Katerina Jennings

Uehiro Scholarship for Future Generations

Joining us from: London, UK
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DPhil Philosophy (2023)

My name is Katerina Jennings, and I’m pursuing a DPhil (PhD) in Philosophy at the University of Oxford with funding from the Uehiro Scholarship for Future Generations and the Oxford Faculty of Philosophy.

Originally from London, I moved to New York in 2014 to attend New York University (NYU) to study Philosophy and Mathematics, where I wrote my honours thesis under the supervision of Prof. Samuel Scheffler. I then began my professional career at Morgan Stanley and later co-launched Countdown Capital, a venture capital firm investing in ethically-minded emerging industrial tech at the earliest stages in areas like energy, manufacturing, and aerospace, culminating in the sale of our portfolio to Andreessen Horowitz in early 2024. My DPhil thesis will explore the ethics of single-sex spaces—such as prisons, single-sex schools, and sport—and the distinct philosophical challenges that each will pose to transgender inclusion, namely concerns regarding: fairness, voluntariness, and safety. I will explore whether such spaces are morally permissible and will question the overall legitimacy of single-sex spaces in contemporary society. I’m also co-authoring a book on this topic called Gender Ethics with Prof. Brian Earp, one of Uehiro’s distinguished faculty members, which will be published by Polity Press in 2026.

My interest in this subject follows from my work conducted during my Master’s at Oxford’s Uehiro Institute, which culminated in a paper on the regulations that require intersex athletes to suppress their testosterone levels published in the top-ranking bioethics journal, the American Journal of Bioethics.

In addition to the Uehiro Scholarship, I’m also honoured to be the recipient of one of the St Cross Community Bursary awards for the 2024-2025 year to aid me in funding my extracurricular pursuits outside of the DPhil. I volunteer-teach at HMP Bronzefield Prison as part of the Philosophy in Prison (PiP), a charity run by a community of philosophers working to make philosophical thinking accessible to anyone, irrespective of educational background and literacy, and I contribute to the University theatre and comedy scene as President of the Oxford Revue, Oxford’s oldest comedy society. The Revue’s overarching goal is to foster the support, development, improvement, and promotion of comedy in Oxford. We perform in shows throughout the year, including annually at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where we’ll be returning this August 2025 to perform in our 62nd consecutive Fringe show, which I will be directing and producing.