Ethics & Governance

Exploring new frameworks for addressing ethical and governance challenges in a complex and interconnected world.

Projects

Complexity Economics	This project forms part of the research platform within INET@Oxford. It builds on existing efforts by the Oxford Martin Programme ... Read More »
Employment, Equity and Growth	This is a new project, starting in late 2012, that focuses on future of employment for middle class and below, inequality, and models of economic growth.
Enforcing human rights	How can theories of human rights develop into legally enforceable protections that will address critical challenges to human security? The project incorporates an analysis of the roles played by ... Read More »
Ethics & Economics	This expanding programme of work involves economists, philosophers, legal scholars, management researchers, and policy experts examining why financial institutions take risks which are not always... Read More »
Ethics of Artificial Reproduction	Artificial reproduction has until now only been used for the treatment of infertility or prevention of genetic disease. However there are an increasing number of new uses. Which ethical principles... Read More »
Foundations of human rights	Can a human rights framework deal with challenges of human security, particularly in addressing poverty, conflict and environmental change? This project explores the challenges facing a human rig... Read More »
Fundamental principles of resource stewardship	The tragedy of the commons, where the actions of individuals or small groups lead to a disastrous depletion of finite resources, is an ethical problem related in significant part to the values an... Read More »
Gene Therapy and Genetic Engineering	This project focuses on genetic technologies which will be available in the near future. Although germ line therapy is currently banned, it is likely that it will be possible to genetically alter h... Read More »
Genetic Testing and Selection of Human Beings	Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) is now possible for many genetic disorders, including adult-onset cancer, late onset dementia and so called mild disorders like dental disorders. Selection o... Read More »
Global catastrophic risks	This research aims to bring better understanding for assessing, mitigating and responding to global catastrophic risks - those events or occurrences that pose serious threats to human well-being or survival on a global scale.
Globalisation, Climate Change and Urban Governance	This project aims to understand the urban governance challenges arising from contemporary processes of globalisation in Brazil and the UK. By contrasting the current UK recession with the rapid gr... Read More »
How can we become wiser?	Applied epistemology and rationality: How can we become wiser? Answering this question involves looking closely at the way we judge importance and make decisions. It requires close attention to me... Read More »
Human Enhancement - opportunities and risks	This project explores the new opportunities for human enhancement offered by recent medical and technological advances, and aims to address some important technical, ethical, social, and policy qu... Read More »
Managing forests in a changing climate	Trees have historically been valued for the timber that they produce and for the land on which they grow. However, natural forest ecosystems contain the majority of terrestrial biodiversity and tr... Read More »
Neural Circuitry	Our aim is to identify, and then modify, the function of neural circuitry, using genetically encoded reagents. Neurons are embedded in circuits of staggering complexity, in which each cell is infl... Read More »
Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect	This project has four main aims: to develop an overall framework for understanding the prevention of mass atrocities, organised broadly around the categories of ‘ad hoc’ and ‘systemic’ approaches;... Read More »
Responsibility and human rights	Who is responsible for identifying and upholding human rights? How might these rights be expressed? How can countervailing rights be put into balance? This project will apply such questions acros... Read More »
Scientific Research	This project will examine the ethical issues associated with research into stem cells and cloning. What are the ethical issues associated with different sources of embryonic stem cells, including t... Read More »
What are our climate alternatives?	The Climate Alternatives Programme is a strand of research in the Oxford Geoengineering Programme, co-directed by Professor Steve Rayner. The programme investigates ways to stimulate energy moder... Read More »
Who owns biomedical discoveries?	BioProperty is a research programme dedicated to the study of property rights in the contemporary life sciences. Directed by Javier Lezaun and funded by a Starting Investigator Grant from the Eur... Read More »