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Professor in Philosophy of Science, Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge
Professor Anna Alexandrova’s research focuses on how social scientists navigate complex phenomena tinged with ethical and political dimensions. She studies how researchers measure well-being and quality of life, among other thick concepts, and how they deploy technical apparatus of modelling and quantification to make policy relevant claims.
She builds on her work on the foundations of the science of well-being to explore the dangers of unwarranted value judgments, unjustified indicators, and pressures to standardise metrics. In her writings she explores the costs and benefits of participatory approaches to measurement of wellbeing, which involves stakeholders into the process of development and validation of scales. She is interested in developing a broader account of measurement which does not treat it as merely a technical challenge which can only be met by experts in metrology and psychometrics.
Following up on her previous work in philosophy of economics, she is currently researching responsible expertise in social sciences, especially as it bears on definition of multifaceted concepts such as infrastructure. She believes that to meet the challenges social sciences are facing today, we need creative deployment of pluralistic methodologies that make room for qualitative evidence and that get past traditional disciplinary hierarchies.
Prior to her current role, she was an Assistant Professor at the University of Missouri, USA. In addition she is the Director of Studies in Philosophy at King’s College, Cambridge.
