Jules Holroyd
School of History, Philosophy and Digital Humanities
Senior Lecturer
Deputy Head of Department
Director of One University
Full contact details
School of History, Philosophy and Digital Humanities
45 Victoria Street
Sheffield
S3 7QB
- Profile
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I studied for my PhD in Philosophy at The University of Sheffield (2004-2008). In 2008 I took up a Junior Research Fellowship at Churchill College, Cambridge; followed by lectureships at Cardiff University (2009-2011), and the University of Nottingham (2012-2015). In 2016 I took up a Vice-Chancellor's Fellowship at Sheffield. In 2022 I became Senior Lecturer. In 2022-2023, I had a Mind Major Research Fellowship to write a book on oppressive praise, for OUP.
- Research interests
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My teaching and research focuses on addressing injustices. Addressing these questions requires understanding of the nature of injustices – in resources, knowledge, access to opportunities and so on – and attention to the ways in which we might sustain them, including unwittingly. It also requires attention to what we can do to make our societies and institutions more just.
My current work focuses on how praise - which philosophers have typically assumed to be a benefit - might instead sometimes perpetuate oppression and injustice.
Much of my previous research has focused on implicit gender and racial biases – automatic patterns of thought that can lead us to stereotype and discriminate. I am also interested in other ways in which we, and institutions in which we participate, perpetuate injustices, and what to do about it – my research has examined notions such a discrimination, collective vices, and integrity in criminal justice. This research spans the topics of political philosophy, moral psychology and social philosophy (in particular, feminist philosophy and philosophy of race). I have managed interdisciplinary research projects (with psychologists) that have investigated how to address implicit biases (with a Leverhulme Trust Project Grant, 2014-2017), and worked with legal scholars in exploring the implications of this research for legal concepts and practice.
I have had the opportunity to use this research in a range of contexts:
- to engage with practitioners in the Judiciary and the Civil Service in the UK, in discussions about how to make these institutions more just.
- I have been working with the University on practices for making our University a more inclusive space for transgender staff and students. This includes the co-production of a gender inclusion policy, and recommendations to make parental leave policies more trans inclusive.
- In 2020-2021, with Dr Jenny Clark (Physics) I have been working on a report into experiences of parental leave. This is being drawn on to improve experiences of parental leave and to work towards gender equity. Key recommendations included:
- clearer checklist to empower those taking leave to know their entitlements;
- removal of service conditions for access to enhanced leave;
- gender-neutral framing of parental leave schemes;
- enhanced entitlements for both parents.
- The report is here, and details how changes of these kinds are well supported by wider research into equity in the workplace, and could address some of the problems at UoS. We will be preparing another report, on progress made, in 2025.
- In 2021-2022, I worked with students in the department on two funded Race Equality Internships. The Philosophy Department Race Equality and Decolonisation interns pursued a range of activities to further race equality in philosophy (for full report see here). We secured further faculty funds to support, in 2022-2023, a BAME student peer mentoring programme, and a series of talks and workshops on decolonisation.
I am co-director of the Centre for Engaged Philosophy, at Sheffield.
- Publications
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Journal articles
- The Distortions of Oppressive Praise: Challenges for Practice-Dependent Theories of Moral Responsibility. Feminist Philosophy Quarterly.
- Proleptic praise: a social function analysis. Noûs. View this article in WRRO
- Implicit bias, intersectionality, compositionality. Philosophical Psychology.
- Implicit bias and epistemic oppression in confronting racism. Journal of the American Philosophical Association, 8(3), 476-495. View this article in WRRO
- Oppressive praise. Feminist Philosophy Quarterly, 7(4). View this article in WRRO
- To blame? The effects of moralized feedback on implicit racial bias. Collabra: Psychology, 6(1). View this article in WRRO
- Bias in context : an introduction to the symposium. Journal of Applied Philosophy, 37(2), 163-168.
- Implicit bias and reform efforts in philosophy: a defence. Philosophical Topics, 46(2), 71-102.
- What is implicit bias?. Philosophy Compass, 12(10). View this article in WRRO
- On Regretting Things I Didn't Do and Couldn't Have Done. Journal of Applied Philosophy, 34(3), 403-413. View this article in WRRO
- Responsibility for implicit bias. Philosophy Compass. View this article in WRRO
- VIII—What Do We Want from a Model of Implicit Cognition?. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, 116(2), 153-179.
- Implicit racial bias and the anatomy of institutional racism. Criminal Justice Matters, 101(1), 30-32.
- Implicit bias, awareness and imperfect cognitions. Consciousness and Cognition, 33, 511-523.
- Mark D. White (ed): Retributivism: Essays on Theory and Policy. Criminal Law and Philosophy, 9(1), 177-188.
- Making Sense of Freedom and Responsibility. Analysis, 73(1), 198-202.
- Responsibility for Implicit Bias. Journal of Social Philosophy, 43(3), 274-306.
- Sexual Solipsism: Philosophical Essays on Pornography and Objectification, by Rae Langton. European Journal of Philosophy, 19(2), 327-334.
- The Retributive Emotions: Passions and Pains of Punishment. Philosophical Papers, 39(3), 343-371.
- Alasdair Maclean, Autonomy, Informed Consent and Medical Law, A Relational Challenge. The Journal of Value Inquiry, 44(2), 255-262.
- Punishment and Justice. Social Theory and Practice, 36(1), 78-111.
- Substantively Constrained Choice and Deference. Journal of Moral Philosophy, 7(2), 180-199.
- Relational Autonomy and Paternalistic Interventions. Res Publica, 15(4), 321-336.
