I am a College Lecturer in Philosophy at Pembroke College and a DPhil candidate in Philosophy at Oxford, funded by the Faculty of Philosophy, the St Cross Uehiro Scholarship for Future Generations, and the Aristotelian Society. My research sits at the intersection of moral philosophy, practical ethics, feminist theory, and social and political philosophy.

My DPhil thesis, The Ethics of Single-Sex Spaces, asks how institutions organised around sex and gender – including elite sport, child and adolescent healthcare, and prisons - should be designed in practice in balancing values such as fairness, autonomy, safety, equality, and inclusion.

Rather than centring abstract disputes about the much discussed ‘what is a woman?’ metaphysical question, my research asks what these institutions are for and what values they promote - or ought to promote - and therefore how their rules should be designed in practice. I am supervised by Prof. Tom Sinclair, Dr. Jonathan Pugh, and Dr. César Palacios-González.

Pembroke has been central to my Oxford life. I first came to the College as a Master’s student, before beginning my DPhil, and I am delighted to return as College Lecturer in Philosophy. At Pembroke, I teach Ethics, Practical Ethics, Feminist Theory, and first-year Moral Philosophy, among other modules, and I also contribute to admissions and undergraduate support.

Originally from London, I moved to New York to study at New York University (NYU), where my undergraduate philosophy honours dissertation was supervised by Prof. Samuel Scheffler. I subsequently remained there and worked in finance for several years, culminating in the sale of the venture capital firm I helped build to Andreessen Horowitz in 2024, before returning to academic philosophy. This slightly unusual route is part of why I am especially drawn to applications of ethics - I love philosophy both when it is rigorous and when it helps us think more clearly about difficult real-world questions that philosophical skills can help us address.

A version of my Master’s dissertation, developed at the Uehiro Institute, was published in the American Journal of Bioethics, and I have also contributed a forthcoming chapter on transgender inclusion and fairness in sport to The Oxford Handbook of Sports Ethics (Oxford University Press). My public-facing book project, Gender Ethics: The New Gender Debates, co-authored with Prof. Brian Earp, is under contract with Polity and forthcoming in 2028. My work on the history and ethics of sex verification in sport has also been featured in Rolling Stone.

Alongside my academic work, I have taught philosophy in prisons in both the UK and the US, including through the charity Philosophy in Prisons and at the Rikers Island Correctional Facility in New York. I am committed to making philosophy accessible and relevant beyond the academy.

K. Jennings and E. Braun, “Beyond Suppressing Testosterone: A Categorical System to Achieve a ‘Level Playing Field’ in Sport,” American Journal of Bioethics (2023).

K. Jennings, “Transgender Women and Fairness in Sport,” in The Oxford Handbook of Sports Ethics, Oxford University Press, forthcoming.

K. Jennings and B. Earp, Gender Ethics: The New Gender Debates, Polity, forthcoming.

Uehiro Institute profile: https://www.uehiro.ox.ac.uk/people/katerina-jennings 

College Website profile: https://www.stx.ox.ac.uk/people/katerina-jennings-0