Asher Soryl

Hi there, my name is Asher Soryl and I am a researcher with a background in analytic philosophy. I hold a PhD from the University of Otago Department of Bioethics, where my doctoral research addressed foundational questions underpinning the scientific study of animal welfare - in particular, which entities are welfare subjects, and how welfare can be measured at the scale of populations and ecosystems. My current work sits at the intersection of philosophy and the life sciences, attempting to understand the biological mechanisms behind affective states such as pain and pleasure.

Prior to my PhD I began studying philosophy at the University of Canterbury in 2012 at age 14, moving to full-time study in 2015, and subsequently graduating in 2017. Later that year I began my Masters degree at the University of Amsterdam, from which I graduated in 2018. I began my PhD journey in 2019, and graduated in 2025. In 2022 I was a visitor at the University of Oxford Uehiro Institute, and underwent an exchange at the University of British Columbia in 2016.

Over the past decade I have authored several papers and presented at dozens of conferences on topics such as animal welfare science, evolutionary theory, applied ethics, animal sentience, and the scientific study of consciousness.