I'm an associate professor in the Department of Politics & International Relations at the University of Oxford and a professorial fellow at Nuffield College. I hold a PhD in political science from Harvard (2017) and a BA in ethics, politics & economics from Yale (2011). I was previously an assistant professor in the Department of Government at the London School of Economics and the Department of Political Science, University of California, San Diego. Before that, I held a supernumerary fellowship in politics at St John's College, Oxford.
My research interests lie in the intersection of political theory, the philosophy of science and social science, and social epistemology. My first book, Politics and Expertise: How to Use Science in a Democratic Society (Princeton University Press), examines the relationship between science and democracy, from the funding of scientific research to its use in decision making and its applications in new technologies. It has received the American Political Science Association's Foundations of Political Theory Section First Book Award.
I am currently working on a range of projects on the effects of artificial intelligence and automation on democracy, the role of expertise in politics, freedom of inquiry and its limits, the ethical and policy implications of new technologies and the relationship between democracy and the press. I have articles published or forthcoming in British Journal of Political Science, Contemporary Political Theory, Journal of Applied Philosophy, Critical Review, Perspectives on Politics, and European Journal of Political Theory. My essay "Justifying Public Funding for Science" was awarded the British Academy's Brian Barry Prize for Excellence in Political Science.
I've recently written a few essays on the COVID-19 pandemic. For an essay on the aptness of humility in dealing with the pandemic (in Boston Review) click here. For an essay on the role of scientific disagreement in the public uptake of science (in Persuasion) see here. For an essay on trust and expertise during the pandemic (in Chronicle Review) click here. To hear more about my research (in Turkish), click here for an interview with Uğur Aytaç from the University of Amsterdam.
E-mail: zeynep.pamuk@nuffield.ox.ac.uk