Professor Maria Baghramian Joins AUA to Lead ETICA

5 min read

YEREVAN, Armenia — The American University of Armenia is pleased to announce that Professor Maria Baghramian has joined the University as head of the Center for Ethics in Public Affairs (ETICA), a pioneering initiative established with a €2.5 million grant from Horizon Europe’s prestigious European Research Area Chair program.

Dr. Baghramian is a philosopher and historian of philosophy. Her academic career began at Trinity College Dublin, where she completed her Ph.D. in the philosophy of logic and began lecturing. In 1990, she joined University College Dublin (UCD), where she became a full professor. During her tenure, she co-founded and directed the UCD Postgraduate Programme in Cognitive Science and twice served as head of the UCD School of Philosophy. She also played a key role in establishing the university’s Center for Ethics in Public Life and Center for the Study of Religions. She has held visiting positions and fellowships at Harvard, MIT, Yerevan State University, Institut Jean Nicod, École normale supérieure in Paris, the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study at Uppsala University, and several universities in China. She currently also holds the position of research professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Oslo.

Professor Baghramian was elected a member of the Royal Irish Academy in 2010, the International Institute of Philosophy in 2021, and Academia Europaea in 2022. She is also the current Vice President of the International Federation of Philosophical Societies. In addition, she founded the Society for Women in Philosophy in Ireland and served as its president for two terms.

Dr. Baghramian has authored and edited fifteen books and numerous articles on epistemology and 20th-century American philosophy. From 2003 to 2013, she served as editor of the International Journal of Philosophical Studies, and from 2014 to 2022, co-editor of Contemporary Pragmatism. As part of the ETICA project at AUA, she will co-edit, with Dr. Arshak Balayan, the ETICA: A Yearbook of ETHICS and Public Affairs. Her research focuses on the possibility of objective knowledge amid deep disagreements and conflicting knowledge claims. She has pursued this theme through projects on relativism, pragmatism, and the social role of expert knowledge.

We spoke with Dr. Baghramian about her academic journey, vision for ETICA, and ethical challenges facing Armenia today.

What have been some of the most rewarding aspects of your career so far?

The most rewarding part of my career has been realizing how abstract epistemological questions — like those on relativism and pluralism — can have real-world implications. Since 2015, I have led three major multidisciplinary projects, including the current ETICA initiative at AUA. These projects have helped me apply abstract ideas, drawn from my work on epistemology, to real life social and political issues.

My major research projects include the Irish Research Council’s “When Experts Disagree,” which I led with astrophysicist Luke Drury. I also coordinated and led PERITIA – Policy, Expertise, and Trust in Action – a Horizon 2020 project funded by the European Commission, which explored public trust in scientific expertise. I have also been active in working groups with ALLEA (All European Academies) and SAPEA (Science Advice for Policy by European Academies) on topics such as truth, trust, and science policy.

What inspired you to take on the role of director of ETICA at AUA?

My very positive experience collaborating with AUA during the PERITIA project and the impact that project had in Armenia were the main inspirations behind my application for a European Research Area Chair and the current project at AUA. Many aspects of the plans for ETICA, such as the emphasis on citizen’s participation in our activities, directly follow from the work we carried out through AUA in the PERITIA project.

What excites you most about this role?

ETICA’s primary goal is to set up a center for research and teaching in ethics in public affairs. This is the first center of its kind in Armenia, and in its breadth and scope, it is also unique in the region. The ambition is to make the center a permanent part of academic and public life. The hope that generations of students and citizens will participate in open but informed discourse on key ethical issues relevant to their socio-political lives is probably what excites me most.

What unique perspectives or initiatives do you hope to bring to AUA’s academic environment, and how do you envision contributing to and enriching the intellectual culture at AUA?

Using its €2.5 million in funding, ETICA hopes to play a transformative role in the research and teaching of ethics both locally and globally. Given my long-standing research interest in how to deal with intractable disagreements, I hope to help create an intellectual and social space where foundational ethical disagreements can be voiced and re-examined afresh — drawing on reason, evidence, and philosophical insight, rather than emotion or ideological certainties.

I hope that my extensive international experience can support AUA’s mission of academic excellence. By the end of my five-year appointment, I hope AUA will have launched a Ph.D. program and earned international recognition in research rankings. In my own field of philosophy, my aspiration is to facilitate the establishment of a dynamic philosophy program at AUA, which through sustained research and high standards of teaching, will serve not only the University but also the country and the broader region. 

Given your Armenian heritage and international experience, do you see any unique ethical challenges facing Armenia today in governance, academia, or public affairs?

Armenia, as we know, is facing a multitude of political challenges, yet it is quite unique in retaining and even improving its democratic credentials. The five-year research theme of ETICA, “Hope and Trust in a Time of Multi-Crises,” was chosen to reflect the current realities of Armenia — and the world more broadly. ETICA has no commitments to any political ideology or party, but it can fulfill its objectives only within a free and democratic environment, where people are not afraid to speak openly or to disagree. Armenia’s success in preserving its democratic values will be the key to facing the ethical challenges that all societies — some more than others — must address.

In light of the rise of AI, misinformation, and shifting public trust, how can ethics research help shape responsible governance and media practices?

The issue of trust in science and expertise is more critical than ever. Universities must help restore public confidence in expert knowledge. ETICA will focus on selected ethical challenges in each of its five years of funded research and activities. The first year, 2025-2026, will center on the ethics of technology and creating trustworthy AI. Topics related to trust in media and ethical journalism, as well as broader questions about trustworthy governance will follow in the two successive years. I hope we will have meaningful answers to these important questions in the next few years.

Founded in 1991, the American University of Armenia (AUA) is a private, independent university located in Yerevan, Armenia, affiliated with the University of California, and accredited by the WASC Senior College and University Commission in the United States. AUA provides local and international students with Western-style education through top-quality undergraduate and graduate degree and certificate programs, promotes research and innovation, encourages civic engagement and community service, and fosters democratic values.