Following the completion of my PhD in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Sydney in 2015, from 2016-19 I took up a position as Junior Research Fellow in the Department of Classics and Ancient History at Durham University. Since 2020 I have been employed as a lecturer in the School of Liberal Arts at the University of Wollongong. You can read about the work I am doing there on my research page.
Interestingly enough, this photo was taken in Sydney long before I had applied to a job in England. I just like flat caps.
The O.G. group of hires for the School of Liberal Arts. From left to right: myself, Elena Walsh, Talia Morag, and Bernardo Ainbinder.
I have lived, studied, and worked in Sydney (and now Wollongong; I’m grouping them!) for the majority of my life, and my fierce regard for my city has been extended to my adopted homeland. I consider myself hugely fortunate to have secured an academic position in Australia, where I can continue to share my life with my oldest friends and family. My trip to the UK did much to extend my horizons, granting me a greater, deeper appreciation for Australia. I am hugely excited to be working for the School of Liberal Arts, which allows me maximum scope to pursue my joint passions in ancient philosophy and classics – and simultaneously!
Interesting conversational partners may find themselves fortunate enough to enjoy the company of the two loves of my life: my wife, Latoya, and my cat, Fish. (Why call a cat 'Fish'? Because she is a cat.) In addition to the immeasurable support emotional, aesthetic, and material she has offered me, Latoya is most publicly treasured by me for igniting my interest of Australian history, her own area of expertise. And sharing her love of this history is also her career. She is currently working at the newly refurbished Hyde Park Barracks in Sydney’s CBD, sharing her love of all things historical with an entirely new crowd.
Fish, in a mode Heraclitean, in both her two-tone appearance and split personality, reminds me of the many oppositions that define us all. But mostly she reminds me constantly that she is hungry. Despite appearances (and actions), she’s a tough little thing, having survived no less than two international trips - we could not have gone to the UK (or back) without her! Despite my best efforts, my own attempts at growing fur have been met with only moderate success.
In addition to my interests in philosophy, I am also a cinephile of some degree, and you can follow my exhaustive (and reductive) rankings of every movie I have ever seen on my IMDB page, and I note particularly my love of genre movies, particularly westerns and musicals. Although this one may be my favourite. I'm also a bit of a beer enthusiast, with a penchant for dark ales of all varieties - my current all time favourite beer being a Mornington Peninsula Scottish Ale (which, unfortunately, only had a limited run). My musical interests are predominantly in classic rock and delta blues. The undeniably greatest rock band in history is Led Zeppelin. Maybe the Rolling Stones. But all thanks to Robert Johnson. And although I predominantly read philosophy for work and play these days, I am quite partial to the writing of Cormac McCarthy, J. M. Coetzee, George Orwell, Hermann Hesse, and P. G. Wodehouse, the last of whom my wife and I read aloud before bed most nights.
On Hadrian's Wall with my amazing colleagues from Durham, George Gazis, François Renaud, and Sarah Miles (who is taking the photo).