James Robinson

Uehiro Scholarship for Future Generations

Joining us from: Australia
​
DPhil Philosophy (2025)

My name is James Robinson and I’m a first-year DPhil student in philosophy at St Cross College, where I am supported by funding from the Uehiro Foundation. 

I am originally from Australia and received my BA in psychology and philosophy from the University of Melbourne, before completing an honours year at the Australian National University and an MA at Stockholm University.

My research in practical ethics focuses on how individuals and institutions can make better decisions when trying to improve the world with limited resources.

More specifically, I work on questions about the structure and nature of wellbeing, and how we ought to navigate difficult trade-offs between the wellbeing of different people. For example, these issues arise in medical settings, where it is typically necessary to prioritise treating some patients at the expense of others, when the severity of their conditions and the resources required to treat them may differ drastically. For instance, how should we decide between saving a single life or preventing many people from suffering a less severe harm, such as losing an arm? Similar challenges arise in contexts like policymaking, where it is often necessary to make trade-offs between goods that are difficult to compare, such as education or health. Although these choices raise complicated ethical questions, clinicians, policymakers, and NGOs are nevertheless required to make them every day. My research therefore aims to help improve the frameworks we use to make such decisions, by examining and refining the ethical assumptions on which they rest.  

This research would not be possible without the generous financial support I have received from the Uehiro Foundation, and I am extremely grateful to both the foundation and St Cross College for giving me the opportunity to undertake my PhD in such a stimulating and supportive environment.