I am just back from a celebration of the 20th anniversary of IDEA: the Ethics Centre, at the University of Leeds. (IDEA stands for ‘Inter-disciplinary Ethics Applied’.) IDEA was founded by Chris Megone, an old friend from my graduate days, and is now directed by Simon Kirchin. The centre has achieved a huge amount in… Read More »Congratulations to ‘IDEA’ in Leeds!
Secretary of State for Justice Shabana Mahmood is reportedly looking into a potential ‘national rollout of voluntary chemical castration for sex offenders’. The proposal is one of the recommendations outlined in the recently published Independent Sentencing Review led by former Lord Chancellor David Gauke, commissioned to investigate ‘the prison overcrowding crisis and to consider alternative… Read More »On plans to extend use of chemical castration for sex offenders in England
By Dr Jeremy Gauntlett-Gilbert – student on the MSt Practical Ethics programme The advent of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence has opened up new possibilities for health research. Specifically, these techniques could be let loose on ‘big data’, such as the collective data of healthcare organisations (including the NHS), and would likely reveal new insights… Read More »Profiting from Misery: Is There Something Different About Healthcare Data?
Undergraduate Finalist paper in the 2025 National Uehiro Oxford Essay Prize in Practical Ethics. By Rahul Lakhanpaul, University of Edinburgh.
The National Uehiro Oxford Essay Prize in Practical Ethics is an annual competition held in the spring. It is open to all undergraduate and postgraduate students enrolled in UK universities and students are invited to enter by submitting an essay of up to 2000 words on any topic relevant to practical ethics. The 2025 Essay… Read More »National Uehiro Oxford Essay Prize in Practical Ethics
Written by Eliora Henzler, MSt in Practical Ethics, University of Oxford EXTRATERRITORIAL MIGRATION MANAGEMENT How can states ethically justify deporting individuals to third countries? In October 2024, a ship of the Italian coast guard disembarked in the port of Shëngjin, in Albania. After a few days, it began a voyage in the opposite direction. Italy… Read More »What are the Ethics of Sending a Person to a Country They are not From?
The declaration of Helsinki recently turned 60, but don’t feel bad if you missed the celebrations. It probably passed unnoticed by most people not working in the medical field – and possibly even a good few in the field. If you’re not familiar with the declaration – adopted by the World Medical Association on October… Read More »Declaration of Helsinki turns 60 – how this foundational document of medical ethics has stood the test of time
By Katherine Cheung, David B. Yaden, and Brian D. Earp Classic psychedelics, such as psilocybin and LSD, are currently being studied for their potential therapeutic impact — primarily in conjunction with some form of psychotherapy — on a variety of conditions. Within such a clinical frame, the potential value of psychedelic-assisted therapy is largely assumed… Read More »Are psychedelic Experiences Intrinsically Valuable?
Written by Madeline G. Reinecke (@mgreinecke) You might recall a story from a few years ago, concerning former Google software engineer Blake Lemoine. Part of Lemoine’s job was to chat with LaMDA, a large language model (LLM) in development at the time, to detect discriminatory speech. But the more Lemoine chatted with LaMDA, the more… Read More »Humanizing Chatbots Is Hard To Resist — But Why?
Written by MSt student Mahdi Ghuloom Reports this year from May indicate that the college council of Trinity College Cambridge, has voted to divest from all arms companies (Mulla, 2024). Pressure has been rising from students on universities to conduct similar actions, often in a non-discriminatory set of demands. Some of course, have been focusing… Read More »Should There be Total Divestment From All Arms Companies?
