ÌÇÐÄTV

PhD Candidate in Political Theory (he/him)

Advice & Feedback Hours: Please email me to arrange an appointment.

Gah-Kai.Leung@warwick.ac.uk

I submitted my PhD thesis in August 2025. Trained as a political theorist, my research interests cut across philosophy, environmental science and social science. My main ESRC-funded doctoral research considered the normative issues in earthquake/tsunami risk management. Specifically, I worked on the risk of catastrophic tsunami-generating earthquakes on the Cascadia Subduction Zone, which spans the Pacific Northwest USA and Canada. Much of this research intersected with seismology, tsunami science and various disciplines concerning the built environment (such as urban geography, city planning and earthquake engineering).

More generally, I am concerned with questions of injustice, social problems and public policy. In this vein, I have recently published a book chapter on bureaucracy and structural injustice. I have written more widely on issues in bioethics and environmental ethics, as well as on philosophy and popular culture.

At ÌÇÐÄTV, I am affiliated with the Centre for Ethics, Law and Public Affairs (CELPALink opens in a new window) and the Department Research Clusters in Political TheoryLink opens in a new window and Environmental PoliticsLink opens in a new window. I’m also a member of the UCL Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction (), the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute () and the Consortium for Socially Relevant Philosophy of/in Science and Engineering ().

Coming from a non-specialist and interdisciplinary academic background, I am keen to encourage more students to transfer into philosophy and political theory from other fields. Please contact me for further information.

Research Interests

• Social, political and legal philosophy (mostly in the analytic tradition)
• Science, technology, ethics and public policy
• Natural hazards, disasters and emergencies (esp. earthquakes and tsunamis)
• Risk, uncertainty and resilience
• Urban and built environments (esp. building codes and infrastructure)
• Minority philosophy (e.g. gender, race, sexuality, disability)
• Philosophy of social science
• Biomedical and healthcare ethics (esp. mental health, loneliness, body image and appearance norms)

Publications

• 2026: ‘Queerbaiting the Fans: What (If Anything) is Wrong with Queerbaiting in Bridgerton?’ in Miller, J. (ed.), . Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
• 2025: ‘Time Taxes and Avoidable Structural Injustice’, in Meehan, B., J. Lemke and P. D. Aligica (eds.), . London: Bloomsbury.
• 2024: ‘Taylor Swift and the Ethics of Body Image’, in Mills, G. and C. Robb (eds.), . Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
• 2024: ‘’, American Journal of Bioethics 24(4): 99-101.
• 2024: ‘’, American Journal of Bioethics 24(3): 53-55.
• 2023: ‘’, in Wallenhorst, N. and C. Wulf (eds.), Handbook of the Anthropocene: Humans Between Heritage and Future. Cham: Springer.
• 2022: ‘’ (with K. Pulkkinen et al.), Nature Climate Change 12: 4-6.
• 2021: ‘’, in Adrot, A., R. Grace, K. Moore and C. Zobel (eds.) Proceedings of the 18th Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management. Blacksburg, VA: ISCRAM.
• 2020: ‘’, AJOB Neuroscience 11(1): 40-42.

Conference Presentations

Papers (selected):

• 2024: ‘Reducing the Costs of Queer Flirting’, Workshop on the Future of Relationships, MANCEPT Workshops in Political Theory, University of Manchester, 4-6 September
• 2024: ‘Historical Injustice and the Epistemic Preconditions for a Just History Curriculum: Lessons from the Japanese History Textbook Controversy’, 26th Annual Conference in Law, Culture and the Humanities, University of British Columbia, 17-18 May
• 2023: ‘Time Taxes and Avoidable Structural Injustice’, Graduate Conference in Political Theory, University of Oxford, 24-25 April
• 2022: ‘The Environmental Harms of Earthquakes: An Ethical Analysis of the Impact of Earthquakes on the Non-Human World’, 12th National Conference on Earthquake Engineering, Salt Lake City, 27 June - 1 July
• 2021: ‘Reducing Flood Risks for Young People in the UK Housing Market’, Workshop on Housing in Crisis, MANCEPT Online Workshops in Political Theory, University of Manchester, 7-10 September
• 2021: ‘The Ethical Argument for Gender-Neutral Public Conveniences’, Queerness Beyond Borders, University of Oxford, 9 July
• 2021: ‘The Legitimate Use of Emergency Powers in Response to Pandemics’, Fifth International Conference on Public Policy, University of Barcelona, 7 July
• 2021: ‘The Social and Environmental Harms of Earthquakes’, Sixth Annual Global Ethics Conference, University of Birmingham, 26-28 May
• 2021: ‘Reducing Flood Risks for Young People in the UK Housing Market’, Conference on Flooding, Resilience and the Climate Crisis, University of Sheffield, 19 May
• 2021: ‘The Legitimate Use of Emergency Powers in Response to Pandemics’, HKU Legal and Political Theory Postgraduate Conference, University of Hong Kong, 5-7 May
• 2021: ‘Socially Transformative Experiences: The Case of the COVID-19 Pandemic’, Northern Network for Medical Humanities Research Congress, Institute for Medical Humanities, Durham University, 21-23 April
• 2020: ‘Ethical Issues in the Policy Response to Earthquake and Tsunami Hazards in Cascadia: A Critical Survey of the Field’, Public Issues and Public Reason: A Conference of Applied Ethics and Critical Social Sciences, Carleton University (Canada), 20-21 October
• 2020: ‘The Legitimacy of Mandatory Emergency Preparedness Measures’, Workshop on The Ethics and Politics of Risk (Mis)Communication, MANCEPT Online Workshops in Political Theory, 9-11 September
• 2020: ‘The Narrative Coherence Standard and Child Patients' Capacity to Consent’, Graduate Conference in Political & Legal Theory, University of ÌÇÐÄTV, 15 February.

