The Centre for Professional Ethics is an internationally renowned research institution. Established in 1993, it is one of the oldest ethics research centres in the world and has gained a reputation for excellence in various areas of ethics, especially global justice and human rights and medicine. Since Professor of Moral Philosophy, Doris Schroeder, became Director of the Centre in 2004, the majority of projects and activities have dealt with questions of global research ethics, benefit sharing, and access to medicines. Of key importance for the Centre is that projects have impact in the real world and are of practical benefit.

In the last ten years, the Centre for Professional Ethics has co‐ordinated large‐scale, international projects on benefit sharing; community consent & indigenous populations; ethics dumping in international collaborative research; ethics in science policy; access to essential drugs; performance‐based pharmaceutical rewards as a supplement to the intellectual property rights system; and responsible research and innovation.

The Centre has significant expertise in coordinating and participating in European projects, as well as projects funded by other sources (for example, Wellcome Trust, European Research Council). Additionally, the global outreach of the Centre is considerable with a network of global collaborators including the World Health Organisation; UNESCO; the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology; the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; the Indian Ministry of External Affairs; a range of African NGOs; government advisory bodies throughout the world and a number of leading global academic institutions.

Prof. Schroeder was interviewed by NATURE Masterclasses on ‘ethics dumping’, which you can watch below.

Since 2003, we have worked with the San people of South Africa, most recently in supporting the development of their own Code of Research Ethics. This is believed to be the first code of conduct for research developed by an indigenous group in Africa, according to a NATURE article.

The San have been one of the most commonly researched peoples in the world but many things that have happened in the past have left them feeling exploited by researchers. Lack of respect for local traditions and culture; lack of care for local needs; lack of any benefit to the San themselves and lack of transparency in the researchers’ dealings have been commonplace. From now on, all researchers who wish to work with the San must abide by their Code of Research Ethics. A short film about this development can be watched below.

In addition to the impact from our projects, members of the Centre work in high profile environments.

For instance, the Director of the Centre, Professor Doris Schroeder, serves on a variety of expert committees for the European Commission and also advises the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research and the National Research Foundation in South Africa on a regular basis.