Vito Balorda

Vito Balorda

Vito Balorda, PhD Candidate in Philosophy at the University of Rijeka, Croatia

 

I studied philosophy and history at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Rijeka (University of Rijeka, Croatia). After completing BA (2016) and MA (2018) degrees, I started my PhD project at the Department of Philosophy (University of Rijeka). 

I am interested in philosophy of science and philosophy of biology. Particularly, I am investigating scientific explanation in molecular biology. Although there are many different models and approaches to explanation, I examine causal explanation, a leading model of explanation in special sciences such as molecular biology. Causal explanation is one model of a scientific explanation by which biological phenomena are explained by putting an emphasis on causes and/or mechanisms as underlying structures providing the explanation.

I am currently in the process of finishing my PhD thesis titled: “Causal Explanation in Molecular Biology”. In the thesis, I examine the background concepts of causal explanation, particularly, mechanism and causation. Moreover, I examine the new mechanistic account and the alternative causal explanatory structures, such as pathways. I also explore the application of those structures, both in cancer treatment therapies, by examining the glycolytic pathway, and the characterization of natural selection and its relation to mechanism and pathway concepts. 

My PhD project is funded by the Croatian Science Foundation and I work as a research assistant at the Department of Philosophy (University of Rijeka). During my PhD project, I delivered several talks at the conferences such as: SOPhiA (Salzburg, Austria, 2018), ISHPSSB in 2019 (Oslo, Norway) and in 2021 (New York, USA, virtual), EPSA 19 (Geneva, Switzerland, 2019), CPI (Rijeka, Croatia, 2020), ESHS (Athens, Greece, virtual, 2021), GWP (Berlin, Germany, 2022), and EASPLS (Bordeaux, France, 2022). Also, I was a visiting scholar at the Ruđer Bošković Institute (Zagreb, Croatia, 2019), and at the University of Padua (Italy, 2021). Moreover, I have published 2 papers (1 co-authored) concerning topics related to my PhD thesis. Both papers are published in Q1 philosophical journals. 

I was also active as a PhD student representative by being a member of the University of Rijeka Senate, a member of the Faculty Board, and a member of the Governing Council of the University Library of Rijeka. In addition to that, I was the Erasmus and student coordinator at the Department of Philosophy. 

I am grateful for the opportunity to finish my thesis as a fellow of the Wirth Institute at the University of Alberta. I believe that this fellowship will greatly benefit my further philosophical development and completion of my thesis. 

Besides my academic interests, I love sports. From an early age I train karate and I have reached the rank of a 2nd degree black belt. From 2015, I coach karate classes and I am a certified karate coach (World Karate Federation degree). Also, I am a certified fitness instructor specialized in strength and conditioning training. From 2016, I coach both group classes and individual trainings in strength and conditioning. I also compete in local functional fitness competitions. 

 

 

Contact

E-mail: balorda@ualberta.ca
Telephone: 780-492-6390
Address:
University of Alberta
Wirth Institute for Austrian and Central European Studies
300-F
Arts & Convocation Hall
Edmonton, Alberta
Canada T6G 2E6