Staff profile

I am a PhD candidate in the History of Science, Technology and Medicine, holding an Alumni Studentship award of Durham University. My doctoral research examines how John Locke's use of various media technologies, particularly notebooks, maps, diagrams, and books, influenced his understanding of human cognition. I collect archival materials from the Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford. My thesis explores the relationship between cognition and inscription in John Locke’s thought, arguing that media devices (especially notebooks) are not merely assisting tools but essential components of his epistemology. By examining Locke’s lifelong engagement with inscriptions, theories of human understanding, and extensive manuscript materials from the Bodleian Library, the project identifies a structural correspondence between mental operations and inscriptional practices. Locke’s note-taking methods, systems of indexing and categorisation, and strategies of information management reveal how writing functioned as a visual and interactive medium that supported comprehension, memory, communication, and the development of knowledge. Close analysis of his notebooks traces changes in his methods over time, showing how writing, excerpting, diagramming, mapping, and classifying embodied and extended his understanding of human cognition. The study further situates these practices within the broader framework of Locke’s works on science, education, and politics. It argues that for Locke, cognition is not confined to the mind but embedded in social, pedagogical, and political contexts, and that inscription is intrinsically communicative and socially presupposed. By integrating intellectual history with material analysis, the project demonstrates how inscription mediates between individual cognition and the formation of knowledge within civil society.

I teach undergraduate modules including "Knowledge and Reality", "Science, Medicine and Society", "Early Modern Philosophy", and "Political Philosophy". I don't have a fixed office hour, so I am flexible to meet both online and offline by appointment.

In my spare time, I am a contralto singer. In addition, I play the violin, and I occasionally participate in theatre productions and playwriting.

• John Locke
• Thomas Hobbes
• Early Modern Philosophy
• History of Science (17-18th century)
• History of Mind
• History of Media
• STS

Journal Article

• Development of a novel methodology for ascertaining scientific opinion and extent of agreement
  
  Vickers, P., Adamo, L., Alfano, M., Clark, C., Cresto, E., Cui, H., Dang, H., Dellsén, F., Dupin, N., Gradowski, L., Graf, S., Guevara, A., Hallap, M., Hamilton, J., Hardey, M., Helm, P., Landrum, A., Levy, N., Machery, E., … Mitchell Finnigan, S. (2024). Development of a novel methodology for ascertaining scientific opinion and extent of agreement. PLOS ONE, 19(12), Article e0313541. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0313541