Rate My Professor Mianna Lotz

Mianna Lotz is an Associate Professor and Discipline Chair in Philosophy within the School of Humanities at Macquarie University. She joined the Department of Philosophy in 2005 as an Associate Lecturer specializing in Ethics and Applied Ethics. Before arriving at Macquarie, Lotz served as a Research Fellow at the Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics at the University of Melbourne and as a Lecturer at La Trobe University. She earned her PhD in Philosophy from Monash University in 2001, with a thesis entitled 'Imagining that one does: Oppression, weakness of will and the imagination.' Throughout her career, she has taught courses in normative and meta-ethics, applied and professional ethics, and social philosophy at multiple universities across Australia and New Zealand. Lotz is actively affiliated with the Ethics and Agency Research Centre at Macquarie University.

Her research centers on the ethical and political philosophy of the family, childhood, parenting, and reproduction, with particular attention to biotechnological and surgical innovations like uterus transplantation. Key themes include parental obligations and liberties, children's autonomy, rights, and welfare, as well as issues in procreation, education, biotechnology, enhancement, and eugenics. Prominent publications include 'Cost-related non-adherence to prescribed medicines: what are physicians' moral duties?' (2025, co-authored with Ghinea, Hutchison, and Rogers), 'Deceased donor uterus transplantation: religious perceptions' (2025, with Pittman, Gerstl, Cavazzoni, Rogers, and Deans), 'Taking risk seriously: a comprehensive approach to ethical risk analysis in synthetic biology' (2025, with Petersen and Rogers), 'Psychological well-being of women with uterine infertility before considering uterus transplantation as a treatment option' (2025, with Pittman, Gerstl, Walch, Deans, and Morrison), 'Public funding of uterus transplantation: deepening the socio-moral critique' (2021), 'Uterus transplantation as radical reproduction: Taking the adoption alternative more seriously' (2018), 'Parental vulnerability' (2017), and 'Vulnerability and resilience: a critical nexus' (2016). Lotz has garnered recognition through awards such as the Australian Learning and Teaching Council Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning (2008), Faculty of Arts Higher Degree Research Award (2013), Faculty Teaching Award (2007), Centre for Advanced Studies Visiting Research Fellowship (2019), and Macquarie University Research Excellence Award (2023). She has held significant roles including Chair of the Faculty of Arts Research Ethics Committee since 2011, Deputy Chair of the Macquarie University Ethics Review Committee (Human Research) from 2008 to 2009, and member of various departmental committees.