I’m a Research Fellow at the School of Regulation and Global Governance and a Research Affiliate at the School of Philosophy, at the Australian National University (ANU). I often go by "Nicky," and my Māori friends and family call me "Nīkora."

 

I specialize in ethics and applied social and political philosophy, especially philosophy of wellbeing and wellbeing measurement, philosophy of disability, conceptual engineering, Indigenous rights, and Indigenous philosophy.

 

As Research Fellow, I’m working on a project with ANU’s Vice President (First Nations) and a group of academics from across the university, along with our research partners, the Ngarluma Yindjibarndi Foundation of the Pilbara region in Western Australia. I’m examining how agreements between extractive industries and Indigenous communities support or undermine economic self-determination, and what shape such agreements need to take if they’re to promote Indigenous peoples’ rights and interests. The project aims to provide the Ngarluma and Yindjibarndi peoples with useful resources for dealing with businesses and governments.

 

I also work on measuring and promoting wellbeing, especially the government systems of measuring national wellbeing often called “wellbeing frameworks.” My research has found ways for wellbeing frameworks to accord with what populations themselves value for their wellbeing, to function well in societies with a range of views of wellbeing, especially those home to Indigenous peoples, and to work well to promote the wellbeing of future generations.

 

I’ve also published research on moral bioenhancement, Mill's metaethics, utilitarianism, and metaethics and love.

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Before beginning university, I founded and managed Te Whiti-o-Rongomai House, which provided supported accommodation for homeless people in Auckland, New Zealand, and for four years lived a very simple life in a hut in the bush in Hokianga, also in New Zealand. While in Hokianga I gained certificates in Māori studies and in horticulture at the small local branch of a technical institute.

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For Māori, where you and your people are from is more important than what you do for a living. On my mother's side, my family is from the West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand, and before that from England and Ireland. On my father's side, my family is of the Māori tribe Ngāi Tahu and the subtribe Kāti Kuri, of Kaikōura on the East Coast of the South Island, and from England and Ireland. The photos on this website are of Kaikōura. It's a very good place to walk in the mountains or go to sea to see whales, dolphins, albatrosses, seals, and penguins. 

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I am very lucky to be married to a wonderful woman called Hannah Simpson, from Wellington, New Zealand. I like to go to wild places when I can and have done quite a lot of alpine trekking. I very much like seeing and meeting wild animals. The best animals are penguins.