Prior to joining SHM as a consultant, Jacob read the BPhil in Philosophy at St Cross College, Oxford. During his studies he read widely in Philosophy, developing a special interest in political philosophy and continental philosophy, especially the work of Hannah Arendt. Prior to Oxford, Jacob read Politics and Philosophy at the University of Sheffield, where he was part of a group of friends who ran the Sheffield Salon, modelled on the Salons of Enlightenment Europe. Jacob has produced previous battle sessions on copyright, irony and misanthropy, convenes the Academy in One Day, and spends lots of his spare time drinking coffee.