People

DIRECTORS

Paul Hains
Founder and CEO

Paul created Aeon and Psyche in order to explore and communicate knowledge, and to address the philosophical need we all share to make sense of ourselves and the world. He is committed to ensuring our content is accessible and freely available. Paul’s role is to sustain and develop our mission and to oversee Aeon Media as a whole, including our new venture, the Sophia Club, an international programme of Live Philosophy events.

Brigid Hains
Editorial Director and Co-Founder

Brigid was trained as an environmental historian, has taught history and philosophy of science, and studied human ecology and anthropology. In addition to supporting Paul’s overall direction of Aeon, Psyche and the Sophia Club, Brigid directs the editorial team to ensure that the vision of the magazines is manifest in our publishing programme, working closely with our commissioning editors, photo editor, video programmers and production team. Outside of her work at Aeon Media, Brigid is a member of the Melbourne Humanities Foundation and the British Museum Friends Advisory Council. You can find Brigid on X @brigidhains.

Kirsten Freeman
Chief Operating Officer

Kirsten’s career spans arts, international cultural relations and higher education. She was the long-term deputy director for the British Council in Australia, working on projects across the UK, Australia and East Asia. She has held previous roles at Monash University and at Arts Centre Melbourne, and has served on the boards of the Emerging Writers’ Festival as well as the Centre for Contemporary Photography in Melbourne. Kirsten leads the operations across our Melbourne, London and New York teams, and works with Paul and Brigid to grow Aeon Media and deliver our mission of high-quality, original content made freely available to all.

Ally McNaughton
Executive Assistant to the Directors and Curator, Company Art Collection

Ally’s career spans the performing and visual arts, having worked as a freelance performer, a teacher and as an arts business owner and manager. She studied fine art at RMIT University, Melbourne, and recently completed a master’s degree in arts and cultural management at the University of Melbourne. Outside of her time at Aeon Media, Ally continues her work in the music industry, and is passionate about eliciting the singer and dancer in almost anyone (willing).

EDITORIAL

Sarah Caro
Executive Editor

Sarah has more than 30 years’ experience in the book business, first as a bookseller and sales rep, then in senior editorial roles at Cambridge, Oxford and Princeton University Presses, Wylie and Profile Books. As a passionate advocate for the global exchange of ideas, she has worked across a broad range of disciplines with first-time authors and Nobel Prize winners. In 2021, she launched Basic Books in the UK, where she published prize-winning books for a general readership. She is the author of How to Publish Your PhD (2009) and has taught in the UK and Europe. She is a non-executive director of the children’s publisher David Fickling Books.

Christian Jarrett
Editor, Psyche

A cognitive neuroscientist by training, Christian was the founding editor of the British Psychological Society’s Research Digest and an award-winning journalist on The Psychologist magazine. His books include The Rough Guide to Psychology, 30-Second Psychology, Great Myths of the Brain and Be Who You Want, Unlocking the Science of Personality Change (2021). Christian will never forget holding a human brain in his hands as part of a neuroanatomy class, the grey mass so heavy as if filled still with memories and dreams. Find him on X @Psych_Writer.

Sam Dresser
Deputy Editor, Aeon

Sam has been with Aeon since its launch in 2012. He’s most interested in how to do philosophy and in the continental/analytic divide. History and politics are also amusing to him. He considers Evelyn Waugh to be a very funny writer and enjoys pubs more than he should.

Marina Benjamin
Senior Editor

Marina is a former arts editor of The New Statesman magazine and deputy arts editor of the Evening Standard newspaper in London. Among her books, Living at the End of the World looked at modern end-time cults, Rocket Dreams offered an off-beat elegy to the Space Age, and Last Days in Babylon told the story of the Jews of Iraq. Marina specialises in the culture of science, developmental psychology and strong personal narratives. In the past few years, she has written three memoirs: The Middlepause, Insomnia and A Little Give (available in the US, UK and Australia, as well as in translation). She can be found on X @marinab52.

Richard Fisher
Senior Editor

Richard is a writer, editor and lecturer, specialising in science and technology. He is the author of the non-fiction book The Long View (2023), and an honorary professor at University College London, where he teaches science communication. He is also a speaker, consultant and freelance writer (The New York Times, The Observer, Vox, New Scientist). Before joining Aeon Media, he was a senior journalist and managing editor at the BBC in London, a Knight Science Journalism fellow at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a features and news editor at New Scientist. He can be found on X @rifish, and writes a Substack newsletter called The Long View: A Field Guide.

