Debating Mind and Rights - Participants

Tilmann Altwicker is Professor of Law specializing in Legal Data Science and Public Law at the University of Zurich. His primary research focuses on legal data (collection, analysis, use), law & statistics, law and machine learning, digitalization, international and regional mechanisms for the protection of human rights and public security law. Prof. Altwicker led the SNSF-Research Group on Transnational Public Security Law and has been visiting professor for political science at the School of Economics and Political Science at the University of St. Gallen. He is also a review panel expert on the European Cooperation in Science & Technology.

Ulrike Babusiaux is Professor of Roman Law, Private Law and Comparative Law at the University of Zurich. Her research specialises in Roman private law, in particular Roman inheritance law. She is also sub-project leader of the University Research Priority Program (URPP) Human Reproduction Reloaded: Normativity of Human Reproduction. She is co-editor of the new comprehensive handbook of Roman Private Law (Tübingen, 2023), as well as co-editor of the journal of Roman Law Studies (Savigny Foundation). She is on the advisory board of the American Journal for Legal History and the Society for the Study of Ancient Rhetoric and on the research council of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. Her current research focus is a project on Roman testamentary law in inscriptions, funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation.

Allen Buchanan has held a constellation of esteemed positions, serving as the Laureate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Arizona, a Distinguished Research Fellow at Oxford University, and a Visiting Professor of the philosophy of international law at the Dickson Poon School of Law at King's College, London. Additionally, he held the title of James B. Duke Professor Emeritus at Duke University. Throughout his career, Buchanan has played roles in shaping ethical and legal frameworks, serving as a staff philosopher for the President's Commission on Medical Ethics and contributing his insights to the Advisory Council for the National Human Genome Research Institute. Buchanan's scholarly output encompasses six seminal books spanning a diverse array of topics, from the foundational principles of international law to the complexities of social and biomedical ethics.

Vincent Carchidi serves as a Non-Resident Scholar at Middle East Institute’s Strategic Technologies and Cyber Security Program and works as an Analyst at RAIN Defence+AI. His expertise spans technology, defence, and international affairs, with a specific focus on artificial intelligence (AI), drawing from his interdisciplinary background in political psychology. Vincent's current endeavours centre on the development of RAIN's global knowledge platform for defence and AI, known as RAINCLOUD. Prior to his role at RAIN, he interned with the editorial team at the National Interest, where he gained insights into the intersection of AI technicalities, technology policy, and geopolitics.

Emilios Christodoulidis holds the Chair of Jurisprudence at the School of Law of the University of Glasgow. He is a Fellow of the British Academy (FBA). He is author of many articles on constitutional theory, critical legal theory, democratic theory and transitional justice, and his book Law and Reflexive Politics won the European Award for Legal Theory in 1996 and the 1998 Society of Legal Scholars (SLS) Prize for 'Outstanding Legal Scholarship'. His work has appeared in English, Greek, French, Japanese, Chinese, Portuguese and Spanish. Between 2011-2018 he was a member of the Executive Committee of the IVR.  Since 2010 he is Docent of the University of Helsinki. He is managing editor of the journal Law & Critique and editor of the series ‘Critical Studies in Jurisprudence’ (Routledge). His recent monograph The Redress of Law was published by Cambridge University Press in 2021 and has been translated into Portuguese and in Spanish.

Caterina Donati is Professor in syntax and interfaces and head of the doctoral school “Language Science” at the University of Paris Cité. Her recent research can be encapsulated into five primary lines of inquiry: the theory of labelling in syntax, the theory, acquisition, processing, typology of relativization strategies, the grammatical description of sign language, experimental syntax and formal constraints on language co-activation in bilinguals.

Adam Etinson is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Philosophical, Anthropological, and Film Studies at the University of St Andrews. His work explores topics in ethics, political philosophy, moral psychology, and social epistemology. Alongside his academic scholarship, he also writes for The New York Times, The Times Literary Supplement, and Dissent. He is a member of the editorial board of The Philosophical Quarterly. Together with Jim Nickel, he co-edited the Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy's entry on human rights.

