British Philosophical Association

All BPA members should receive by 20 June, by email, a ballot form for the 2010 Executive Committee elections. If you think you’re a member and haven’t received a ballot form, please email us on admin@bpa.ac.uk. The deadline for voting is 2 July.

There are five candidates for the three vacant positions; below are brief statements from the candidates.

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Mark Addis

(website …)
Nominated by MM McCabe, seconded by Helen Beebee

I am Professor of Philosophy at Birmingham City University. Since 2007 I have been a member of the Committee for Philosophy in Schools and the Executive Committee taking the role of Treasurer in 2008. In this capacity I have sought to expand individual membership. My student (Oxford and Russell Group) and work experience has enabled me to understand the diverse challenges facing departments including the particular problems that arise from being part of a very small group. Philosophy is facing difficult challenges in terms of research funding and the increasing emphasis upon STEM subjects. The pressures are especially acute in the new universities and if philosophy is to have a good long term future it must maintain a presence in that sector. I have engaged in extensive work to support new university philosophy. As well as addressing issues of general concern to the profession I wish to continue doing this along with acting as Treasurer.

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Maria Alvarez

(website …)
Nominated by MM McCabe, seconded by Helen Beebee

I am a Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Southampton and have been a member of the Executive Committee since 2007. During that time I have actively engaged in the BPA’s various activities, among others: dialogue with funding and government bodies to influence funding and educational policy, supporting and mobilizing others to support departments under threat, seeking to raise the profile of philosophy in a variety of ways, etc.

In the current difficult climate, the BPA must continue to promote the subject and its image, to fight for a proper recognition of the value of philosophy by the relevant funding and government bodies and by the wider community, to improve the teaching of philosophy, especially at school
level, and to represent the interests of the varied constituencies that make up the profession. I should like to continue helping the BPA to do this as a member of the Executive committee.

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Sorin Baiasu

(website …)
Nominated by Guiseppina D’Oro, seconded by Gordon Finlayson

I am a lecturer in Philosophy at Keele University, where I currently act as Programme Director. I am also the Secretary of the UK Kant Society, a member of their Executive Committee, and co-convenor of the Kantian Standing Group of the European Consortium for Political Research. I am seeking election prompted primarily by the difficult situation of higher education and in particular Philosophy at the moment. As member of the BPA’s Executive Committee, one of my main concerns would be to contribute to the BPA’s representation of professional philosophers in the UK. In the current context, coordinating the opinions of British professional philosophers and expressing them effectively are essential if our views are to have any chance of being seriously considered by relevant bodies in higher education and beyond. My particular circumstances facilitate such a role: I have only recently been confirmed in post, and hence in a good position to represent lecturers employed on fixed-term contracts and on probation, as well as junior permanent staff. I am employed by a university that belongs neither to the Russell group nor the “new universities”, and work in a context in which Philosophy is part of a larger School. Finally, I have relatively broad philosophical teaching and research interests, and I am open to various methods and approaches in philosophy; so I am able and willing to listen to a diversity of views. Taken together, these institutional and intellectual features of my work and situation equip me especially well to defend the interests of a wide range of philosophical groups.

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John Callanan

(website …)
Nominated by David Papineau, seconded by Adrian Moore

I am a lecturer in the Department of Philosophy at King’s College London. At KCL I have served as graduate admissions tutor and will take up the role of tutor for graduates. I have first-hand experience of the pressures and threats that Philosophy in higher education is facing (and will continue to face in the near future). As a result of that experience, I have gained a sense of the crucial role that the BPA can play in representing philosophy departments and of the value of a single voice for our profession at the national level. My view of the central issues that the BPA must look to address are (i) the swift and clear formulation of responses on behalf of the philosophical academic community to the new challenges our profession is facing; (ii) the development of support for the increasing amount of qualified job applicants in a limited and competitive market

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Brendan Larvor

(website …)
Nominated by Dan Hutto, seconded by Gillian Howie

I am principal lecturer and head of philosophy at the University of Hertfordshire, where I have worked since 1997, following short appointments at Oxford and Liverpool.

Leading a philosophy group within a department of humanities at a post-92 university means that making the case for philosophy in HE is a routine task for me. I also work to engage the public with philosophy on three fronts: outreach programmes to schools in Hertfordshire; speaking engagements with the University of the Third Age; and campaigning and advisory work with the British Humanist Association. The BPA needs to respond astutely to the threats facing philosophy departments, and I believe that my experience in doing and promoting philosophy in more or less unphilosophical contexts will be an asset.

Teaching philosophy to students who do not arrive at university already familiar with academic culture has provoked me to think more deeply about the teaching of philosophy than would otherwise have been the case, and this has become a strand in my research and publications. With the HEA subject centres under budgetary threat, I would like to see the BPA examining its own scope for action in support of teaching both in HE and in schools.

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The BPA’s AGM will be held on Saturday lunchtime at the Joint Session in Dublin. This short meeting will be followed by a meeting for temporary contract staff (until 2pm). We have set up a working group to look at ways in which the career development and working conditions of temporary contract staff might be improved; this is your opportunity to share with us any experiences, ideas and suggestions you might have. The meeting is open to everyone, but we are particularly keen to hear from those who are or have recently been employed on short-term and/or part-time contracts.

Please let us know if you would like to attend the meeting. A sandwich lunch will be provided; it would help a lot if you could also let us know whether you have paid for lunch already. (Email h.beebee AT bham.ac.uk.) Those attending just the AGM will have time to grab lunch afterwards.

12 June: The Centre for Research in Modern European Philosophy, along with its four senior members of staff (Erci Alliez, Peter Hallward, Peter Osborne and Stella Sandford) will be relocating to Kingston University, while two staff will remain at Middlesex in the short term to teach out the discontinued undergraduate programme (click here for more information). It’s heartening that at least one university is prepared to invest in new philosophy provision (though we understand there are no plans at present to introduce an undergraduate programme at Kingston); on the other hand it is of course depressing that Middlesex have stuck with their original decision and have treated their staff and students so badly in the aftermath.

31 May: Following the suspension of staff and students involved in the recent occupation of university buildings, the BPA, AAP and APA have again written to the senior management and Chancellor of Middlesex, urging them to reinstate the staff and students and to conduct a full review, with external panel members, of the University’s philosophy provision. You can read it here.

8 May: The ‘Save Middlesex Philosophy‘ campaign is in full swing. Read Nina Power’s Guardian article about it here, and a THE article here. The letter sent to the senior management at Middlesex from the BPA, APA and AAP is here; we have also coordinated letters from UK learned societies and heads of philosophy departments.

The threat of redundancies in the KCL philosophy department appears to have gone away. Here’s what David Papineau, Head of Department, says on a Philos-L post:

“I’m pleased to say that King’s has just announced that it will be able to make the necessary cost savings in the School of Arts and Humanities without any forced redundancies. This is excellent news, particularly for the Philosophy Department. One result of the difficult last few months has been to bring home to everyone the value of our Department and the importance of preserving its strengths. Nobody is leaving the Department. In particular Shalom Lappin, Wilfried Meyer-Viol and Charles Travis will all be remaining with us. What is more, we expect to be advertising one or more new appointments very soon. On behalf of my colleagues, I’d like to thank all those who have done so much to support us over the last few months. They have made all the difference.”

… have announced the closure of their Philosophy Department; read about it here. We’re in contact with the Department and will of course be taking action in due course.

Meanwhile, Nina Power’s website (here) has a lot of information and a link to the ‘Save Middlesex Philosophy’ website (where you can sign an online petition).