Research

Academic Biography Link to heading

My DPhil (PhD) in Information, Communication and the Social Sciences was awarded in 2025 by the University of Oxford. You can verify the digital credential and read the Open Access thesis online.

Despite the course title, I was actually a political philosopher at the Oxford Internet Institute and Balliol College, where I was supervised by Professors Victoria Nash and Helen Margetts. The ESRC’s Grand Union Doctoral Training Partnership funded my research with a generous four-year studentship.

My research considered the normative and theoretical issues emerging at the intersection of digital identities and digital government. In particular, I investigated the UK Government’s ongoing engagement with the private sector to develop federated digital identity systems.

I also hold an MSc in Political Theory (Distinction) from the London School of Economics and a BA (First-Class Hons.) in Philosophy from Durham University. The latter included a year studying abroad at the University of Hong Kong.

Research Interests: digital identity, digital government, federated identity, national ID cards, reflective equilibrium

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Academic Publications Link to heading

Doctoral Thesis Link to heading

Smith, C.H. (2025) ‘A liberal political philosophy of British digital identity systems’. [Available Online]

Articles Link to heading

Smith, C.H. (2023) ‘Digitising Reflective Equilibrium’, Ethics and Information Technology, 25(3). [Available Online]

Book Chapters Link to heading

Smith, C. H. (2020). ‘Corporatised Identities ≠ Digital Identities: Algorithmic Identities, Social Media, and their Harmful Impacts for Autonomy and Well-Being’ in L. Floridi & C. Burr (eds.) Ethics of Digital Well-being: A Multidisciplinary Approach. Springer. p.55-88. [Available Online].

Undergraduate Journal Articles Link to heading

Smith, C. H. (2018). ‘The Tesla Problem: Trolleys, Proximity, and Duty’. Ephemeris, (5): 22-32. [Available online].

Smith, C. H. (2018). ‘Do Companies Treat Their Employees Merely as Means to Ends? Kantian business ethics and the case of workplace surveillance’. Dialectic, VXII (1):1-8. [Available online].

Smith, C. (2017). Orwellian Nationalism as the Liberal Democratic Convention. Critique, (4):31-39. [Available online].

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Academic Conferences: Link to heading

  • Organised ‘Connected Life 2022: Designing Digital Futures’ (2022, Oxford)
  • Presented ‘Digitising Reflective Equilibrium’ at ‘Reflective Equilibrium: 51 years after A Theory of Justice’ (2022, Berne)
  • Presented ‘Corporatised Identities ≠ Digital Identities’ at ‘Futures Thinking’ (2019, Oxford)
  • Presented ‘Moral Surveillance? Democratic Discourse and the Habermasian Critique of Untargeted Mass Surveillance’ at the ‘LSE Undergraduate Political Review’ (2018, London)
  • Presented ‘The Tesla Problem: Trolleys, Proximity, and Duty’ at the ‘Southampton Undergraduate Philosophy Conference’ (2018, Southampton)
  • Presented ‘Orwellian Nationalism as the Liberal Democratic Convention’ at the ‘Durham Philosophy Society’s Undergraduate Conference’ (2017, Durham)
  • Attended ‘Westminster eForum Policy Conference: Biometrics and Digital Identity in the UK’ (2020, Remote due to Coronavirus)
  • Attended ‘The Ethics and Politics of Online Interaction’ (2019, Oxford)
  • Attended ‘Privacy in the New Public Sphere, its Value and its Threats’ (2018, London)
  • Attended ‘Tracking People: Looking to the Future’ (2017, Leeds/London)
  • Attended ‘Worldwide Symposium and Roundtable on Confucian Political Philosophy’ (2017, HKU)

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Public Philosophy Link to heading

Podcasts and Interviews Link to heading

  • Guest (with Jon Nash) on the skeptechs podcast (July 4, 2023). Episode 5.9 Face-to-Facebook. [Listen Here]
  • Guest (with Julia Slupska) on the skeptechs podcast (October 6, 2021). Episode 2.? Face-to-Facebook. [Listen Here]
  • Guest (with Colin Wallis) on Ubisecure’s Let’s Talk about Digital Identity podcast (April 28, 2021). Episode 44: Is digital identity for citizens a commodity? [Listen Here]