Chairholder
Eran Tal
Associate Professor of Philosophy at McGill University
Canada Research Chair in Data Ethics
About
Eran Tal’s work deals with the epistemic and ethical dimensions of data collection, data analysis and data use in the sciences. He has contributed to the philosophy of measurement, an area within philosophy of science that deals with the concepts and problems involved in designing, operating and interpreting measurement procedures. His current research projects concern the conceptual foundations of psychometrics, the responsible design and use of mental health questionnaires, and the ethical and social implications of big data and machine learning in medicine.
Eran Tal joined the Philosophy Department at McGill in 2016, after holding fellowships at the University of Cambridge and Bielefeld University. He has a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Toronto (2012) and an MA in History and Philosophy of Science from Tel Aviv University (2006).
Current group members
François Papale
Banting Postdoctoral Fellow at McGill University
About
François Papale is a Banting Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Philosophy at McGill University. His research interests include topics in general philosophy of science and philosophy of biology, with a focus on evolutionary biology and the various epistemological questions it raises. His attention has been drawn to AI following the impactful release of AlphaFold2, which have greatly improved the scientific community’s ability to predict protein structure. François’s current research explores how AlphaFold2 (and similar programs) influences phylogenetic practices and evolutionary theory, and how the philosophical analysis of AI-driven protein science can illuminate the broader impact of AI on scientific practices.
Asya Ciftci
Philosophy PhD student at McGill University
About
Ruken Asya Ciftci is a PhD student at McGill University. Her academic interests encompass the philosophy of science, the philosophy of physics, and neighboring issues in metaphysics and epistemology. She holds a BSc in Physics and a BA in Philosophy from Middle East Technical University. Before coming to McGill, she worked on various topics in high-energy physics, including neutrino oscillations and QCD Sum Rules, and was a member of the CMS and Belle 2 experiments at CERN and KEK, respectively.
Matthew Valiquette
Philosophy PhD candidate at McGill University
About
Matthew Valiquette is a PhD Candidate in the Philosophy Department at McGill University. He is supervised by Dr. Eran Tal and Dr. Ian Gold, with funding and support from the Canada Graduate Research Scholarship-Doctoral program (CGRS-D). Matthew’s research concerns the measurement and interpretation of data in psychiatry and psychology, both from an epistemic and a normative standpoint. His current doctoral research is focused on understanding various assumptions that play into the validation of assessment tools used to measure concepts of mental disorder, and how these assumptions are motivated by ontological views about psychopathology and the relationship between mind and behaviour. Before joining the Philosophy Department at McGill, Matthew obtained his bachelor’s degree with Great Distinction from Concordia University (2022) and a master’s degree in the philosophy of science from the University of Toronto (2023).
Project alumni
Yasmin Haddad
Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Québec in Montreal
About
Yasmin Haddad specializes in philosophy of science, philosophy of biology, and data ethics. Presently, she is interested in the pragmatic and ethical dimensions of clustering humans in genomics. She is also interested in how human genomic data is collected, interpreted, and analyzed in large-scale studies. In 2024, Yasmin was awarded a FRQSC Postdoctoral Fellowship for her project “Rethinking Our Individual Differences Through Genomics”. She holds a PhD from McGill University where she defended her thesis titled “Beyond the Divide: The Conceptual Foundations of Evolutionary Developmental Biology”.
Sebastian Rodriguez Duque
Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Cambridge
About
Sebastian’s work concerns the joint epistemic and ethical issues that arise in the practice of science, especially in the formation of concepts and in the collection and management of data. He is interested in the design and use of measures in the human sciences, with a focus on healthcare, and especially mental healthcare. He completed his PhD at McGill University in October 2025. Currently, Sebastian is a Fonds de Recherche du Québec – Société et Culture (FRQSC) Research Fellow at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge. In his postdoctoral project, titled “Fitness-For-Purpose: The Quality of Measurement in the Behavioural and Social Sciences”, he seeks to develop a framework for health outcomes measurement that integrates non-epistemic values alongside pragmatic and epistemic considerations.
Maryna Nekrasova
Philosophy PhD student at McGill University
About
Maryna Nekrasova is a PhD student and Tomlinson Scholar in the Philosophy department at McGill University. Her academic interests are in the philosophy of AI, ethics of technology, and epistemology. Her primary research focuses on examining how cultural factors influence people’s perceptions of and interactions with artificial intelligence systems. By gaining an understanding of these beliefs and perceptions, her research seeks to explain why we are led to fear, mischaracterize, and make particular ethical judgments about AI. She holds a B.Hum degree from Carleton University.
Canada Research Chair in Data Ethics 