King's researcher receives prestigious Wellcome Trust award
Posted on 14/02/2012
We are delighted to announce that Rosamund Scott (Professor of Medical Law and Ethics in the Centre of Medical Law and Ethics, School of Law) and Stephen Wilkinson (Professor of Bioethics, University of Keele) have jointly been awarded a Senior Investigator Award in Ethics and Society by the Wellcome Trust. The award has been granted to support a programme of work on The Donation and Transfer of Human Reproductive Materials and is expected to be worth more than £900,000 over five years.
Their research will consider the best ethical framework for the donation and transfer of human reproductive materials, coupled with the implications of this framework for clinical practice, law, policy, and regulation. The research will be anchored in a number of key interlocking ethical and legal themes, and will consider a wide range of questions, including:
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Who should be allowed to donate what to whom?
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Should people be paid (and, if so, how much) for donating eggs and sperm?
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What is the right regulatory response to the fact that people are seeking treatment with donated materials overseas (e.g. because of shortages in the UK)?
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How should we take into account the welfare of as yet non-existent children, those who may be created by acts of donation?
The grant will support a number of post-doctoral researchers, based partly at Keele and partly at King’s, as well research leave for the award-holders, and a series of conferences and workshops.
The Centre of Medical Law and Ethics within the School of Law at King’s College London is a leading academic centre of research and teaching in medical law and ethics, the first in the United Kingdom. It has close links with the Guy’s, King’s and St Thomas’ School of Medicine, as well as with the Institute of Psychiatry. The Centre is also extensively involved with research and teaching in global ethics.
Further information on the Centre of Medical Law and Ethics
Further information on Wellcome Trust Senior Investigator Awards