The growth of scientific knowledge and technical ability in medicine and the biological sciences has led to a number of ethical dilemmas which perplex all of us, but especially those in the health care field. Does the fact that we can prolong the life of a patient in a permanent vegetative state mean that we should do so? Is destructive embryo experimentation justified by the prospect it offers of alleviating infertility? Should research designed to find `gay genes' be conducted given that the results of such work might be used against homosexual people? Should we proceed with research trying to clone people? These and many other questions raise complex ethical and legal issues. The study, discussion and teaching of these issues has come to be known as bioethics - a field generally defined as covering the ethical issues raised by medicine and the biomedical sciences.
The Centre for Human Bioethics offers PhD and masters by research degrees.
Master of Bioethics students who have completed at least one semester of the
course are eligible to apply for an annual fellowship of $7000 to work during
the Australian summer as an intern in the human genetics program at the World
Health Organisation in Geneva. For more information, contact Dr Justin Oakley.
Academic strengths within the centre include ethical issues in patient care, especially involving autonomy and confidentiality; the ethics of clinical trials; ethical problems of resource allocation; medical end-of-life decisions; new reproductive technologies; nursing ethics; surrogacy; disability and discrimination; the new genetics and ethics; moral psychology and moral development. The centre is also strong in ethical theory, especially virtue ethics and consequentialism, the relevance of emotions to ethics, partiality and impartiality in ethics, and feminist ethics. Applied ethics and moral philosophy has been identified as one of the research strengths of the faculty.
Refer to the research masters degrees and Doctor of Philosophy entries under `General information' earlier in this section for further information. Information is also available at the centre's website at http://www.arts.monash.edu.au/bioethics.
Inquiries or applications for the Master of Bioethics by research should be directed, in the first instance, to the Centre for Human Bioethics, telephone (03) 9905 4277.
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