundred Year Study on Artificial Intelligence (AI100). https://ai100.stanford.edu/sites/g/files/sbiybj18871/files/media/file/coding_caring_workshop_report_1000w_0.pdf
Book Chapter
Policy-led Virtue Cultivation: Can we nudge citizens towards developing virtues?
Niker F (2018) Policy-led Virtue Cultivation: Can we nudge citizens towards developing virtues?. In: Harrison T & Walker DI (eds.) The Theory and Practice of Virtue Education. London: Routledge, pp. 153-167. https://www.routledge.com/The-Theory-and-Practice-of-Virtue-Education/Harrison-Walker/p/book/9780367371418
Article
Trusting Relationships and the Ethics of Interpersonal Action
Niker F & Specker Sullivan L (2018) Trusting Relationships and the Ethics of Interpersonal Action. International Journal of Philosophical Studies, 26 (2), pp. 173-186. https://doi.org/10.1080/09672559.2018.1450081
Article
Niker F, Reiner PB & Felsen G (2018) Updating our Selves: Synthesizing Philosophical and Neurobiological Perspectives on Incorporating New Information into our Worldview. Neuroethics, 11 (3), pp. 273-282. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12152-015-9246-3
Article
Perceptions of Undue Influence Shed Light on the Folk Conception of Autonomy
Niker F, Reiner PB & Felsen G (2018) Perceptions of Undue Influence Shed Light on the Folk Conception of Autonomy. Frontiers in Psychology, 9 p. 11, Art. No.: 1400. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01400
Article
Relational Autonomy, Paternalism, and Maternalism
Specker Sullivan L & Niker F (2018) Relational Autonomy, Paternalism, and Maternalism. Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, 21 (3), pp. 649-667. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10677-018-9900-z
Commentary
Relational Autonomy, Maternalism, and the Nocebo Effect
Specker Sullivan L & Niker F (2017) Relational Autonomy, Maternalism, and the Nocebo Effect. American Journal of Bioethics, 17 (6), pp. 52-54. https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2017.1314048
Article
Pre-Authorization: A Novel Decision-Making Heuristic That May Promote Autonomy
Felsen G, Niker F & Reiner PB (2016) Pre-Authorization: A Novel Decision-Making Heuristic That May Promote Autonomy. The American Journal of Bioethics, 16 (5), pp. 27-29. https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2016.1159761
Since joining Stirling, I have taught on several modules, broadly covering moral and political philosophy, at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels.
This has included: lecturing on moral responsibility and abortion (PHIU912) and John Stuart Mill's political philosophy (PHIU913); teaching topics on moral psychology relating to "Humanity as an Ethical Idea" (PHIU9HI); coordinating a module on "Feminist Philosophy" (PHIU9FS); and convening the moral, political, and legal philosophy strand of a SASP MLitt seminar in which we studied Bernard Williams' "Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy".
I will be teaching on the philosophy of human rights for the MSc in Human Rights and Diplomacy in Spring 2021.
I also supervise dissertations at the undergraduate, Master's and PhD level, and coordinate dissertations for the Politics, Philosophy and Economics (PPE) programme.