Sam Haselby
Senior Editor

Sam is a historian of early America with a particular interest in religion and politics. He was a junior fellow at the Harvard Society of Fellows and has been a faculty member at the American University of Beirut, the American University in Cairo and at Columbia University in New York City. He helped to launch Al Jazeera America and is the author of The Origins of American Religious Nationalism (paperback, 2016). He can be found on X @HaselbySam.

Matt Huston
Commissioning Editor, Psyche

Matt is an editor and writer interested in psychology, mental health, and culture. Before joining Aeon and Psyche, he was on the editorial staff at Psychology Today for nearly a decade. He has written about a variety of topics in the realm of human behaviour, ranging from teletherapy to social perception to reproducibility in psychological science. He’s on X @matt__huston.

Cameron Allan McKean
Commissioning Editor

Cameron is a writer, editor and underwater anthropologist in Melbourne, Australia. After a decade in Tokyo working as an arts journalist, he began doctoral studies at Deakin University involving fieldwork with scientists and divers at coral reefs in the Pacific Ocean. He is a former books and culture editor for The Japan Times, and a past contributor to CNN, ArtAsiaPacific, Dwell, Apartamento, and Art-agenda.

Nigel Warburton
Consultant Senior Editor

Nigel is a writer, philosopher and podcaster. He is interviewer for the popular Philosophy Bites podcast. His books include A Little History of Philosophy, The Art Question and Free Speech: A Very Short Introduction. Nigel is on X @philosophybites.

Pam Weintraub
Senior Editor

Pam is an editor and writer specialising in psychology, neuroscience and the sciences. She has previously worked as executive and features editor at Discover, where her acquisitions were widely anthologised and received numerous national awards; a consulting editor at Psychology Today; and in a range of roles at Omni magazine, from senior editor and editor-at-large to founding editor of Omni online. She is author of 16 books on medicine, psychology and lifestyle, including Cure Unknown: Inside the Lyme Epidemic, which won the American Medical Writers Association book award in 2009. She can be found on X @pam3001.

Jasmine Walter
Research Officer, Psyche

Jasmine has a BA (Hons) in Philosophy from Monash University. Alongside working for Aeon Media, she is currently undertaking a PhD in Philosophy at Monash Centre for Consciousness and Contemplative Studies. Before this, she worked as a research assistant at Monash’s School of Psychological Sciences. She was previously the Grants Officer for the Psyche Foundation.

VIDEO AND ILLUSTRATION

Adam D’Arpino
Head of Video

Adam studied arts journalism and history at Syracuse University in New York. Before joining Aeon in 2014, he wrote comedy and cultural commentary for web outlets including Mental Floss, MTV News and College Humor, and spent a season working at the Sundance Film Festival. He enjoys whipping up vegetarian Indian recipes, debating NBA basketball, and seasons two through nine of The Simpsons. Adam is on X @AdamDArpino.

Tamur Qutab
Video Producer and Programmer

Tamur is a graduate of the Purchase Film Conservatory at the State University of New York. He specialises in non-fiction visual storytelling and has worked as a video editor for online platforms such as Elite Music Mentor and NowThis News. He has also crewed on the sets of soap operas and news programmes in Pakistan and Estonia, where he learned that truth is indeed stranger than fiction.

Andy Sansom
Photography and Illustrations Editor

Andy studied philosophy at the University of Ulster. Prior to joining Aeon in 2012, he worked for The Times, the BBC and various other national media in the UK. He is interested in documentary photography, Kierkegaard and Peanuts.

PRODUCTION

Ali Hawken
Managing Editor

Ali studied journalism, political science and Spanish at Griffith University on the Gold Coast, Australia. She has worked as managing editor at digital and print publications in Australia and in Norway. She is interested in etymology, dreams and consciousness, cosmology, astronomy and physics, as well as the question of how to live ethically and sustainably.

Elena Seymenliyska
Senior Production Editor

Elena studied English at Sofia University in Bulgaria and graduated in English from Queen’s University, Belfast. She worked as an academic book publisher at Hodder Headline before training as a journalist at City University, London. She has worked for national newspapers in the UK including The Daily Telegraph and The Guardian, and now heads up copyediting at Aeon Media.

Freya Howarth
Associate Production Editor

Freya studied philosophy and human ecology at the Australian National University in Canberra and holds a master’s degree in writing and publishing from RMIT University in Melbourne. Her writing has appeared in Kill Your Darlings, Overland and Readings Monthly. She is fluent in French, and is interested in literature, translation and the intersection between science and the arts.

Molly Williamson
Associate Production Editor

Molly studied English literature at the University of Sheffield, UK, and completed a global scholarship in eastern and central European studies at Charles University, Prague. She has worked for the innovation charity Nesta, formerly the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts. She is interested in political philosophy, literary theory, and emerging therapies in the treatment of mental health conditions.

