Policy and Practice

We aim to use our expertise to inform and improve professional practice, public policy and corporate decision-making in the life sciences through sustained and mutually respectful dialogue with stakeholders. Different areas of our work contribute to this goal by:

  • ensuring that research findings are presented to, and accessible by, regulatory and policy bodies as well as the scientific and business communities;
  • gathering and channelling public views to regulators and policymakers;
  • service on local, national and international public inquiries and ethics committees;
  • training both the current and future generation of policymakers and professionals in the social and ethical dimensions of their work.

Recent examples of our work:

Michael Barr:

  • Invited to give presentation on ‘Chinese Biosecurity’ at the Biological Toxin and Weapons Convention, at the United Nations in Geneva, August 2010
  • Contributor to Biosecurity Online Educational Module Resource, an open access module to raise security awareness amongst life scientists internationally. Authored lectures on dual-use bioethics
  • Invited Lecture on ‘Preventing biological warfare and bioterrorism: Education and the responsibilities of scientists’, given to life scientists and policy oriented staff at the Institute of Microbiology and the Graduate University, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, June 2009 (with Malcolm Dando, Bradford)
  • Symposium Organiser ‘Biosecurity and Globalization: Ethical Issues in Infectious Disease and Dual Use Research’, World Congress of Bioethics, Singapore, 2010 (with Michael Selgelid, ANU).

Erica Haimes:

  • served as a member of the Interim Advisory Group on Ethics and Governance for UK Biobank in 2003-04
  • wrote a keynote address to the annual conference of the British Fertility Society in 2004, exploring the ethics of embryonic stem cell research
  • was appointed to the Nuffield Council on Bioethics Working Party on ‘Critical care decisions in fetal and neonatal medicine: ethical issues’ (2004-2006)
  • was appointed to the Ethics and Governance Council, UKBiobank (2007-2009)
  • was on the Medical Research Council International Advisory Committee on DNA Banking ( 2003-2006)
  • is on the MRC International Advisory Committee on DNA Banking
  • is a member of the Advisory Board of the ESRC Genomics Policy Forum, University of Edinburgh
  • was one of only two non-USA academics (along with Professor Robin Willaims) to be invited to the 2004-5 Harvard/American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics workshops on regulating uses of forensic DNA profiling
  • has launched a new international research network called PARTS (Provision and Acquisition of Reproductive Tissue for Science). The network is of, and for, researchers ranged across the world who are investigating the social, ethical and legal issues that arise from the use of human eggs, embryos, sperm, and fetal tissue, in scientific research
  • member of the Ethics and Public Policy Committee of the International Society for Stem Cell Research 2009
  • member of the Ethics and Law Advisory Committee of the UK's Human Fertisilsation and Embryology Authority 2009-2012 (External Member)
  • was one of 6 invitees to the Nuffield Council on Bioethics' International Experts' Opinion Forum, November 2010
  • accepted an invitation to join the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists' Ethics Committee, June 2011-June 2013.

Janice McLaughlin:

  • advisor to the Scottish Human Rights Commission research project
  • is involved in regional networks of professionals, practitioners, parents and voluntary sector people working with disabled children. This includes links with and presentations to organisations such as the North of England Collaborative Cerebral Palsy Survey, the North of England Paediatric Society and Contact a Family.

Jackie Leach Scully:

  • invited input to Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority consultation meeting on preimplantation genetic diagnosis, January 2009
  • keynote speaker at international conference on the UN Convention on Disability, organized by the Ethics Institute, Utrecht University & the Netherlands Institute of Human Rights, September 2009
  • invited input to Human Genetics Commission consultation on its public engagement strategy, December 2009, http://www.hgc.gov.uk/Client/document.asp?DocId=258&CAtegoryId=8
  • invited to discuss the ethics of brain-machine interfaces at the “Daisy” neural networks end of project meeting, University of Zurich
  • invited participant in symposium on Public Deliberation, Ethics and Health Policy, University of Michigan, September 2010
  • invited participant in conference on Medical Law and Ethics in the Media, British Academy, November 2010

Ken Taylor:

  • invited to participate in the consultations by the Human Tissue Authority on the new code of practice for research involving the use of human tissues and cells.

Robin Williams:

  • is a Visiting Professor in PEALS
  • was a member of UKCIRN (the UK Criminal Investigation Research Network), a innovatative collaboration between academics, forensic scientists and senior police officers
  • has been a consultant to the UK Home Office on the management of crime scene examination
  • was a member of the advisory group for the Human Genetics Commission ‘Citizens Inquiry into the Forensic Use of DNA and Genetic Information’
  • has been involved in two EPSRC Networks which have focused on police uses of science and technology - ICARIS (International Centre for Advanced Research in Identification Science) and ICSN (International Crime Science Network)
  • has been a consultant to the UK Home Office on the management of crime scene examination
  • has been an expert adviser to several UK Constabularies on their Best Value Reviews of Scientific Support to Policing
  • was one of only two non-USA academics (along with Erica Haimes) to be invited to the 2004-5 Harvard/American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics workshops on regulating uses of forensic DNA profiling
  • has been an invited expert participant in the EU Biometric Information Technology Ethics Research Group
  • was a member of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics Working Party on the Forensic Uses of Bio-information and attended the debate on this issue in the Houses of Parliament in November 2008
  • has been appointed Professor of Forensic Science Studies at Northumbria University's Centre for Forensic Science, alongside Tim Wilson, where they will join the Dean of the School of Applied Sciences, Professor Julie Mennell, in shaping the work of this new research centre.

Tim Wilson:

  • is a Visiting Scholar in PEALS
  • was Head of Pathology and Forensic Sciences in the UK Home Office
  • worked for and with the UN International Labour Organisation, HM Treasury, HM Prison Service, the Association of Chief Police Officers, and the National Policing Improvement Agency
  • has been appointed Professor of Forensic Sciences and Public Policy at Northumbria University Centre for Forensic Science, alongside Robin Williams. They will join the Dean of the School of Applied Sciences, Professor Julie Mennell, in shaping the work of this new research centre.

Simon Woods:

  • has been appointed as a National Research Ethics Adviser to the NHS National Research Ethics Service (NRES), joining a panel of 12 to offer advice and guidance on policy and strategy for the ethical review of research (2009-)
  • is Vice-Chair of the Newcastle and North Tyneside NHS Research Ethics Committee 1 (REC 1), and has been a member of NHS RECs for over eight years
  • is Chair of the Project Ethics Council to a major EC-funded Network of Excellence, TREAT-NMD
  • is a member of the oversight committee of a Global Patient Registry for Neuromuscular Diseases
  • runs a national training programme in research ethics
  • trains members of research ethics committees and advises neophyte clinical ethics committees in several institutions;
  • was a member of the Newcastle NHS Hospitals Trust Clinical Ethics Advisory Committee and contributes to a range of other NHS ethics committee deliberations in the region (2004-2009)
  • was an external member of the Northumbria University Research Ethics Committee (2005-2008).

 

We have also been invited to contribute to many workshops and discussions.