Dr Megan Blomfield (she/her)
School of History, Philosophy and Digital Humanities
Senior Lecturer in Political Philosophy
Full contact details
School of History, Philosophy and Digital Humanities
432
9 Mappin Street
Sheffield
S1 4DT
- Profile
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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 took up a lectureship at the University of Bristol, before returning to her hometown as a Lecturer in Political Philosophy in 2018.
Megan's research concerns global justice, with a focus on climate change and the environment. 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.
After finishing the book, Megan turned to the topic of land rights in a changing climate. She co-edited a special issue of the Journal of Applied Philosophy on this topic, and collaborated with the Peak District National Park Authority to better understand the challenge that climate change presents in the Peak District and how we ought to respond to it.
From September 2025 to June 2027, Megan will be working on a book project titled 'Global Responsibilities in a Changing Climate', supported by a Leverhulme Research Fellowship. This project considers who should be found responsible for the problem of climate change and its associated harms. Climate change-related harms have a complex causal structure. They do not result from anthropogenic climate hazards alone, but rather from the way in which those hazards interact with underlying vulnerabilities of human and ecological systems. Causal responsibility for climate change-related harms is therefore multifaceted and can also fall to those who have enhanced vulnerability to climate hazards. Megan’s book aims to advance our understanding of this issue, and its moral and legal and ramifications.
Megan is also interested in questions of global justice more broadly speaking. In other work she examines fair governance of climate engineering; epistemic injustice in state adjudication of asylum claims; reparations for historical injustice; and the connections between climate change and injustices such as colonialism.
- Qualifications
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PhD, Philosophy, University of Bristol
MA, Philosophy, University of Toronto
BA(hons), Philosophy, University of Bristol
- Research interests
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Megan’s research interests include:
- Climate Justice
- Environmental Justice
- Climate Litigation
- The Ethics of Climate Engineering
- Environmental Activism and Civil Disobedience
- Natural Resource Rights
- Land Rights and Justice
- Territorial Rights
- Indigenous Rights
- Colonialism
- Historical Injustice and Reparations
- Global Egalitarianism
- 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
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Books
- Global Justice, Natural Resources, and Climate Change. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Journal articles
- V - Who is responsible for the climate change problem?. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, 123(2), 126-149. View this article in WRRO
- Reconsidering Reparations, by Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2022. Pp. x + 261.. Mind, 131(524), 1321-1330. View this article in WRRO
- Land as a global commons?. Journal of Applied Philosophy.
- Reparations and egalitarianism. Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, 24(5), 1177-1195. View this article in WRRO
- Historical Use of the Climate Sink. Res Publica, 22(1), 67-81.
- Global Common Resources and the Just Distribution of Emission Shares*. Journal of Political Philosophy, 21(3), 283-304.
- Ethics in economics: lessons from human subjects research. Erasmus Journal for Philosophy and Economics, 5(1), 24-24.