Lucy Adams
Editorial Assistant

Lucy studied literature and film, and completed an advanced graduate diploma of psychology at the University of Melbourne. She worked as head editor of the Australian youth literary journal Voiceworks and as a mapper of brain atlases. She has written minor theses on the neuroscience of perception under psychedelics, and the philosophy of cinematic time.

COMMUNICATIONS AND DEVELOPMENT

Rosie Thomas
Digital Marketing Manager

Rosie has a background spanning digital marketing, production and development. At Aeon Media, she works at the intersection of communications, technology, growth strategy and design. Before this, she worked at a creative technology startup specialising in the arts sector. She is passionate about accessible digital experiences, data-driven decisions and truth-finding online.

Olivia Hains
Media Manager and Video Programmer

Olivia studied English literature at the University of Bristol, UK. In addition to her work at Aeon Media, she is a freelance writer and producer in the not-for-profit sector. Her background is in film development and documentary filmmaking, and she has worked alongside Academy Award-winning talent for ITV Studios and the BBC. Olivia is interested in poetry, culture and the connection between physical health and mental wellbeing.

Alex McFarland
Communications Assistant

Alex studied digital media and art history at the University of Queensland and has experience in marketing and communications in the fine arts sector. She is interested in digital culture, philosophies of art and design, and promoting the importance of the humanities. She loves the blend of reading, writing, and creating that is involved in communications at Aeon Media.

SOPHIA CLUB

Rosie Black
Manager, Sophia Club

Rosie studied commerce at the University of Melbourne, before pursuing a long-time dream of living and working in Italy. She then moved to London, where she held various roles in marketing, shoot and event production in the entertainment and food and beverage industries. She has a strong interest in the arts, having grown up in the Melbourne music scene, and is constantly on the look out for unique experiences, whether that’s live music, theatre shows, food events or the occasional swing dancing ball.

DESIGN AND TECH

Matthias Siegel
Tech Director

BSc in computer science and media science. Moved from Germany to Australia and not regretting it. Previously worked at The Conversation. Particular interests in Ruby, React, AWS, container architecture and automation. Passionate about Italian motorcycles, 4WD touring and off-the-grid living. If you can read this, we did our job and the website is up. Automate everything!

Rob Fraser
Web Developer

Rob is a developer who also has a passion for design. He previously worked in the mining, automotive and music/technology industries. Rob has a BA in Digital Art and is always trying to keep up to date with the ever-changing web technologies. He also has an interest in architecture and 3D rendering.

Aren Clissold
Web Developer

Aren is a passionate developer as it allows him to create experiences for people to enjoy. Originally he studied biomedical science, but soon discovered a keen interest in developing software; enjoying Ruby, React and any new technologies he could sink his teeth into along the way. In his free time, he goes on adventures, hiking and rock climbing, and is passionate about learning Japanese language and culture.

Benji Grant
Web Developer

An experienced developer, Benji is well known for his meticulous design and development practices, with a keen eye for detail and accessibility. He is constantly working on one project or another, in between baking cookies, reading, and playing rhythm games at the local arcade.

Arian Valaei
Site Reliability Engineer

Arian studied IT at the University of Technology Sydney and the Polytechnic University of Tehran. Before joining Aeon Media, he had a variety of experiences in the tech industry including software development, robotics, cloud and site reliability engineering. He truly appreciates art and has a passion for creating. He enjoys playing guitar, old-school rock, video games, deep conversations, and coffee. He can be found on X @Arrival_19.

FINANCE

Dominic Barr
Head of Finance

Dominic is a qualified chartered accountant with over 15 years of experience across numerous industries. He has held senior roles overseeing financial operations and providing insights and support to boards and key management executives. Dominic has established a reputation for aligning financial and business metrics to support business strategy and growth. In his position with Aeon Media, Dominic is responsible for the overall financial strategy and human resources function across Melbourne, London and New York, and works closely with the directors to grow Aeon Media.

Bona Lim
Financial Accountant

Bona is a qualified accountant with more than eight years of experience. She has worked in various industries including public practice, marketing and FMCG. She relocated to Australia from South Korea and is enjoying the change. She is keen to learn, and working at Aeon Media has broadened her interest in philosophy, art and the human psyche.

Jen Toweel
Accounts Officer

Jen studied commerce and business at the University of the Sunshine Coast, and has worked in tax and film-production accounting. She is a passionate advocate for Aeon Media’s exploration of philosophy, society and humanity, and has a personal interest in photography, sociology and the mind-body connection. She enjoys writing and bouldering, and is a lover of good food, wine, music and poetry.