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Let’s talk about you: what is your background, what do you teach, and what are your research interests?
I arrived at Ca' Foscari about ten years ago, my home university being the London School of Economics. My area of expertise and research is the philosophy of science, with a specific interest in social sciences and how science is used in public discussion.

Tell us about your academic path.
Before coming to Ca' Foscari I spent my entire academic career abroad, in the UK. I taught at Oxford University (where I also earned my PhD), Warwick, University College London and LSE. In all these years, however, I have always kept in touch with Italian universities (including Venice), where I have often been invited to give lectures, seminars and courses.

What has given you the greatest satisfaction in your career?
Being invited to participate in large international projects has always been a source of satisfaction for me, as well as a great opportunity to develop my research interests and a drive to present projects of my own, as in the case of the last European Horizon 2020 project won at Ca' Foscari.
On another, but no less gratifying level, being contacted by my students even after our professional relationship has ended - to inform me of their progress, to ask for advice, to talk about their future - is also a source of satisfaction, and confirmation that the time invested in this type of relationship remains, even in the long term, a fundamental part of our job.

What are you most passionate about in your research?
Seeing, and being able to demonstrate, how philosophy can be useful, not only by presenting us with abstract visions of the world, but by offering specific tools for analysis and possible solutions to problems and challenges posed by our society.

What do teaching and researching mean to you?
Teaching is not just about conveying static content but about engaging your audience in thought experiments and argumentation, even using work-in-progress materials. Doing good research implies a solid background of established skills and knowledge to be rethought, expanded and transformed according to specific objectives and objects being explored.
Teaching and research should not be confused (they follow different rules and purposes) but they inevitably overlap.

Can you offer any advice to researchers in the early stages of their career?
Researching obviously requires dedication, competence, accuracy, methodological precision, respect for the thoughts of others, as well as passion and patience for exploring what is not obvious, what is not immediate. Identifying your own intellectual references is an important part of this process, often to be developed in a team, working together and often across disciplines. This, especially nowadays, often requires material resources beyond those made available by universities, especially in certain areas of research. Understanding how the institutional framework of research works today is therefore an essential apprenticeship for those who are attracted to this world and wish to enter it without unrealistic expectations and with their eyes wide open.