Who is Lani Watson

Dr Lani Watson is a philosopher.

She is fascinated by questions – what they are, how we use them, why we ask them and how we can harness their power for good. Her research focuses on the practice of questioning in everyday life and she is passionate about applying her expertise to help everyone make the most of asking great questions.

Lani has a special interest in the way we use questions to learn and argues that good questioning is a vital skill that should be taught in schools. She uses philosophy, educational theory and experimental psychology to argue in support of teaching the skill of good questioning as well as the intellectual virtues of curiosity and inquisitiveness.

Lani also explores the role that good questioning plays in social and political institutions , such as healthcare, law and the media, and works with business and industry to help employees, teams and leaders ask better questions.

Lani is a Research Fellow with the Oxford Character Project, at the University of Oxford.

Previously, Lani was a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at the University of Edinburgh, a visiting fellow at the University of Connecticut and a Research Fellow at the Institute for the Study of Human Flourishing, at the University of Oklahoma. She completed her PhD with a thesis entitled 'Why Ask: The Epistemology of Questioning' at the University of Edinburgh.

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