Gillian Howie is a Professor in Philosophy at the University of Liverpool and Director of the Institute for Feminist Theory and Research. She is author of Essential Reorientations: feminism and dialectical materialism (2008), Deleuze and Spinoza: Aura of Expressionism (2002), editor of Critical Quarterly’s special issue on higher education, ‘Universities in the UK: Drowning by numbers’ (2005) and editor of Women: A Cultural Review’s special issue on ‘Gender and Philosophy’ (2003).