Professor Lisa Bortolotti MA (London), BPhil (Oxon), PhD (ANU)

On study leave in term 1 2024/2025

I have a Laurea in Filosofia (summa cum laude) from the University of Bologna (1997), an MA in Philosophy (with Distinction) from the University of London (1998), a BPhil from Oxford (2000), and a PhD in Philosophy from the Australian National University in Canberra (2004). 

Before joining the Philosophy Department at the University of Birmingham as a Lecturer in 2005, I was Honorary Lecturer in Bioethics in the Centre for Social Ethics and Policy at the University of Manchester and Research Associate on the EC-funded EU-RECA. Since at Birmingham, my research and teaching has focused on the philosophy of the cognitive sciences.

I am the editor in chief of Philosophical Psychology (Taylor and Francis) and the founder of the Imperfect Cognitions blog and The Philosophy Garden, a virtual philosophy museum with resources on timely philosophical issues for young people and the general public.

I am the author of two textbooks, Introduction to the philosophy of science (Polity, 2008) and Philosophy of Psychology: An Introduction (Polity, 2021, with Kengo Miyazono).

I am the author of three monographs, Delusions and Other Irrational Beliefs (OUP, 2009), The Epistemic Innocence of Irrational Beliefs (OUP, 2020), and Why Delusions Matter (Bloomsbury, 2023); and a key concepts book, Irrationality (Polity, 2014). In 2011 I was awarded the American Philosophical Association Book Prize for the 2009 monograph on delusions. 

I edited four volumes, Philosophy and Happiness (Palgrave, 2009); Psychiatry as Cognitive Neuroscience: Philosophical Perspectives (OUP, 2009, with Matthew Broome) which was listed among the Guardian Books of the Year in 2009; Delusions in Context (Palgrave, 2018); and Epistemic Justice in Mental Healthcare: Recognising agency and promoting virtues across the life span (Palgrave, forthcoming in 2024).

I teach on two Masters modules: Philosophy and Mental Health for Philosophy, for on-campus and distance-learning students, and Philosophy and Ethics of Mental Health and Wellbeing for Psychology.

I supervise Philosophical Projects, Masters Dissertations, and PhD theses.

I supervise postgraduate students in Philosophy of Psychology (belief, delusion, confabulation, distorted memory, rationality, cognitive biases, agency) and Philosophy of Psychiatry (classification and diagnosis, psychiatric ethics, notion of mental disorder, youth mental health).

Currently I am supervising the following students: Matt Williams, Seiara Imanova, Noorit Larsen, Eleanor Palafox-Harris, Rosa Ritunnano, and Aisha Qadoos.

To date, twenty PhD students have completed at the University of Birmingham under my supervision.

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

My research interests include: agency, rationality, and self knowledge in psychopathology; delusion and confabulation; biased cognition; epistemic innocence and epistemic injustice; the notion of disorder in the philosophy of medicine. I am also interested in some issues within biomedical ethics.

I am currently working on two funded projects: Agency in Practice led by Michael Larkin at Aston University (funded by UKRI) and Epistemic Injustice in Healthcare led by Havi Carel in Bristol (funded by Wellcome).

For 5 years (2014-2019), I led a project called PERFECT,  Pragmatic and Epistemic Role of Factually Erroneous Cognitions and Thoughts, funded by an ERC Consolidator Grant (EUR 1.900.065). 

• Watch Lisa's inaugural lecture: "Agency without rationality"

Professional service

Current roles:

• Editor in Chief of Philosophical Psychology.
• Series Editor for International Perspectives on Philosophy and Psychiatry, Oxford University Press. 
• Member of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Wellbeing.
• Member of the Editorial Board of European Journal of Analytic Philosophy.
• Member of the Editorial Board of Topoi.
• On the Advisory Board of Philosophical Inquiries (philinq).

Previous roles:

• Associate Editor for Ethical Theory and Moral Practice (2013-2016).
• E-letter Editor for Journal of Medical Ethics (2005-2010).

Editor of Philosophical Psychology.

• Series Editor for International Perspectives on Philosophy and Psychiatry, Oxford University Press. 
• Member of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Wellbeing.
• Member of the Editorial Board of History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences.
• Member of the Editorial Board of European Journal of Analytic Philosophy.
• Member of the Editorial Board of Topoi.
• On the Advisory Board of Philosophical Inquiries (philinq).

Previous roles:

• Associate Editor for Ethical Theory and Moral Practice (2013-2016).
• E-letter Editor for Journal of Medical Ethics (2005-2010).

Membership

I am a member of the Higher Education Academy, the British Philosophical Association, the European Society for Philosophy and Psychology, and the European Society for Analytic Philosophy. 

From 2010 to 2013 I was committee member for the British Society for the Philosophy of Science, and from 2010 to 2015 I was on the Executive of the Mind Association.