I am a Philosophy PhD candidate at University College London (UCL). Before that, I completed my MPhil in Philosophy at UCL, and my BA in Philosophy & Psychology at the University of Sydney.
I specialise in political philosophy. My current work explores the ethics of arts and cultural funding in liberal democracies and the liberal tradition. I write about why governments should fund art and cultural heritage, and issues of fairness and equality that arise in doing so.
More broadly, I am interested in social epistemology, aesthetics, and public health ethics.
For the final year of my PhD (2024-25), I am based in UCL's Institute of Archeology, supported by a cross-disciplinary scholarship to work on cultural heritage issues.
Publications
"Openness, Priority, and Free Museums" Journal of Applied Philosophy (2025)
“Data Ethics in an Emergency”, in Governance, democracy and ethics in crisis-decision-making: The pandemic and beyond, ed. Caroline Redhead and Melanie Smallman (Manchester University Press: 2024; co-authored with Melanie Smallman, Cian O'Donovan, and James Wilson)
"Neutrality, Cultural Literacy, and Arts Funding", Ergo: An Open-Access Journal of Philosophy (2024)
"Providing ethics advice in a pandemic, in theory and in practice", Bioethics (2023; co-authored with James Wilson, Melanie Smallman, and Cian O'Donovan)
In progress or under review
A paper about justice and its connection to arts funding and cultural heritage
A paper on the nature and value of "outreach" practices
A paper about the epistemic costs of "schematic justificatory methods" in political philosophy
Module coordination:
"Right to Health" component of PHIL0059: Philosophy, Politics and Economics of Health (2023, Master’s students)
Guest Lecturing:
EISPS Summer School: Europe: Enlightenment and Empire (May 2025, Master’s students)
PHIL0067: Free Speech and Theories of Autonomy (November 2023)
PHIL0067: Free Speech and Theories of Autonomy (September 2022)
Postgraduate Teaching Assistant:
PHIL0009: Aesthetics (2025)
PHIL0185: Protecting Dignity (2024)
PHIL0024: Ethics (2022, 2023)
PHIL0067: Free Speech and Theories of Autonomy (2022, 2023)
PHIL0059: Philosophy, Politics and Economics of Health (2023, Master’s students)
Nominated for UCL’s Inspiring Teaching Delivery Award in 2023.
Contact me at jack.hume.19 (@ucl.ac.uk)
Here is a link to my cv.
I'm also on Google Scholar and PhilPapers.