Professor Angie Hobbs

Angie Hobbs gained a First Class Honours Degree in Classics and a PhD in Ancient Philosophy at New Hall (now Murray Edwards College), University of Cambridge. After a Research Fellowship at Christ’s College, Cambridge, she moved to the Philosophy Department of the University of Warwick; in 2012 she was appointed Professor of the Public Understanding of Philosophy at the University of Sheffield, a position created for her and the first of its kind in the U.K. (and, as far as can be ascertained, the world). Her chief interests are in ancient philosophy and literature, and in ethics and political theory from classical thought to the present, and she has published widely in these areas, including Plato and the Hero (Cambridge University Press). Her most recent publication for a general audience is Plato’s Republic: a Ladybird Expert Book, and Why Plato Matters Now (Bloomsbury) is forthcoming 2025. She contributes regularly to radio and TV programmes and other media (including 26 appearances on In Our Time with Melvyn Bragg); she lectures and gives talks around the world. She has spoken at the World Economic Forum at Davos, the Athens Democracy Forum, the Houses of Parliament, the Scottish Parliament, Westminster Abbey and the United States Air Force Training Academy in Colorado. She has been the guest on Desert Island Discs, Private Passions and Test Match Special.

She was a judge of the Man Booker International Prize 2019 and was on the World Economic Forum Global Future Council 2018-9 for Values, Ethics and Innovation.

Outside academia, she has many interests: walking, swimming, travelling, music, the theatre and many sports, especially cricket!