Christoph B. Graber is Professor of Law specializing in Legal Sociology and Media Law at the University of Zurich. He teaches legal sociology, cyberspace and media law, intellectual property and art law and his primary research focuses on intellectual property, analysing issues of normativity on the internet in relation to technology, and freedom of expression and information within the framework of law and society. Furthermore Prof. Graber has held visiting positions at prestigious institutions such as University of California, Berkeley, Harvard University's Berkman Klein Center and Georgetown University Law Center. His contributions extend beyond academia; he has advised Swiss government branches and the OECD on legal issues concerning intellectual property, trade, and culture. He has also served on various boards and commissions, including the Swiss Federal Arbitration Commission for the Exploitation of Author’s Rights and Neighbouring Rights.

Levin Güver is a PhD student at University College London. He holds a Master of Law from the University of Zurich. His interests are in criminal jurisprudence, broadly construed. He is interested in the action-theoretic foundations underlying criminal law and am composing a thesis on problems surrounding intention and adjacent concepts, such as consent. He is also interested in the philosophy of blame and punishment, the legal and psychological dimensions of causation, and the ethics of artificial intelligence.

Elisabeth Holzleithner is Professor of Legal Philosophy and Legal Gender Studies at the University of Vienna. Her academic journey is marked by a commitment to law, philosophy, and gender studies, cementing her status as a prominent scholar and advocate for gender equality. Her research focuses primarily on Legal Gender Studies, establishing her as a leading authority in the field. Beyond her academic achievements, Holzleithner has been recognized for her contributions to gender equality and women's history. She was awarded the Käthe Leichter Prize in 2001 and the Gabriele Possanner Prize for her scholarly endeavors supporting gender democracy in Austria. Her dedication to gender studies has earned her accolades such as the Frauenring Prize and the Gabriele Possanner State Prize in 2017.

Steven L.B. Jensen is a Senior Researcher in History at the Danish Institute for Human Rights in Copenhagen. His diverse research portfolio extends to topics such as history of social and economic rights in 20^th century international politics, HIV/AIDS, global health development, global inequality, and the effectiveness of national human rights institutions. Notably, Jensen has been a consistent contributor to Open Global Rights, enriching global conversations on human rights issues. Before his tenure at The Danish Institute, he served at UNAIDS in Geneva, focusing on enhancing coordination, strategic planning and civil society involvement in national AIDS responses and UN reform. Additionally, he provided consultancy services for UN agencies like UNAIDS, WHO, and OHCHR

Peter G. Kirchschläger is Professor of Theological Ethics and Director of the Institute for Social Ethics (ISE) at the University of Lucerne. His research focuses on the ethics of artificial intelligence and digital transformation, as well as business, finance, and corporate ethics, human rights ethics, and political ethics. He acts as a consultant on ethical matters for national and international organizations and institutions, including the UN, UNESCO, OSCE, EU, Council of Europe, various companies, and NGOs. He is the Acting President of the Federal Ethics Committee on Non-Human Biotechnology (EKAH). He co-founded and co-directed the International Human Rights Forum Lucerne and was a lecturer and co-founder of the Center for Human Rights Education at the Lucerne University of Teacher Education.

Markus Kneer hold a chair for the Ethics of AI in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Graz. Prior to that, he was a researcher at the University of Zurich working on language, mind and moral psychology and a research fellow at the DSI Zurich where he worked on Ethics & AI and headed the Digital Ethics Lab. He currently heads the SNSF funded Guilty Minds Lab. His work has been published in PNAS, Cognition, Cognitive Science, ACM CSUR, the proceedings of CHI, HRI, CSCW.

