The ANU School of Philosophy is delighted to announce that Dr Colin Klein will be joining the faculty from 2018 as an Associate Professor. Dr Klein is an Australian Research Council Future Fellow (having gained his PhD from Princeton University in 2007) and works on the philosophy of mind and cognitive science, in particular neuroscience, neuroimaging, and the significance of these for understanding the nature and scope of agency and consciousness.

Dr Klein is the author of What the Body Commands: The Imperative Theory of Pain, published in 2015 by MIT press and winner of the 2016 David Harold Tribe Award in Philosophy, in which he argues for a novel philosophical analysis of pain and of its function. His prolific research output also includes numerous interdisciplinary projects, and publications in leading science, cognitive science, and philosophy journals on such topics as the evidential status of neuroimaging, idealisations and multiple realizability in scientific theories, and the neurological correlates of consciousness. In this last area he has argued that consciousness can emerge in much simpler brain structures than usually envisaged, and that insects for example should be considered as conscious, ego-driven agents; a view discussed and defended in a variety of public media venues, including the New York Times and Australian Geographic.

The depth of research, outreach, and teaching expertise which Dr Klein brings to ANU will complement and enhance the existing strengths of the School of Philosophy, especially in the Philosophy of Science, Philosophy of Cognitive Science, and Philosophy of Mind. The School’s newly launched Centre for Philosophy of the Sciences will be an important vehicle for generating new and exciting collaborative projects in both research and education; Dr Klein’s expertise and energy will now be added into furthering ANU’s mission to be a world leader in this important and rapidly expanding field.