A native of Terre Haute, Indiana, Daniel Conway received his BA in Philosophy and Economics from Tulane University and his PhD in Philosophy from the University of California, San Diego. He has held faculty appointments at Stanford University, Harvard University, Penn State University, and, since 2006, Texas A&M University, where he is Professor of Philosophy and Humanities, Affiliate Professor of Religious Studies and Film Studies, and Professor, by courtesy, in the School of Law and the Bush School of Government and Public Service. He also holds a leadership position in the Philosophy for Children initiative (P4C Texas). He has lectured and published widely on topics in post-Kantian European philosophy, American philosophy, political theory, aesthetics (especially film and literature), ethics, religion, education, and genocide studies. During his research residency in Lisbon, he will investigate the role of what he calls the “Nietzschean imperative” in contemporary science fiction films. Of particular interest in this respect are four recent films by Denis Villeneuve— Arrival (2016), Blade Runner 2049 (2017), Dune (2021), and Dune, Part Two (2024) —wherein the director reckons the psychological and social costs borne by those of his characters who strive, whether successfully or in vain, to prevent the threatened extermination of the human species.