Dr Niall Scott
Reader in Philosophy and Popular Culture
School of Psychology and Humanities
Niall teaches across a wide range of subjects on the BA in Philosophy as well as on the MA for Religion Culture and Society. His main research interest is on philosophy of popular culture, cultural theory and theology, focussing on heavy metal music. He also has an interest in bioethics and on the philosophy of film.
Niall has and continues to publish widely on popular culture, cultural theory, heavy metal studies, and bioethics. He has spoken on heavy metal music at conferences and metal festivals worldwide. He is editor of the journal Metal Music Studies (intellect) and is a co-founder of the International Society for Metal Music Studies, being its chair from 2010 to 2016. His teaching, incorporating his research, includes philosophy and popular culture, philosophy of religion and applied ethics.
Niall joined the philosophy team at UCLan in 2003, when the philosophy department was part of the Centre for Professional Ethics. His initial research interest in bioethics developed from his work on altruism, which formed part of a book, co-authored by the political theorist Jonathan Seglow. During his PhD studies at Lancaster, where he blended his fascination for Kantian ethics and evolutionary ethics, he also started to ponder the possible relationship between heavy metal music, philosophy and cultural theory. Having successfully published two pieces on heavy metal and Kantian thought, he explored the possibility of further research in heavy metal music and its culture. He partnered with Dr Rob Fisher at ID.net and established the first English speaking global conference on heavy metal music, held in Salzburg in 2008. It was through this event that Niall was at the centre of the of founding the current global movement in metal studies. Niall continued to work with Dr Rob Fisher on a range of conference projects run by interdisciplinary.net . In 2006-7 he was a co-worker in the Mongol ethics project, which concerned the exploration of the concepts and issues surrounding ethics in science and technology in Mongolia. This led to his involvement as an ethics co-leader for the Europe- China FP7 funded (FP7) Bilat/Silk project holding workshops and activities in Beijing and Shanghai with the aim of fostering new collaborations between the EU and China regarding the dissemination of the EU’s research policies amongst Chinese scientists and research institutes. In 2008 he was organiser of a workshop and conference on the AHRC funded project ‘Religion, Justice and Wellbeing. Niall’s further research and work on metal music and culture led him to be part of the ongoing academic and art movement known as black metal theory, which was featured in the New York times article “That was Putrid, Professor”. In 2011 Niall worked with the University of Wolverhampton and the Capusle.org Home of Metal project to organise an international conference on heavy metal and place alongside a range of events held in the Black Country, celebrating the legacy of Black Sabbath and the origins of heavy metal music. Metal Hammer magazine recognised Niall in December 2010 with the accolade as one of the 50 influential people on the metal scene as one of the “new metal revolutionaries” and as one of the ‘defenders of the faith’ alongside other metal artists, musicians and industry people. He has been interviewed on BBC world service, Latin world service, Austrian and Swedish national radio and was invited together with his colleague Prof Karl Spracklen to discuss his research at the House of Commons. Bringing together his continued interest in bioethics with music, he was part of the rock opera ‘ Playing God, the Rock Opera’ composed by Corky Laing, Prof. Matti Häyry and Dr Tuija Takala, as assistant producer, performing in Basel, Helsinki, Yale medical school and the off Broadway theatre the Kaye playhouse. He is currently the principal editor of the Intellect journal Metal Music Studies, working closely with co editor Prof Nelson Varas-Diaz. In March 2019, together with Alexander Milas, founder of Twin V creative solutions, Lina Khatib, artist and director of the Middle East and North Africa programme at Chatham House and Josh Retallick, music promoter at Old Empire, Niall was principal investigator for an Arts Council England funded project called the ‘World Metal Congress’ . The event saw performance, debate, industry networking, premieres of documentary screenings and artwork from around the world focusing on the theme of metal and marginalisation.
