Virginie Simoneau-Gilbert

Virginie Simoneau-Gilbert began a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Philosophy at Queen’s University in 2025. During her stay at Queen’s, she will be working with Will Kymlicka on reciprocity in nonhuman animals and its implications for theories of justice. Her research project is funded by Canada’s Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) and the Fonds de recherche du Québec Société et Culture (FRQSC). For the academic year 2025-2026, she is also a postdoctoral research associate in Philosophy at the University of Oxford. In 2025, Virginie completed a DPhil in Philosophy at the University of Oxford with the support of a Rhodes Scholarship and a doctoral scholarship from the Fonds de recherche du Québec Société et Culture (FRQSC). Her thesis explored the possibility of recognizing some animals as moral agents. Her research interests include animal ethics, political theory, practical ethics, moral theory, and philosophy of emotion. She is also the author or co-author of two books on the history and philosophy of animal advocacy: Que veulent les véganes? La cause animale, de Platon au mouvement antispéciste (Fides, 2021, co-written with Alexia Renard) Au nom des animaux : l'histoire de la SPCA de Montréal (1869-2019) (Somme toute, 2019).