Friderike Marta Gabriela Spang

Applied Ethics & Political Philosophy

I’m a postdoctoral researcher at the Center for Environmental and Technology Ethics in Prague, where I work on the question of how we can include non-human animals in political decision-making and how emerging technologies and AI might be helpful (or not) for that purpose.

I received my Ph.D. from the University of Western Ontario (Canada), where I wrote my dissertation on compromise and disagreement under the supervision of Charles Jones and Richard Vernon.
More recently, I worked as a senior researcher at the University of Lausanne (Switzerland), focusing on political compromise, animal & environmental ethics.
And what feels like a long time ago, I studied at Goethe University Frankfurt (Germany), where I explored the philosophy of Charles Taylor, supervised by
Axel Honneth and Rainer Forst.

Here’s where to find my publications:
Google Scholar
PhilPeople
ORCID

Grants

  • Spark Grant – Swiss National Science Foundation (2024), PI; declined in favor of accepting position at CETE-P

  • Workshop Grant – Fritz Thyssen Foundation, "Role-Sensitive Approaches to Political Compromise" (2024), PI (with M. Westphal)

  • Conference Grant – Swiss Academy of Humanities and Social Sciences (2024), PI

  • Early Career Grant – University of Lausanne (2023–2024), PI

Awards

  • Western Graduate Research Scholarship (2013–2017)

  • F. M. Barnard Dissertation Completion Scholarship (2017)

  • F. M. Barnard Scholarship in Political Philosophy (2015–2016)

  • Dean’s International Award – University of Western Ontario (2015)

  • Ontario Graduate Scholarship (2014–2015)

  • F. M. Barnard Scholarship in Political Philosophy (2014–2015)

  • F. M. Barnard Scholarship in Political Philosophy (2013–2014)

Invited Talks

  • Ethics of Argumentation Speaker Series (2026, planned)

  • “Meeting of the Minds”, Reducetarian Summit, Atlanta, USA (declined due to environmental and travel concerns) (2025)

  • Environmental Humanities Research Group, Lausanne (2024)

  • Ethics Seminar, Environmental and Geosciences, Basel (2024)

  • Workshop “Rethinking Institutions for Animals", Basel (2024)

  • Panel “The Role and Function of Compromise in Political Thought,” ECPR General Conference, Prague (2023)

Conference Presentations (Selection)

  • Panel “AI and Animals,” IACAP/AISB Conference, Enschede (2025)

  • Workshop “Role-Sensitive Approaches to Political Compromise,” Münster (2025)

  • Basel Animal Ethics Reunion (online) (2025)

  • CZESS-NET, Prague (2025)

  • Rethinking Wild Europe, Vienna (2025)

  • Tagung für Praktische Philosophie, Passau (2024)

  • Mancept Workshop “Animal Politics: Animals, Equality, and Democracy,” Manchester (2024)

  • ECPR General Conference, Dublin (2024)

  • Swiss Political Science Association (SPSA), St. Gallen (2024)

  • International Conference “History and Theory of Compromises,” Essen (2023)

  • Basel Animal Ethics Reunion, Basel (2023)

  • Swiss Political Science Association (SPSA), Basel (2023)

  • Swiss Animal-Environmental Ethics Network, Fribourg (2022)

  • ECPR General Conference, Innsbruck (2022)

  • Association for Social and Political Philosophy (ASPP) Annual Conference, Durham (2022)

Organized Workshops & Panels

2025
Talk: Miriam Zemanova “Animal Ethics in Wildlife Research”, online (with Nico Müller)
Workshop: Role-Sensitive Approaches to Political Compromise, Münster (with Manon Westphal)
Speakers (among others): Christian Rostbøll · Élise Rouméas · Fabian Wendt · Richard Bellamy · Simon May2024
Workshop: Animals in Political Decision-Making, Lausanne
Speakers: Angela Martin · Charlotte Blattner · Leonie Bossert · Pablo Magaña ·
Will Kymlicka2023
Workshop: Animals and Democracy, online (with Katharina Braun)
Speakers: Alasdair Cochrane · Clemens Driessen · Josh Milburn · Steve Cooke
Panel: Compromise and Emotions, ECPR General Conference, Prague
Speakers (among others): Daniel Weinstock · Mariken van der Velden

University Teaching
2025
Visegrad Environmental Philosophy Summer School (VEPSS), University of Wrocław, Poland
Course Animals and Democratic Representation
2013 — 2017
Teaching Assistant, Department of Political Science, University of Western Ontario, Canada
Course Introduction to Political Theory
2007 — 2009
Teaching Assistant, Department of Political Science, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt, Germany
Course Key Concepts in Political Science and Sociology
Course Introduction to Social Science
Outreach Teaching
2025
Seminar for high school students Who Speaks for the Animals?, held as part of the Ecology and Social Change series, Prague
Teaching Training
2015
Teaching Mentor Program, University of Western Ontario, Canada
2014
Teaching Assistant Training Program (TATP), University of Western Ontario, Canada