Konrad Ksiazek is a DPhil student based at Balliol College. His doctoral research, supervised by Professor John Tasioulas, concerns the living instrument doctrine in the ECtHR. His academic interests include Human Rights Law, Jurisprudence and Legal Theory, as well as Ethics of Artificial Intelligence. Since September 2022, he is the Co-Convenor of the Graduate Research Forum at the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights, where he also completed a Graduate Research Residency in 2023.  He is currently also an Affiliated Student at the Institute for Ethics in AI.

Anne Kühler is Professor of Legal Ethics and Philosophy of Law at the University of Vienna. She also holds a position as a Privatdozent in public law, European law, philosophy of law and methodology at the University of Zurich. Her research focuses on the philosophy of law, legal ethics, methodology, constitutional law, fundamental and human rights, and the foundations of migration law.

Raffaela Kunz is a postdoctoral researcher funded by the UZH Postdoc Grant and the Swiss National Science Foundation. She is also a lecturer in international law at the Europa-Institut of Saarland University. Previously, she was a Junior Fellow at the Collegium Helveticum in Zurich and a Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law in Heidelberg and Berlin with research stays at the Universitet van Amsterdam and the Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society. In her habilitation, she is investigating opportunities and challenges for academic freedom in times of Open Science.

Josh May is Professor of Philosophy and Psychology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. His research integrates scientific inquiry to explore moral dilemmas and societal shifts, primarily focusing on the intersection of ethics and science. His book "Neuroethics" (Oxford University Press, 2023) examines the diverse nature of human agency and mental health, while "Regard for Reason in the Moral Mind" (Oxford University Press, 2018) underscores the pivotal role of reasoning in moral cognition and behavior. In addition to his academic pursuits, he has served on the editorial board for Philosophical Psychology, held leadership positions in the Society for Philosophy and Psychology, coached UAB’s ethics debate team, and contributed to UAB’s Institute for Human Rights.

Christopher McCrudden is Professor of Human Rights and Equality Law at Queens University Belfast, William W Cook Global Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School, and a practicing barrister-at-law with Blackstone Chambers. He was formerly Professor of Human Rights at the University of Oxford, and a Fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford. He is a Fellow of the British Academy (FBA). He was awarded an honorary doctorate by Queen's University in 2006, and a certificate of merit by the American Society of International Law in 2008. He serves on the editorial boards of several journals, including the Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, and the International Journal of Discrimination and the Law, and is co-editor of Cambridge University Press' Law in Context series. He was a member of the Standing Advisory Commission on Human Rights (1984-88), and the Procurement Board for Northern Ireland (2004-2008). In 2011, he was awarded a three-year Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship. During 2013-14, he was a Straus Fellow at New York University Law School, and during 2014-15 he was a Fellow of the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin.

Pascal Meier is Postdoctoral researcher in the field of theory of law at the University of Zurich. Previously, he was a Visiting Research Student at King's College London. He also holds an MSc in Philosophy of Science from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

John Mikhail holds the Carroll Professorship of Jurisprudence at Georgetown University Law Center, where he has been teaching since 2004. His areas of expertise span a wide range of subjects, including constitutional law, moral psychology, legal theory, cognitive science, legal history, criminal law, torts, international law, and human rights. He is the author of "Elements of Moral Cognition: Rawls’ Linguistic Analogy and the Cognitive Science of Moral and Legal Judgment." Recently, his scholarly focus has shifted towards American constitutional history, particularly exploring topics such as the original understanding of the Preamble, the Tenth Amendment, and various constitutional clauses.

Stephen Morse holds a professorship in law as well as psychology and law in psychiatry and is associate director of the center for neuroscience and society at the university of Pennsylvania. He has authored numerous interdisciplinary articles and co-edited collections, including "A Primer on Criminal Law and Neuroscience" and "Foundations of Criminal Law." Currently, he is working on a new book titled "Desert and Disease: Responsibility and Social Control." Morse served as Co-Director of the MacArthur Foundation Law and Neuroscience Project and holds distinguished positions, including Diplomate in Forensic Psychology of the American Board of Professional Psychology and past president of Division 41 of the American Psychological Association. He has received prestigious awards for his contributions to forensic psychiatry and jurisprudence and is actively involved in various mental health and law research networks and organizations.

