Dr Christina Easton

• PhD in Philosophy, LSE, 2020
• MA in Religious Education, King’s College London, 2014
• Postgraduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching, Sheffield Hallam, 2012
• PGCE Secondary with Religious Education, King’s College London, 2008
• BA Philosophy and Theology, King’s College London, 2007

I joined Birmingham’s Philosophy Department in 2025. Here I research and teach a range of topics in moral and political philosophy. These topics often relate to current affairs and are matters where changing public policy could make a difference for the better. For example, I think about what values schools should teach to children, how (if at all) we should recruit to the military, and the ways in which law and policy should protect animals.

I was awarded a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship in 2022, and have been using this research time to look at what sort of tolerance schools should be promoting. More generally, I’m interested in the extent to which the state must be neutral between the different values of its citizens, and whether it may seek to influence the beliefs of its citizens via education. I have written a monograph, Teaching Values Whilst Respecting Difference, on this topic (Bloomsbury, 2026).

I don’t think that philosophers should just talk to other philosophers; rather, philosophy should make a difference! With that in mind, I’ve discussed my work on TV, radio and in written media, including TRT World, LBC and the Metro. I’ve also written short-form philosophy articles for outlets like the Huffington Post, Prospect and the Times Literary Supplement. I’ve had some success at getting philosophical argumentation to make a difference. For example, my co-authored work on military recruitment was discussed in the House of Lords, and my co-authored work on Religious Education was heavily referenced in Ofsted’s 2021 research review of the subject.

Before doing my PhD, I was a secondary school teacher of Philosophy and Religious Studies. I taught for 8 years in schools in the outer London area, including as a Head of Department. It was in the classroom that I began thinking about some of the questions that I’m still interested in today: When should we try to pull people towards believing what we know to be right, and when should we be leaving people to make up their own minds? When should we consider a question ‘controversial’? Teaching children taught me a lot about how to make learning engaging and inclusive. I occasionally still do some of the activities I used to do with school children, but now having fun alongside other adults instead!

Political philosophy, especially liberalism, tolerance, neutrality and political liberalism
Animal ethics
Feminist philosophy
Political philosophy of education; moral, religious and civic education; education policy
Ethics of parenting
Moral risk

Find out more - our PhD Philosophy  page has information about doctoral research at the University of Birmingham.

My research interests are broad across moral and political philosophy. Much of my research has been on the political philosophy of education: questions relating to what values the state should teach to children, the role that religion should play in discussion of controversial issues, how teachers should respond to hateful speech in the classroom, the limits of equality of educational opportunity and so on. Some of these questions require that we first know the extent to which the state must be neutral between the values of its citizens. In my book Teaching Values Whilst Respecting Difference, I defend a position that I call ‘thin comprehensive liberalism’. On this view, the state shows respect for persons by avoiding taking a stance on issues of disagreement between citizens, but being ‘neutral’ is not a necessary condition of legitimate political interventions.

I am also interested in political questions relating to gender and sexuality. In previous research, I’ve examined the causal relation between gender differences on cognition tests and women’s under-representation in academic philosophy. I have also written on competitiveness and gender in relation to practices in philosophy, and argued for ways in which high school ‘Philosothons’ might be more inclusive. I’ve also written on LGBTQ+ relationships education, arguing that schools should teach what I call ‘LGBT Approval’ rather than merely ‘LGBT Respect’.

I am also interested in animal ethics, and am working on a project on promoting plant-based diets in schools. In future work, I plan to write on hierarchy in the animal world and on pet euthanasia.