• Radcliffe Lecturer, University College, Oxford, 1971-3

• Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, New York University, 1973-4

• Senior Lecturer, Department of Philosophy, La Trobe University, 1975-6

• Professor, Department of Philosophy, Monash University, 1977-99; on secondment to the Centre for Human Bioethics, part-time 1983-87, full-time 1987-1997, part time 1997-99

• Chair, Department of Philosophy, Monash University, January 1, 1977-June 30, 1978; January 1, 1980-December 31, 1981

• Associate Dean, Faculty of Arts, Monash University, 1982 (including 6 weeks as Acting Dean)

• Director, Centre for Human Bioethics, Monash University, part-time, 1983-7, full-time, 1987-91; Deputy Director, 1992-7

• Co-Director, Institute for Ethics and Public Policy, Monash University, 1992-5

• Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics, University Center for Human Values, Princeton University, 1999-2004, part-time, 2005-

• Laureate Professor, University of Melbourne, Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics, part-time, 2005-2012, School of Historical and Philosophical Studies, part-time, 2013-2019.

• Guest Scholar, Institute for Society, Ethics & the Life Sciences, Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, March-April 1979

• Fellow, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., May-December 1979

• Cecil Green Visiting Professor, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, October-November 1981

• Visiting Distinguished Humanist, University of Colorado, Boulder, January-May 1984

• Distinguished Visiting Professor, University of California, Irvine, April-June 1987

• Italian National Research Council Visiting Scholar, University of Rome 'La Sapienza', May 1991

• Erskine Fellow, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, March 1997

• Ferrater Mora Chair of Contemporary Thought, University of Girona, June 2003

Fellow, Academy of the Humanities in Australia (elected 1982)

Fellow, Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, 1989-2019

Senior Scholar, Fulbright Program, 1978

Sissela Bok Lecturer, Program for Ethics in the Professions, J.F.K. School of Government, Harvard University, 1987

De Camp Lecturer, Princeton University, 1992

The Times /Demos Millennium Lecturer, London, May 1995

National Book Council of Australia, Banjo Award for Non-fiction, 1995 (for Rethinking Life and Death )

New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Lecturer, Sydney, 1995

Wesson Lecturer, Stanford University, May 2000

Terry Lecturer, Yale University, October/November 2000

Amnesty Lecture, Oxford University, February 2001

Sprague-Taylor Philosophy Lecture, Brooklyn College, 2001

World Technology Network Ethics Award, 2003

Shasha Seminar Keynote Lecturer, Wesleyan University, November 2003

Lewis B. Frumkes Lecture, New York University, November 2003

Australian Humanist of the Year, Australian Humanist Association, 2004

Humanist Laureate, International Academy of Humanism (elected 2004)

Emperor Has No Clothes Award, Freedom from Religion Foundation, 2004

Included in "The Time 100", Time Magazine's list of the world's most influential people, April 18, 2005

Scott Nearing Award for Courageous Scholarship, Political Science Graduate Student Organization, University of Pennsylvania, 2006

50th Anniversary Research Award, Monash University, 2008

Included in the list of the twenty-five most influential Australians of the last half-century published by The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, November 29, 2009

“Ethics Prize” of the Giordano Bruni Stiftung, Frankfurt, Germany (shared with Dr Paola Cavalieri)

Animal Liberation (1975) has been included in TIME Magazine’s recent list of 100 Best Nonfiction Books published since 1923.

Appointed as a Companion of the Order of Australia, June 2012

Ranked No. 3 on the Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute list of "Global Thought Leaders 2013", No. 68 – 2014 and No. 16 - 2015

Castle Lecturer, Yale University, 2013

Awarded the Peter-Singer-Preises für Strategien zur Tierleidminderung (Peter Singer Prize for Strategies to Reduce the Suffering of Animals), Berlin, 2015

Tanner Lecturer, Linacre College, University of Oxford, 2015

Doctorate honoris causa, University of Bucharest, 2015

Doctorate honoris causa, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 2015

Award for Contributions in the Fight Against Stupidity, Philosophy Now, 2016

Other offices

Editorial Board, Australasian Journal of Philosophy, 1978-97

Editorial Board, Ethics, 1979-82

Editorial Board, International Journal for the Study of Animal Problems, 1978-82

Patron, Farm and Food Society, U.K., 1978-2001

Patron, Animal Liberation (Australia), 1978-

Member, Animal Welfare Advisory Committee, Department of Agriculture, Victoria, 1981-92

Chairman, Australian Federation of Animal Societies, 1980-83; Vice-President, Australian and New Zealand Federation of Animal Societies, 1984-94; President, 1994-9

Advisory Board, Journal of Medicine and Philosophy, 1983-93

Advisory Editor (Australia), Journal of Applied Philosophy, 1984-5; Editorial Board, 1985-

Member, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Organization Advisory Committee on the Ethics of Animal Research, 1984-91

General Editor, 'Studies in Bioethics', a series of books published by Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1984-1992

Advisory Board, Centre for Philosophy & Public Affairs, University of St. Andrews, Scotland, 1984-

Co-editor, Bioethics, 1985-99; Editorial Board, 1999-

Foundation President, International Association of Bioethics, 1992-5;

Board of Directors, International Association of Bioethics, 1992-9

Scientific Advisor, Aufklärung und Kritik, 1994-

Co-founder and President, The Great Ape Project, 1993-2005; Chair, Board of Directors, 2005-

President, Animal Rights International, 1999-2011

Member, American Philosophical Association, Eastern Division, Advisory Committee to the Program Committee, 2000-

Editorial Board, Philosophy and Geography, 2000-2005

Editorial Board, Reason in Practice, 2001-2007

Vice-President, Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, 2001-

Member, Oxfam America Leadership Council, 2003-

Member, World Council of Religious Leaders Global Ethics Initiative, 2003-

International Advisory Board, Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, 2007-

Member of the Advisory Board of GiveWell.net

Editorial Board, Philosophy of Management, 2007-

Advisory Board, Academics Stand Against Poverty, 2011-

Member, Management group, Global Happiness Organization, 2011-

Founder, The Life You Can Save

Co-editor, Journal of Controversial Ideas, 2021-