My name is Abigail Whalen, and I’m a third-year philosophy PhD student at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. During this year of the PhD, I am delighted to have been selected as one of the Gabriel Fellows through Notre Dame’s Medieval Institute. As a Gabriel Fellow, I shall conduct independent pre-dissertation research and continue coursework in Latin language and paleography, classical Arabic, and modern languages.
I received my BA in Philosophy (summa cum laude) from the University of Notre Dame in May 2019. I subsequently received my BPhil (master’s) degree at the University of Oxford in 2021. Before my return to Notre Dame this autumn, I spent eighteen months working in higher education in London.
My main research interests at present are focused in classical Islamic and Scholastic metaphysics and natural philosophy. During my PhD, I hope to explore medieval theories of individuation and prime matter and research further the reception of Averroist metaphysics in the later medieval period.
When I’m not in the library, you can find me rowing on the St. Joseph River, practicing yoga, or baking for my housemates and officemates.