Ethical Issues in Human Health

Ethical Issues in Human Health

Healthcare and Professional Ethics

The Centre for Professional Ethics is an internationally renowned research and teaching institution. Establishment in 1993, it has built a reputation for excellence in applied philosophy, particularly in bioethics and environmental ethics. In 1997, the Centre took over responsibility for Philosophy provision in the University.

In the areas of global and environmental ethics, staff are amongst the most well-known in the country, which is reflected in the amount of consultancy work and external funding the Centre has been able to attract and the level of publication that its staff have been able to achieve.

The research and teaching focus is philosophical and interdisciplinary; current staff come from a range of disciplines, such as philosophy, political science, sociology, law, biology, psychology and economics.

The Centre’s research is organised around the  research themes of international justice, environmental ethics and bioethics.

International Justice

  • This theme focuses on access to essential medicines and benefit sharing with developing countries.
  • World-renowned political philosopher Prof. Thomas Pogge joined the Centre in the summer of 2007 on a part-time, professorial contract. (Picture below of Thomas’ arrival at the Centre, greeted by Pro-Vice Chancellor Prof. Patrick McGhee and Head of Centre, Prof. Doris Schroeder).
  • He will be supported by Centre Staff in his main project, Incentives for Global Health, which aims to increase access to medicines by altering the incentives for innovation in the health care sector. His track2 system rewards patent holders in proportion to the global health impact of their interventions via treaty-backed payments. In exchange, patent holders allow the open manufacture, distribution and sale of their products.
  • The Head of Centre, Prof. Doris Schroeder, leads a group of researchers involved in externally funded projects on benefit sharing with indigenous communities or vulnerable populations involved in genetic research in developing countries.

Environmental Ethics

  • The focus in this theme addresses foundational questions in environmental ethics and environmental aesthetics in order better to address real world issues concerning both the natural and built environments. 
  • The research high point of this work in recent years has come with the publication of Warwick Fox’s “A Theory of General Ethics: Human Relationships, Nature, and the Built Environment”. 
  • Matching educational support comes from the post graduate programme MA Values and Environment (MAVE), which is the only MA dedicated to environmental philosophy in the world. The course transferred in 2005 to the Centre from Lancaster University. Delivery is both on-campus and distance modes.

Bioethics

  • The Bioethics theme overlaps with the international justice theme, as staff working on the latter currently focus on access to essential medicines and benefit sharing.
  • In addition, a group within the Centre undertakes research on the ethical implications of science and new technologies.

The overall vision at the Centre is to combine these three main strands to conduct ground-breaking research on urgent questions facing humankind (e.g. international justice & climate change) and to provide policy input from its results.