Wolfson JRF launches new Oxford course in neuroethics

Michael Wee, Wolfson JRF and Postdoctoral Researcher in Global Mental Health Ethics, is deputy director of a new, interdisciplinary course recently launched in Oxford: the Oxford Winter Neuroethics School (OWNS).  

Neuroethics is a growing, interdisciplinary field that encompasses the ethics of neuroscience, psychiatry, and mental health. OWNS is one of the first courses in the world dedicated to neuroethics outside of a formal degree programme. It is an initiative of the Department of Psychiatry’s Neuroscience, Ethics & Society (NEUROSEC) research group, led by Ilina Singh, who is Professor of Neuroscience and Society at Oxford University.

Speaking on the rationale behind this new winter school, Michael said: 

“Developments in neuroscience and in mental health are closely watched by many, and they raise new and interesting ethical questions which require an intersectional, cross-cutting approach. From considering mental capacity assessments in law to the use of psychedelics in medicine, a wide range of skills is required for ethics today and in the foreseeable future.”

“But this raises the question—how will new generations of researchers acquire the cross-disciplinary range of skills that neuroethics requires? One distinctive feature of OWNS is that our course is not structured according to ethical topics but according to a range of practical research skills, with neuroethical topics at the centre of teaching how these skills may be applied. This new approach to pedagogy will also help participants reflect critically on what interdisciplinarity means.”

The Oxford Winter Neuroethics School (OWNS) is currently accepting applications for its inaugural intake of students. For more information, please visit www.owns.org.uk.