• 2018: ‘Sexuality, Science and Religion in the Public Sphere: Perfectionism and the Problem of Justificatory Disagreement’, MANCEPT Brave New World Graduate Conference in Political Theory, University of Manchester, 11-12 June.

• 2018: ‘An Argument for Gender-Neutral Public Toilets: Urinary Segregation as Morally Wrongful Discrimination’, Graduate Conference in Political & Legal Theory, University of ÌÇÐÄTV, 17 February.
• 2017: ‘Discrimination and the Political Morality of Gender-Neutral Public Toilets’, Sex, Gender & Sexuality: Postgraduate Perspectives, University of Leicester, 29 July.

Invited Commentaries:

• 2022: Ron Aboodi, ‘A Central Worry about Manipulation in Education’, American Philosophical Association Eastern Division Meeting, Baltimore, 13 January.
• 2020: Riana Popat, ‘How Plausible is the Autism Objection to Hermeneutic Fictionalism?’ Joint Birmingham-Nottingham-ÌÇÐÄTV Graduate Philosophy Conference, University of Nottingham, 11 December.
• 2020: Jana Wolkowski, ‘Contested Borders and Contested States: The Political and Human Rights Consequences Resulting from the Regulation of Migrant Flows between Africa and Europe’, Public Issues and Public Reason: A Conference of Applied Ethics and Critical Social Sciences, Carleton University (Canada), 20-21 October
• 2020: Kerry O'Neill, ‘Conditional Cash Transfers as Third-Party Exploitation’, Public Issues and Public Reason: A Conference of Applied Ethics and Critical Social Sciences, Carleton University (Canada), 20-21 October

Event Organisation

• 2024: Graduate Conference in Political & Legal Theory, University of ÌÇÐÄTV, 10 February. Co-organiser with Daniela Guajardo, Aurian de Briey and Ignacio Peña Caroca. Keynote speakers: (Oxford) and (Cambridge).
• 2023: Graduate Conference in Political & Legal Theory, University of ÌÇÐÄTV, 18 February. Co-organiser with Ricky Li, Iason Papaioannou-Turner, Chris Perrett, David Rischel and Ke Xia. Keynote speakers: (Toronto) and (UCL).
• 2021: Workshop on , MANCEPT Online Workshops in Political Theory, University of Manchester, 8-9 September. Co-convenor with Kritika Maheshwari. Keynote speakers: (Rice), (Illinois) and (Oxford).
• 2021: CRIPS Annual Lecture, University of ÌÇÐÄTV, 26 April. Co-organiser with Ivy Yang and Anne-Marie Houde. Speaker: .
• 2020: Workshop on Democracy and Intergenerational JusticeLink opens in a new window, MANCEPT Online Workshops in Political Theory, University of Manchester, 9-11 September. Co-convenor with and . Keynote speakers: Simon Caney (ÌÇÐÄTV) and (UC Louvain).
• 2020: Technology & Global Governance Virtual ForumLink opens in a new window, Centre for Law, Regulation & Governance of the Global Economy, University of ÌÇÐÄTV, 31 July. Co-organiser with Chang Zhang and James McNally; panel moderator.

Public Engagement & Outreach

I have been involved in policy engagement with civil society bodies and the UK Government. For example, I co-wrote a submission to the UK Government’s April 2021 consultation on proposed reforms to the Flood Re insurance scheme (with at the University of Manchester). I have also given evidence to the UK Parliament’s Risk Assessment and Risk Planning Committee on resilience to extreme risks and emergencies. I was on an international team of scientists who co-authored a short background paper on the seismic vulnerabilities of 'soft story' and non-ductile buildings, for the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (). My report on flood risk and housing was reprinted in a policy pamphletLink opens in a new window for the Young Fabians.

I do other kinds of outreach work, often in interdisciplinary contexts. Unusually for a political theorist, I was a judge for the 2021 Undergraduate Seismic Design Competition run by EERI. This involved dozens of engineering students representing universities from around the world. In August 2021, I delivered taster courses in Politics, Philosophy & Law for the , aimed at secondary school pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Teaching

I have teaching interests in philosophy, politics and economics (PPE) as well as international ethics, international law, environmental sustainability and the philosophy of social science.

I was a WinnerLink opens in a new window in the 2021 ÌÇÐÄTV Awards for Teaching Excellence for Postgraduate Researchers.

Other Writing

• 2020: ‘’, Young Fabians Blog, 23 September.
• 2017: ‘’, HARTS & Minds Journal 3(2): 127-128.
• 2016: ‘’, The Statesman's Yearbook 2017 (London: Palgrave): xix. Winner of a competition to write a 500-word essay on an influential political thinker.

Service

I have previously been a member of the Critical International and Political Studies (CRIPS) Graduate Working Group and the PAIS PhD Student-Staff Liaison Committee. I currently sit on the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute’s Younger Members Committee.

Qualifications

• Associateship of King’s College (AKC)
• PGCert in Social Sciences Research
• MA in Transnational Studies
• BA (Hons) in Philosophy, Politics & Economics with Study Abroad
• Certificate in Political Studies