- Institutional testimonial injustice and asylum claims. Social Theory and Practice. View this article in WRRO
- 谁应对气候变化问题负责？[Who should be held responsible for climate change?]. 国外理论动态 / Guowai lilun dongtai [Foreign Theoretical Trends], 2024(5), 106-113. View this article in WRRO
Book chapters
- Eigentum an Naturgütern und der Klimawandel [Natural Resource Ownership and Climate Change] In Angebauer N, Blumenfeld J & Wesche T (Ed.), Umkämpftes Eigentum: Eine gesellschaftstheoretische Debatte [Contested property: A social-theoretical debate] (pp. 513-540). Suhrkamp View this article in WRRO
- Against Equal Division of Natural Resources, Global Justice, Natural Resources, and Climate Change (pp. 62-86). Oxford University PressOxford
- Sharing the Global Emissions Budget, Global Justice, Natural Resources, and Climate Change (pp. 27-42). Oxford University PressOxford
- Introduction: Global Justice and Climate Change, Global Justice, Natural Resources, and Climate Change (pp. 3-26). Oxford University PressOxford
- Global Justice and Natural Resources, Global Justice, Natural Resources, and Climate Change (pp. 45-61). Oxford University PressOxford
- Contractualist Common Ownership and the Basic Needs Principle, Global Justice, Natural Resources, and Climate Change (pp. 87-105). Oxford University PressOxford
- Revisiting the Global Emissions Budget, Global Justice, Natural Resources, and Climate Change (pp. 159-177). Oxford University PressOxford
- Limited Territorial Jurisdiction over Natural Resources, Global Justice, Natural Resources, and Climate Change (pp. 128-156). Oxford University PressOxford
- Collective Self-Determination without Resource Sovereignty, Global Justice, Natural Resources, and Climate Change (pp. 106-127). Oxford University PressOxford
- Historical Emissions Debt, Global Justice, Natural Resources, and Climate Change (pp. 178-192). Oxford University PressOxford
- The Significance of Historical Injustice Concerning Natural Resources, Global Justice, Natural Resources, and Climate Change (pp. 193-219). Oxford University PressOxford
- Conclusion: Natural Resource Justice and Climate Change, Global Justice, Natural Resources, and Climate Change (pp. 220-226). Oxford University PressOxford
- Geoengineering in a climate of uncertainty In Moss J (Ed.), Climate Change and Justice (pp. 39-58). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Climate change and the moral significance of historical injustice in natural resource governance In Maltais A & McKinnon C (Ed.), The ethics of climate governance (pp. 3-22). Rowman & Littlefield International, Ltd.
Book reviews
- The Global Climate Regime and Transitional Justice, by Sonja Klinsky and Jasmina Brankovic (New York: Routledge, 2018). Ethics and International Affairs, 33(2), 245-247.
- Dominic Roser and Christian Seidel, Climate Justice: An Introduction (translated by Ciaran Cronin). Environmental Values, 27(2), 203-205.
- Book Review: Political Theory: A Perfect Moral Storm: The Ethical Tragedy of Climate Change. Political Studies Review, 11(1), 85-85.
Digital content
- Should land be reclassified as a global commons?.
- Environmental direct action and civil disobedience.
- Climate Justice in Global Perspective.
- The ethics of teaching climate ethics.
- Fairness(es) and the INDCs.
- Global Justice, Natural Resources, and Climate Change. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Teaching interests
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At Sheffield Megan has taught courses including Ethics & Society, Environmental Justice, Global Justice, The Political Philosophy of Climate Change, and the Political Philosophy MA Research Seminar.
- Teaching activities
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I am currently on research leave.
- Professional activities and memberships
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- Outgoing Domain Editor for WIREs Climate Change (Climate, Nature and Ethics section)
- Elected Member of the Mind Association Executive Committee
- Member of the Britain & Ireland Association for Political Thought Executive Committee
- Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
- Postgraduate Supervision
A list of topics for which Megan is happy to provide postgraduate supervision can be found under ‘Research Interests'.
Current PhD Students:
- Refat Rubaia (First Supervisor): Responsibility for the Transnational Structural Injustice of Hazardous Exports
- Nan Li (First Supervisor): Climate Justice and Feasibility
- Anne Thompson (First Supervisor): Understanding landscape change: a collaborative philosophical enquiry
- Joseph Holmes (Second Supervisor): The relationship between collective self-determination and territorial rights
Completed PhD Students:
- Elliott Woodhouse (First Supervisor): Environmental Ethics and Climate Engineering
- Carien Smith (Second Supervisor): Climate Change and Epistemic Injustice
- Tahmina Shova (Second Supervisor): Postcolonial Multiculturalism: The Politics of Group Rights and Identity
- Richard Hassall (Second Supervisor): Psychiatric Diagnosis and Epistemic Injustice
- Barney Riggs (Second Supervisor): Kierkegaard's Critique of Modern Society
- Anton Eriksson (Second Supervisor): Moral Duties to Reduce Emissions in Global Supply Chains
- Ji-Young Lee (University of Bristol): A Feminist Multidimensional Account of Autonomy