Scope

Research

The Centre undertakes research and funded projects on bioethics especially relating to end of life care, organ donation and genomic editing. We have a number of doctoral students in bioethics and applications for doctoral supervision are encouraged. Recently completed and ongoing doctoral thesis topics include Eastern approaches to assisted suicide and euthanasia, the lived experience of infertile couples using Naprotechnology or IVF, the teaching of controversial bioethics topics in the GSCE curriculum and sexual metaphysics of transgenderism.

Dr Trevor Stammers or Dr Pia Matthews both welcome informal preliminary inquiries. Formal applications should be submitted via https://www.stmarys.ac.uk/research/degree-students/applying.aspx PhD students in Bioethics form part of the Doctoral College of the University https://www.stmarys.ac.uk/research/degree-students/doctoral-college.aspx

All the Centre staff are actively engaged in research in areas including care of the dying, disability, genome editing, organ transplantation and the responsibilities of creators to their creatures.

The New Bioethics- A Multidisciplinary Journal of Biotechnology and the Body https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/ynbi20/current is a quarterly journal with a rapidly expanding global reach. Doctoral student are encouraged to write book reviews and papers and become reviewers for the journal during their studies.

Teaching

CBET is involved with the teaching of:

Research students (PhD, MPhil)
Bioethics and Medical Law MA
Bioethics modules in the Theology, Religion and Ethics BA,
Practitioners in Healthcare Ethics FD and related programmes.

Public Engagement

The Centre puts on a regular series of public seminars on major issues in bioethics. Recent seminar topics have included care of children with rare disorders, theological philosophy of dementia, beginning of life ethics, animal ethics, disorders of consciousness, the ethics of ‘big data’ management in healthcare and conscientious objection in medicine.

Centre staff also regularly comment in the press and appear in broadcast media on a regular basis as well as blogging on the University webpages.

Recent public events have included:

A two day public conference on the engendering of post-human persons
Book launches for An Existential Phenomenology of Addiction by Dr Anna Westin, With the End in Mind by Dr Kathryn Mannix and Euthanasia and Suicide: Lessons from Belgium Edited by Profs. Chris Gastmans, Calum MacKellar and David A Jones
An art exhibition on ‘A Graceful Death’ by Antonia Rolls
A lecture on the ethics of ‘Big Data’ management by Prof. Vincent Muller
A lecture on conscientious objection and freedom of dissociation by Prof David Oderberg