Cressida J Heyes

Cressida J. Heyes is Professor of Political Science and Philosophy at the University of Alberta, holding the H.M. Tory Chair and formerly the Canada Research Chair in Philosophy of Gender and Sexuality. She currently serves as Chair of the Department of Political Science and directs the SSHRC-funded project 'Sleep is the New Sex', bridging political science, philosophy, and gender studies.

Her educational background includes:

• BA (Hons) in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics from Oxford University
• MA in Political Science from McGill University
• PhD in Philosophy from McGill University

Heyes' research centers on feminist philosophy, queer theory, and the politics of embodiment, with her award-winning book Anaesthetics of Existence (2020) developing the concept of 'anaesthetics' to analyze phenomena at experience's edges. She integrates critical phenomenology and genealogy to examine how power shapes lived realities, extending this framework to contemporary analyses of sleep, pandemic temporality, and biopolitical discourse.

Her recent publications reveal a trajectory from foundational work on cosmetic surgery to cutting-edge investigations of sleep coaching and digital labor, consistently employing interdisciplinary methods to interrogate how gender, race, and sexuality operate through institutional practices and everyday experiences.

Her accolades include:

• David Easton Award from the American Political Science Association (2021)
• Finalist for the North American Society for Social Philosophy Book Award
• Canada Research Chair in Philosophy of Gender and Sexuality

Dr. Heyes has supervised graduate students across Philosophy, Political Science, Nursing, and Film Studies, fostering interdisciplinary research on embodiment. Her SSHRC-funded project examines sleep's political dimensions while she contributes to academic leadership as Department Chair and through editorial work on Foucault studies.

She leads the 'Sleep is the New Sex' research collective, collaborating with qualitative researchers to analyze how sleep coaching and parenting advice reflect societal tensions around rest, productivity, and gendered labor in Western Canada.