- PhD, Philosophy, Lancaster University, 2003
- PGdipcertLTHE , Education, University of Central Lancashire, 2008
- CertLTHE education Lancaster University 2001
- MA Philosophy Queen’s University Belfast 1996
- DipTh. Theology, Belfast Bible College, 1994
- BSc(hons) Biology, University of Ulster, 1991
- Heavy Metal Music
- Popular Culture
- Bioethics
- Film
- Cultural Theory
- Fellow of the Higher Education Academy / Principal Editor Metal Music Studies (Intellect)
Use the links below to view their profiles:
- View their unique and persistent identifier on the ORCiD registry
- Full list of publications and articles on CLoK
- Music Research Group / MIDEX
- Black Metal Theory
- World Metal Congresss
- Ethics Evil Law and The State, Project Leader, Co-organiser of the conference ‘Ethics Evil Law and the State’, Sept. 2010
- Heavy Fundametalisms: Heavy Metal Music, Philosophy and Politics. Part of the inter-disciplinary.net series with Dr Rob Fisher (Oxford) Commenced April 2008
- Scott, N. and Waterton, C. (2004) “Non-indigenous Species in the UK: Exploring Their Meanings in Human and Social Terms.” DEFRA Horizon Scanning research project: ‘A New Agenda For Biosecurity’ report, appendix 2, pp.168-190
- Arts Council England Funding for the World Metal Congress. A collaborative venture with Twin V, Old Empire and Lina Khatib, looking at the metal music industry’s relationship with marginalised groups in England. £14,630
- Europe-China (BILAT SILK) collaboration in science and technology, FP7 funded project, work package 3 co-leader, ethics work package author. (principal investigator; Dr Miltos Ladikas, UCLan)
- € 496,379.74 Faith and religion: Co-organisor of a series of AHRC-funded workshops Managed by Prof. Linda Woodhead (Lancaster) entitled Religion, Justice and Well-Being: the normative foundations of public policy in a multi-faith society – held around the UK during 2008. I organised both a workshop and the final conference of the series Funding held at Royal Holloway University, London. £ 3584 Details:
- Mongol Ethics: Ethics in Mongolian and South-East Asian Science and Technology. FP6 funded project, Co-worker. (Principal investigator: Dr Miltos Ladikas.) 2006-2007 Grant: € 53,160.00 details: http://www.uclan.ac.uk/facs/health/ethics/staff/projects/MongolEthics/index.html
- Scott, N. and Waterton, C. (2004) “Non-indigenous Species in the UK: Exploring Their Meanings in Human and Social Terms.” DEFRA Horizon Scanning research project: ‘A New Agenda For Biosecurity’ report: http://horizonscanning.defra.gov.uk/ViewDocument_Image.aspx?Doc_ID=173 appendix 2, pp.168-190
- Live Debate on Anarchism and Health, University of Chicago Medical faculty Journal Club, June 8, 2020
- Magic Moments and Metal Memories: On Metal Culture’s Problem with Nostalgia, 13th Popular Music Discourses: Authenticity and Mediatization Conference, 13th November Karlstad University, Sweden
- Metal Care June 2017, University of Victoria , Canadaand Aalto University, Helsinki
- Heavy Metal and ethics, Tuska Festival, Helsinki June 30, 2017
- The Value of Satan, Festival of Broken Tears, Remonstrants Gemeenschap, MuiderKerk Amsterdam 10/10/2015
- Black Metal High Noon Showdown, (Mind Over Metal Series) University of Southern Denmark, 01/10/2015
- An Irrelevant history of Black Metal Theory, Francophone Heavy metal Conference, University of Angers, Angers France 18/12/2014
- Absurd Communities of Misanthropic Paradox Destruction: You Play and We’ll Destroy the House! Heavy metal and the Communal Experience, University of Puerto Rico, San Juan , 05/03/2014
- Blackening the Green: A Putrefaction of Ideas and Manifesto for Blackening of Ecology Heavy Metal and Popular Culture Conference, Bowling green University, April 4th 2013
- Lecture tour: Windsor University Ontario, University of Missouri University of Ohio Athens
- Regeneration and Biomythology, SIBLE seminar, School of Law, University of Sheffield, February, 2012
- Black Mass, opening talk for the gallery exhibition at Villa Ockenburg, Monsterseweg, Den Haag, August,2011
- Banishing the Monster Rethinking the Monstrous, Ludwig Maximillian University, Munich, June 2011
- Blackening the Green Melanchology: Black Metal Theory Symposium II, The fighting Cocks Pub, Kingston, London, January 2011
- Nano technology in Europe: How to Handle the very Small things? Presented at the Bilat-Silk FP7 Workshop,Science Policy Advisory; Chinese and European Perspectives, in association with Michael Decker, KIT, 3rd September 2010, Beijing, China.
- Blood Guts and Beer: Tall Tales, Real Men, Myths Metal and Masculinity, Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln 12 may 2010
- Adorno Masterclass Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln 12 may 2010
- Black Confessions and Absu-lution. Lecture at ‘Hideous Gnosis a Black Metal Theory symposium, Public assembly Rooms Brooklyn, New York, December 2009
- Bleeding feeding and Breeding Eugenics and the Vampire, Manchester University Senior seminar series, October 2009
- Metal and the Male Monster Supersonic festival, capsule.org, at The Custard Factory, Birmingham, September 2009
- Metal and the Male Monster, Heavy Metal and Gender Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln, October 2009
- Anarchist Bioethics ALSP conference Edinburgh, July 2009
- Bleeding feeding and Breeding Eugenics and the Vampire, ESPMH
- conference Tübingen, Aug 2009
- Anarchism and Bioethics ESPMH conference Tübingen, Aug 2009
- Anarchism and Health, University of Maryland, department of government and politics, April 2009
- Intuitive arguments and reasoned responses: regurgitating the Yuk factor 5th conference on Ethical Issues in Biomedical Engineering, SUNY Downstate Medical Centre, Brooklyn, NY April 3-5 2009
- Do we need a patron saint of Anger? (Waarom is er geen beschermheilige voor het kwaad?)Remonstrants gemeenschap (Mennonite community), Hoorn, The Netherlands Oct. 2007
- Ethics in Western Philosophy today, Address to the assembly of the National University of Mongolia Ulan Batar Department of Philosophy, Jun 2007
- Research Ethics, European Perspectives Mongol Ethics conference, Ministry ofScience, Ulan Batar, June 2007
- In defence of Professional Ethics, 4th conference on Ethical Issues in Biomedical Engineering, SUNY Downstate Medical Centre, Brooklyn, NY April 20-22, 2007
- Anarchism and Health, Anarchist studies network Conference, Loughborough University, 4-6 Sept 2008-02-15
- Religious belief and autonomy as part of the series of AHRC-funded workshops entitled Religion, Justice and Well-Being: the normative foundations of public policy in a multi-faith society to be held in Sept 20
Telephone:+44 (0)1772892540
Email: Email:Dr Niall Scott
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