Dr Jackie Scully
Co-Director of PEALS

  • Email: jackie.scully@ncl.ac.uk
  • Telephone: +44 (0) 191 222 7502
  • Address: PEALS (Policy, Ethics & Life Sciences) Research Centre
    Newcastle University
    4th Floor Claremont Bridge
    Newcastle upon Tyne
    NE1 7RU
    United Kingdom

Introduction

First degree biochemistry, PhD in cellular pathology, followed by research in oncology and neurobiology at research institutes in Switzerland. In 1997 moved to help establish an interdisciplinary unit for bioethics at the University of Basel. Followed research interests in the regulation of genetic and reproductive medicine, and in more general areas of bioethics, disability, the social construction of moral issues, and in feminist and psychoanalytic approaches to understanding moral processes. Between 2002 and 2004 based at Policy, Ethics and Life Sciences Institute at Newcastle, investigating ethical issues in prenatal sex selection. In 2006 returned to Newcastle to join Sociology.

Roles and Responsibilities

Co-Director, PEALS

Member, University Ethics Committee, Faculty Research Ethics Committee

Qualifications

BA in Biochemistry, University of Oxford, 1985
PhD in Cellular Pathology, University of Cambridge, 1989
MA in Psychoanalytic Theory, Sheffield University, 2008

Previous Positions

Postdoctoral research fellow, Swiss Institute for Experimental Cancer Research, Epalinges
Postdoctoral research fellow, Institute of Physiology, University of Basel
Tutor in Biology, with responsibility for European students, Open University
Lecturer, Institute for Applied Ethics and Centre for Gender Studies, University of Basel
Senior research associate, Unit for Ethics in the Biosciences, University of Basel, Switzerland
Senior Lecturer in Sociology, Newcastle University

Memberships

International Association for Bioethics
Feminist Approaches to Bioethics Network (Co-coordinator 2008-)
Swiss Society for Biomedical Ethics (Board Member)
Association for Feminist Ethics and Social Theory
British Sociological Association
American Society for Bioethics and the Humanities

Languages

English, German

Research Interests

Bioethics; moral reasoning; genetic and reproductive medicine; disability and embodiment; feminist bioethics; empirical methodologies; psychoanalytic theory.
I have an overarching interest in the development of moral issues, frameworks and identities in the bioethical arena. My current research is part of the ‘sociological move’ within bioethics, with a particular focus on genetics and reproductive medicine, and following a longstanding interest in the responses of socially marginalised groups and religious groups to biomedical developments and policy. A second, related research area is disability, and the role of ‘normal’ and ‘anomalous’ embodiment in social and moral life, as well as the effect of biomedical and biotechnological innovations on the relationship between the body and identity. Much of my work has used empirical methodologies, drawing on feminist, narrative and psychoanalytic theory.

Current Work

Until summer 2008 I led a 3-year research project, funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation, on the donation of spare embryos to stem cell research, Ethical decisions about the fate of embryos: the views and approaches of couples undergoing IVF (www.unibas.ch/ifgem/Projekte). The results of this work then fed into a smaller-scale project, also funded by the SNSF, which drew up ethical guidelines for researchers requesting embryos from potential donors. Papers based on the work of both these projects are currently being prepared for publication.

I recently co-edited a major collection on feminist bioethics (Feminist Bioethics: At the Centre, On the Margins, Johns Hopkins University Press 2010).

Future Research

In autumn 2009 I began research, together with Steph Lawler in Sociology, on a project entitled "Parenthood and non-parenthood in an age of reproductive technologies", funded by the British Academy.

Research Roles

Since September 2009 I have been Director of Research at the Policy, Ethics and Life Sciences Research Centre of Newcastle University.

Postgraduate Supervision

Bioethics in general, especially ethics of genetic medicine, reproductive medicine, neuroscience, pharmacogenomics, the pharmaceutical industry; moral reasoning and identity; disability; feminist bioethics; global bioethics.
I would be happy to supervise students in any of my areas of interest.

Currently supervising:
Michelle Addison (ESRC1+3-funded), The classed and gendered contours of emotional labour. Supervision with Dr Yvette Taylor and Dr Stephanie Lawler.

Erica Timoney (ESRC1+3-funded), Falling through the gap: Muslim women and the construction of identities in tension. Supervision with Dr Stephanie Lawler.

Alexis Paton (self-funded), Oncofertility: the experiences of premenopausal breast cancer patients and their health care professionals of fertility preservation discussions. Supervision with Professor Erica Haimes. 

Completed:
Rouven Porz (Swiss National Science Foundation), Zwischen Entscheidung und Entfremdung: Patientenperspektiven in der Gendiagnostik und Albert Camus' Konzepte zum Absurden. University of Basel.

Esteem Indicators

I am Honorary Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Medicine, University of Sydney, Australia.

I am a Board member of the Swiss Biomedical Ethics Association and the Feminist Approaches to Bioethics Network; and on the Editorial Boards of the International Journal of Feminist Approaches to Bioethics, Disability and Society, and of the Quaker Studies Research Association. I was on the ethics subcommission of the Swiss Academy for Medical Science which drew up the professional guidelines Behandlung und Betreuung von behinderten Menschen (Treatment and Care of People with Disabilities).
I review regularly for a number of journals, including Social Science and Medicine, Sociology of Health and Illness, Bioethics, and the Journal of Bioethical Inquiry.
I am a member of the ESRC Peer Review College and an International Assessor for the Australian Research Council.

Funding

2011: Known soldiers: the ethics of identifying military remains. School of GPS Research Committee Small Bids Fund. £800.

2009: Parenthood and non-parenthood in an age of assisted conception. British Academy Small Grant, with Dr Stephanie Lawler.

2005-2008: Ethical decisions about the fate of embryos: the views and approaches of couples undergoing IVF. Swiss National Science Foundation grant 1115-65990, Euro 233 917.00, and Swiss Academy of Medical Sciences, Euro 31 550.00.

Projects

Undergraduate Teaching

I am Module Leader for the stage 3 module Sociology of Evil SOC3074.