AUSTIN A. BAKER

I'm a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Oslo and part of the GoodAttention Project, funded by the European Research Council. I work on topics in philosophy of cognitive science, social philosophy, and philosophy of law. Before coming to Oslo, I was a Postdoctoral Associate at the Rutgers Center for Cognitive Science.

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I received my PhD in Philosophy and Graduate Certificate in Cognitive Science from Rutgers University and my undergraduate degree from the University of Edinburgh. During my PhD, I was also a member of Chaz Firestone's lab in the Johns Hopkins Psychological and Brain Sciences Department, where I was based during the 2018-2019 academic year.

My research addresses social bias and discrimination through the interdisciplinary lenses of philosophy, psychology, neuroscience, and law. My recent work examines the way social prejudices (sexism, racism, etc.) influence basic mental processes, including perception, attention, and nonverbal communication. I've explored the legal implications of this research as well, arguing that philosophically and empirically-motivated accounts of bias can meaningfully inform policies aimed at reducing discrimination. I'm also interested in transgender studies, and have work which addresses social discrimination against transgender people.

In my spare time, I've been known to amble up tall mountains, cook (fairly edible) vegan food, and spend time with my cat Hamish.

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