> Who am I ? ► link to a short CV

I was a Postdoctoral fellow in Thomas Pradeu’s ERC Project “Immunity, Development and the Microbiota (IDEM) in 2017-18: Understanding the Continuous Construction of Biological Identity”.

I earned a Ph.D. in Philosophy of the Graduate Center, City University New York (Fall 2016) and a Ph.D. in Zoology from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa (2012).

> My Post-doc projects

My project in Bordeaux was focused on a wide range of issues related to host-microbiome associations, sometimes referred to as “holobionts”. Central questions included:  “Are holobionts individual organisms or communities?” “How do host-microbiome associations form and how are their boundaries maintained?” “Are changes within a holobiont the result of development or succession?” “Is holobiont recurrence the result of reproduction, reassembly, or some other process?”

My other research interests include: biological individuality, scientific explanation, biological complexity, and pragmatism.

> Personal webpage: www.derekskillings.com

> Current adress:

University of Pennsylvania
Philosophy Department
Claudia Cohen Hall, Room 433
249 S. 36th Street
Philadelphia PA 19104-6304