Megan Blomfield (she/her)

School of History, Philosophy and Digital Humanities

Senior Lecturer in Political Philosophy

A head and shoulder portrait shot of Megan Blomfield. She has short hair and a black top on.
Profile picture of A head and shoulder portrait shot of Megan Blomfield. She has short hair and a black top on.
m.blomfield@sheffield.ac.uk

Full contact details

Megan Blomfield
School of History, Philosophy and Digital Humanities
45 Victoria Street
Sheffield
S3 7QB
Profile

Megan was born and raised in Sheffield. She studied philosophy at the Universities of Bristol (BA, PhD) and Toronto (MA), and was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Stanford Center for Ethics in Society. She then lectured at the University of Bristol for a few years before returning to her hometown as a Lecturer in Political Philosophy in 2018.  

Megan's research concerns global justice and the environment, focusing on the political philosophy of climate change. Climate change can be understood as a problem stemming from human exploitation of certain natural resources: in particular, fossil fuels and greenhouse gas sinks such as the world’s atmosphere, forests, soils, and ocean. In her 2019 book – Global Justice, Natural Resources, and Climate Change – Megan argues that by considering what the world would look like if natural resources were shared fairly, we can better understand the problem of climate change and some of the ethical challenges that it raises. Since finishing the book, Megan has turned her attention to the topic of land rights in a changing climate.

Megan is also interested in questions of global justice more broadly speaking. In other work, she examines reparations for historical injustice; fair governance of climate engineering; epistemic injustice in the treatment of asylum seekers; and the connections between climate change and injustices such as colonialism.

Research interests

Megan’s research interests include:

  • Climate Justice
  • Global Environmental Justice
  • Natural Resource Rights
  • Land Rights and Justice
  • Territorial Rights
  • Indigenous Rights
  • Colonialism 
  • Historical Injustice and Reparations
  • Global Egalitarianism
  • The Ethics of Climate Engineering
  • Environmental Activism and Civil Disobedience
  • Responsibility for Global Justice
  • Structural Injustice 
  • Justice in Migration
  • Epistemic Injustice

She is happy to hear from MA and PhD students who are interested in working on these topics.

Publications

Books

Journal articles

Chapters

Book reviews

Website content

  • Blomfield M Should land be reclassified as a global commons?. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Blomfield M Environmental direct action and civil disobedience. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Blomfield M Climate Justice in Global Perspective. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Blomfield M The ethics of teaching climate ethics. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Blomfield M Fairness(es) and the INDCs. RIS download Bibtex download
Teaching activities

PHI229: Environmental Justice

This module introduces students to contemporary philosophical discussions of environmental justice at the global level. Topics to be covered may include: the nature of global environmental injustices; responsibility for global environmental problems; the relationship between global environmental challenges and other historical and contemporary injustices; fair international sharing of the costs of environmental action; the justifiability of environmental activism; environmental justice for indigenous peoples; fairness in global environmental decision-making; and the politics of ‘geoengineering’ the planet.

PHI350/PHI6009: Global Justice

What are the demands of justice at the global level? This module starts by looking at debates about the nature of global justice, such as that concerning whether there exist any principles of egalitarian justice with global scope. We then turn to various questions of justice that arise at the global level, potentially including: how jurisdiction over territory might be justified; whether states have a right to exclude would-be immigrants; how to understand the wrong of colonialism; whether reparations are owed for past international injustices; and how to identify responsibilities for remedying global injustice.

Postgraduate Supervision

A list of topics for which Megan is happy to provide postgraduate supervision can be found under ‘Research Interests'.

Current PhD Students:

  • Elliott Woodhouse (First Supervisor): Environmental Ethics and Climate Engineering
  • Carien Smith (Second Supervisor): Climate Change and Epistemic Injustice
  • Rubaia Refat (First Supervisor): Environmental Injustices in Developing Countries: Reasons and Remedies
  • Shova Tahmina (Second Supervisor): Postcolonial Multiculturalism: The Politics of Group Rights and Identity

Completed PhD Students:

  • Anton Eriksson (Second Supervisor): Moral Duties to Reduce Emissions in Global Supply Chains
  • Ji-Young Lee (Second Supervisor, University of Bristol): A Feminist Multidimensional Account of Autonomy
  • Barney Riggs (Second Supervisor): Kierkegaard's Critique of Modern Society
  • Richard Hassall (Second Supervisor): Psychiatric Diagnosis and Epistemic Injustice