Shaun Nichols is an esteemed professor of philosophy at Cornell University, focusing on the philosophy of cognitive sciences, moral psychology, and philosophy of mind. Nichols is a prominent figure in experimental philosophy and was honoured with the Stanton Prize by the Society for Philosophy and Psychology in 2005. Throughout his career, Nichols has taught at various institutions, including the College of Charleston, the University of Arizona, and, since 2019, Cornell University. His early work primarily centred on questions regarding the theory of mind and the nature of imagination. Nichols is engaged in diverse research projects spanning experimental philosophy, moral psychology, Bayesian cognitive science, cultural evolution, free will, and the self. Recently he has been utilizing learning theory to explore the process by which individuals grasp philosophically important concepts and distinctions, particularly within the area of morality.

András Sájo, former judge at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, is a University Professor at CEU, where he was the founding dean of Legal Studies. A prominent constitutionalist and distinguished scholar in human rights, particularly in media regulation. He has played key roles in legal drafting across Eastern Europe. Furthermore, he advised on the drafting of constitutions in Ukraine, Georgia, and South Africa. Beforehand he served as Counsel to the President of Hungary, chaired the Media Codification Committee of the Hungarian Government and was the principal draftsman of Hungary's Environment Code. Additionally, he founded and led the Hungarian League for the Abolition of the Death Penalty and served as Deputy Chair of Hungary's National Deregulation Board.

Elizabeth Spelke is a Professor of Psychology at Harvard University. Her laboratory is dedicated to understanding the unique cognitive abilities of humans, particularly the remarkable learning abilities of young children. Her research explores the origins and development of these capacities in infants and children, compares human cognition with that of other animals and cultures, and collaborates with neuroscientists, cognitive scientists, and economists to delve into the mechanisms behind children's learning processes. Current projects investigate various aspects of children's cognitive development, including object recognition, social cognition, numerical reasoning, spatial reasoning, and understanding of the natural world. Through interdisciplinary collaborations, her research expands to include diverse populations, methods, and challenges. Her recent work explores the intersection of children's learning with artificial intelligence research and seeks to inform strategies for global child education and development.

Benjamin Straumann is an ERC-funded Professor of Ancient History at the University of Zurich. Additionally, he serves as a Research Professor at the Department of Classics at New York University and as a Senior Fellow at NYU School of Law. After studies in Zurich, Rome and New York he obtained his doctoral degree in Zurich in 2007 with a disseration on the reception of Roman law and ethics in early modern natural and international law by Hugo Grotius (1583-1645). Since October 2020, he leads the project "The Just City: The Ciceronian Conception of Justice and Its Reception in the Western Tradition". His monograph "Crisis and Constitutionalism: Roman Political Thought from the Fall of the Republic to the Age of Revolution" (Oxford) received the István Hont Prize from the University of St Andrews for the best intellectual history book of 2016.

Sarah Summers is Professor of Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure Law and Criminology at the Faculty of Law of the University of Zurich. She was a member of the Panel Humanities at the Swiss Research Council (SNF) from 2018 until 2023. Her research interests lie in the field of criminal law and human rights. Her research concerns consideration of the empirical realities of criminal justice and of the importance of normative principles underpinning systems of criminal justice in the rule of law. She is co-director of the Digital Society Initiative (DSI), commission member of the Criminal Institute of the Canton of Zurich, a member of the Prosecutorial Regulatory Oversight Commission of the Canton of Basel City. She is also on the Editorial Committee of Quaestio Facti: International Journal on Evidential Reasoning and is on the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Evidence and Proof.