Dr Karri Heikkinen
I am an academic philosopher, working on questions raised by future generations in moral philosophy. I also have longstanding interests in AI ethics, moral theory, philosophical issues relating to animal welfare, and debates between liberals and socialists in political philosophy. I am currently the Society for Applied Philosophy Post-Doctoral Fellow, based at Durham University.
I completed my PhD in Philosophy at University College London (UCL) in August 2026. My primary supervisor was Dr Joe Horton.
In spring 2024, I undertook a UKRI Policy Internship at the Scottish Parliament, producing a report titled “Artificial Intelligence and Healthcare in Scotland”. You can read the report here.
Research
Publications:
- Heikkinen, K. 2025. Can we eat animals whose existence depends on it? Journal of Ethics and Social Philosophy, 30(6), 890-914.
- Heikkinen, K. 2024. Why intergenerational sufficientarianism is not enough. Politics, Philosophy & Economics, 24(2), 101-123.
Works in progress:
- Two papers proposing novel, non-utilitarian views in population ethics
- A paper on anti-aggregative objections to longtermism
- A paper on what egalitarians should think about future generations
- A paper outlining a novel puzzle in multi-species population ethics
- A paper proposing a procedural, modal theory of autonomy
These descriptions are vague because some of this work is under review, and the rest is developing quickly. If you are interested in any of these topics, please get in touch!
Teaching
I am an Associate Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy (AdvanceHE).
At UCL, I taught for the following modules.
As primary instructor, designing and delivering the whole module:
Philosophical Study Skills, with focus on AI Ethics (1st year, 2024)
As a tutor, leading small-group tutorials, designing learning materials and marking coursework:
Introduction to Philosophy of Computer Science (1st year, 2025)
Free Speech and Theories of Autonomy (3rd year, 2025)
Philosophy of Altruism (3rd year, 2024)
Topics in Political Philosophy (2nd year, 2023)
Ethics (2nd year, 2023)
Introduction to Political Philosophy (1st year, 2022)
Get in touch
You can (still!) email me at karri.heikkinen.20@ucl.ac.uk