- A Communicative Conception of Moral Appraisal. Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, 10(3), 267-278.
- Caring for everyone: Effective and inclusive communication in perinatal care. Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy.
Chapters
- Gender-neutrality and family leave policies In Anderson L & Lepore E (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Applied Philosophy of Language Oxford University Press View this article in WRRO
- Excluding evidence for integrity's sake In Dahlman C, Stein A & Tuzet G (Ed.), Philosophical Foundations of Evidence Law (pp. 83-C6.N). Abingdon: Oxford University Press. View this article in WRRO
- Implicit bias and epistemic vice In Kidd IJ, Battaly H & Cassam Q (Ed.), Vice Epistemology Routledge View this article in WRRO
- Epistemic injustice and implicit bias In Beeghly E & Madva A (Ed.), An Introduction to Implicit Bias: Knowledge, Justice, and the Social Mind Routledge View this article in WRRO
- Implicit bias and prejudice In Fricker M, Graham P, Henderson D & Pedersen N (Ed.), Routledge Handbook of Social Epistemology (pp. 313-326). Routledge View this article in WRRO
- Two ways of socializing moral responsibility: Circumstantialism versus scaffolded- responsiveness In Hutchison K, Mackenzie C & Oshana M (Ed.), Social Dimensions of Moral Responsibility (pp. 137-162). Oxford University Press View this article in WRRO
- Two ways of socializing moral responsibility In Hutchison K, MacKenzie K & Oshana M (Ed.), Social Dimensions of Moral Responsibility (pp. 137-162). Oxford University Press View this article in WRRO
- The social psychology of discrimination In Lippert Rasumussen K (Ed.), Routledge Handbook on the Ethics of Discrimination View this article in WRRO
- Implicit Bias, Character and Control In Masala A & Webber J (Ed.), From Personality to Virtue Essays on the Philosophy of Character Oxford University Press View this article in WRRO
- The heterogeneity of implicit bias In Brownstein M & Saul J (Ed.), Implicit Bias and Philosophy, Volume 1: Metaphysics and Epistemology (pp. 80-103). Oxford University Press View this article in WRRO
- Feminism and well-being, The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Well-Being (pp. 463-476).
- Clarifying Capacity: value and reasons In Radoilska L (Ed.), Autonomy and Mental Disorder (pp. 145-169). Oxford University Press
- The Metaphysics of Relational Autonomy, Feminist Metaphysics (pp. 99-115). Springer Netherlands
Conference proceedings papers
- Autonomy, Value and Violence: Assessing Substantive Accounts of Autonomy. WOMEN AND VIOLENCE: THE AGENCY OF VICTIMS AND PERPETRATORS (pp 91-109)
Dictionary/encyclopaedia entries
- Feminist Metaethics Wiley.
Other
- various media/public engagement things including R4 x2, the Guardian, Migration Matters..
- The Distortions of Oppressive Praise: Challenges for Practice-Dependent Theories of Moral Responsibility. Feminist Philosophy Quarterly.
- Teaching interests
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My teaching is informed by my research, and encourages students to think critically about the social structures, institutions and practices in which we participate.
- Teaching activities
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In a standard year, I will teach:
PHI158: Level 1 Philosophy of Sex (indicative topics include: what is sex? (harder to answer than one might think!); sex and morality; consent; sex and gender; sexual orientations; pornography; sexual racism; sex and power).
PHI216: Level 2 Feminist Philosophy (indicative topics include: structures of the workplace and family; feminism and racism; decolonising feminism; gender and trans inclusion; reproductive justice; feminist epistemology; feminism and language change; feminism and capitalism; feminism and climate crisis.)
PHI31012/PHI61014: Level 3/MA Social Philosophy (indicative module contents may include: work and related critical concepts (alienation, exploitation, private government, etc), topics in philosophy of race, philosophy of social kinds.)
- Professional activities and memberships
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Media and Resources:
- Start the Week, Radio 4: Race and Bias. Recorded at the Free Thinking Festival, Gateshead, November 2016.
- Video: 'The anatomy of Institutional Racism' Presentation at the Conference on Police Racism, Corruption and Spying, organised by The Monitoring Group, and the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, February 2015
- Video: 'What do we want from a model of implicit cognition?' Presentation at workshop on The Implicit Mind, the Institute for Futures Studies, Stockholm, May 2015
- Postgraduate Supervision
I am happy to supervise MA and PhD students wishing to study topics in moral psychology, feminist philosophy and social philosophy. Do get in touch.
Current PhD students (primary supervision):
- Tareeq Jalloh (Progressive critiques of rap)
- Ben Jenkins (Metacognitive interventions for addressing implicit biases)
- Henry Roe (Arrogance and collective epistemic vice)
Previous PhD students (at Sheffield):
- Rosa Vince (Pornography and objectification, now employed by the University of Sheffield)
- Jingbo Hu (Reasons-responsive accounts of moral responsibility, now in a postdoctoral position at the University of Shanghai)
- Maria Pietrini Sanchez (An autonomy based framework for surrogacy contracts. Currently employed at Chiapas state university (UNACH). Faculty of Medicine of the Department of Human Rights)
- Charlie Crerar (Vice epistemology. Currently post-doctoral researcher at UConn/teaching associate University of Leeds)
- Andreas Bunge (The nature of attitudes. Currently working in President's Office, Leuphana University of Luneberg)
Previous PhD students (at Nottingham):
- Tom Baker (An integrated account of aesthetic appreciation. Currently working at University of Edinburgh)
- James Andow (Intuitions in philosophy. Currently working at University of Manchester)