The ERI wishes to congratulate one of our newest researchers, Dr Kian Mintz-Woo (ERI and Lecturer in UCC Dept of Philosophy) on being named as a 2020 Finalist for the Andrew Light Award for Public Philosophy.

The International Society for Environmental Ethics (ISEE) established the award to promote work in public philosophy and honor contributions to the field by Dr. Andrew Light, who was recognized for his distinctive work in public environmental philosophy.

With this award, ISEE strives to recognize public philosophers working in environmental ethics and philosophy, broadly construed, and who bring unique insights or methods that broaden the reach, interaction, and engagement of philosophy with the wider public.  This may be exemplified in published work or engagement in environmental issues of public importance. 

This year’s honorees have made important contributions and provide distinctive examples of the work in public environmental philosophy that is happening today.  The overall winner, Dr. Keith Hyams, is a Reader in Political Theory and Interdisciplinary Ethics in the Department of Politics and International Studies at University of Warwick, this year’s finalists are Dr. Kian Mintz-Woo of UCC and Dr. Jeremy Moss of University of New South Wales.

This is a significant recognition of the contributions of Dr. Mintz-Woo who is still an early career scholar, but has already demonstrated a sustained commitment to publicly engaged philosophy.  As a graduate student at University of Graz, Kian Mintz-Woo helped to develop a public art exhibition, Exhibition CliMatters, which was shown in multiple venues in Austria and drew over 1700 visitors, and he founded, organized, and contributed to the Climate Footnotes blog. 

As a postdoctoral fellow at Princeton University, Dr. Mintz-Woo collaborated with Professor Peter Singer on an article, Put a Price on Carbon Now! published in Project Syndicate on May 7, 2020.  Dr. Mintz-Woo’s academic writing focuses on climate ethics, particularly carbon pricing, discounting, and the social cost of carbon.

You can watch Dr Mintz-Woo participating in a Princeton faculty discussion on the environmental policy in the era of COVID-19 from April 2020, catch up on his recent RTE Brainstorm article, and check out his bio for more of his research interests and outputs.