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Profiting from Misery: Is There Something Different About Healthcare Data?

Profiting from Misery: Is There Something Different About Healthcare Data?

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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?

Dire Wolves and Deep Prompts: Language Models in Applied Ethics

You might have seen the headlines: Colossal Biosciences claims to have brought back the dire wolf. Except, it’s not quite a direct resurrection. What Colossal actually created are genetically engineered proxies: grey wolves modified to have some dire wolf traits. I wondered if the news might renew interest in the ethics of “de-extinction” and perhaps… Read More »Dire Wolves and Deep Prompts: Language Models in Applied Ethics

Uterus Transplants – Ethical and Legal Challenges in the Mexican Context

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Author: Dr César Palacios-Gonzalez Discussions about maternal health and rights in Mexico tend to focus on health outcomes and access to healthcare. Academics and activists have long campaigned for the government to invest more resources in maternal health. Unfortunately, healthcare provision for women who want to have a child and are struggling to conceive hasn’t received enough… Read More »Uterus Transplants – Ethical and Legal Challenges in the Mexican Context

Justifying Exclusion From Public Sport

Graduate Highly Commended paper in the 2025 National Uehiro Oxford Essay Prize in Practical Ethics. By Edward Lamb. During the 2024 Paris Olympics, the inclusion of Dutch beach volleyball player Steven van de Velde generated serious controversy. Van de Velde had previously been sentenced to four years in British jail, convicted of child rape.[1] After… Read More »Justifying Exclusion From Public Sport

Bridging the Gaps: How Language Models Can Connect Ethics, Science, and Policy

What this post explores: At its best, practical ethics addresses normative questions with philosophical rigor while remaining grounded in empirical evidence and offering meaningful input for policy. However, the field frequently faces challenges in demonstrating clear connections between normative analysis, empirical and policy research.   The Structural Disconnect The challenge is partly due to the… Read More »Bridging the Gaps: How Language Models Can Connect Ethics, Science, and Policy

Bring Back Shame: Does the Ethical Value of Shame Justify Shaming?

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Undergraduate Highly Commended paper in the 2025 National Uehiro Oxford Essay Prize in Practical Ethics. By Nicole Chinenyenwa Oboko. I  have always been told that if a person has nothing nice to say, they should say nothing at all. For most of my life, I’ve upheld this belief. A decent person, as part of a decent… Read More »Bring Back Shame: Does the Ethical Value of Shame Justify Shaming?