Cohen de Lara, Emma (Dr.)
27 August 2026
Emma Cohen de Lara (she/her/hers) (PhD, University of Notre Dame) is Senior Lecturer (tenured) in Political Theory at Amsterdam University College, research fellow in the Political Science department at VU University Amsterdam, and senior research fellow at the Civic Humanism Center for Character and Professional Ethics at the University of Navarra, Spain.
At AUC, Emma (co-)teaches Classical and Modern Political Thought, Future Politics Lab, Health Resilience and Human Flourishing, and Debates and Dialogues in Philosophy.
Her research interests concern literature and character education, virtue ethics, liberal education, political theory and citizenship. She is the principal investigator on behalf of the University of Amsterdam for the Erasmus+ project REMAP: Reading for Meaning and Purpose (2024-2027). Among her recent publications are:
- “Transformed by Literature. Insights from Literary Studies, Philosophy, and Education," Interdisciplinary Literary Studies 28(3) (2026) (together with Rosalía Baena)
- “Education for Life: Great Books Seminars as a Way to Provide Today’s University Students with a Personally Meaningful and Civically Relevant Education," Comprendre. Revista Catalana de Filosofía 27(2) (2025)
- Rethinking Resilience in Character Education. Insights from Literature and Philosophy (Routledge, 2025) (co-edited with Tessa Leesen)
- Leadership as Service. Developing a Character Education Program for University Students in Spain. International Journal of Ethics Education 9 (2024) (co-authored)
- Literature and Character Education in Universities. Theory, Method, and Text Analysis (Routledge, 2022) (co-edited).
- She has a co-edited volume on "Ongewone Vrienden" (Unusual Friends) forthcoming together with Arthur Kok, and a co-edited volume Companion to Meaningful Reading (manuscript under review).