Nicholas Drake

Dr. Nicholas Drake is a New Zealand philosopher and researcher. He belongs to the iwi (tribe) Ngāi Tahu and the hapū (subtribe) Kati Kuri.

Dr. Drake is currently a Research Fellow at the School of Regulation and Global Governance and a Research Affiliate at the School of Philosophy, at the Australian National University (ANU). He specializes in ethics and applied social and political philosophy, especially philosophy of wellbeing and wellbeing measurement, philosophy of disability, conceptual engineering, Indigenous rights, and Indigenous philosophy.

As Research Fellow, Dr. Drake is working on a project with ANU’s Vice President (First Nations) and a group of academics from across the university, along with their research partners, the Ngarluma Yindjibarndi Foundation of the Pilbara region in Western Australia. He is examining how agreements between extractive industries and Indigenous communities support or undermine economic self-determination, and what shape such agreements need to take if they’re to promote Indigenous peoples’ rights and interests.

Dr. Drake also works on approaches to measuring and promoting wellbeing, especially government measures of national wellbeing.