Making the Military Moral

Join the King's Centre for Military Ethics for an event showcasing their innovative and ground-breaking research developments in the field of Military Medical Ethics.

 

Chair Professor Martin Bricknell, Deputy Director of the King's Centre for Military Ethics

Speakers

• Professor David Whetham, Director of the King's Centre for Military Ethics
• Professor James Connelly, Emeritus Professor of Political Theory at the University of Hull
• Mr Don Carrick, Philosopher and former lawyer, specializing in the field of applied ethics.

Discussants

• Professor Peter Mahoney, Visiting Professor at the King's Centre for Military Ethics
• Dr Marina Miron, Post-doc researcher at the King's Centre for Military Ethics

 

Agenda

• 17.30 - 17:35 Introductions
• 17.35 - 17.45 Discussion on the book series, Professor James Connelly
• 17.45 - 17:50 The challenges of teaching military ethics in the 21^st Century, Professor David Whetham
• 17.50 - 18:05 Introduction to the Military Medical Ethics app, Professor Martin Bricknell
• 18:05 - 18.20 Interactive demonstration of the Military Medical Ethics app, All
• 18.20 - 19.00 Q&A 

 

Please register via Eventbrite, all registered attendees will receive an email with the Zoom access details/links.

The MME App is available for download from both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

 

The book - Making the Military Moral 

Making the Military Moral offers a critical analysis, both theoretical and practical, of ethics education in the military and how, in the twenty-first century, it has become increasingly important to ensure that the armed forces of Western and other democracies fight justly and behave ethically. It draws lessons from recent examples of unethical conduct and provides inter-disciplinary insights into the present state, and future, of ethics education in the militaries of Western democracies. It does so by critically addressing the central question of whether such education is sufficient to prepare members of the armed forces to face the peculiar challenges of conflict environments in which the opposing combatants may have little or no regard for human life and fail to discriminate between soldiers and civilians when choosing their targets.

 

The Military Medical Ethics app

Military Medical Ethics is a vitally important subject for healthcare practitioners in the Armed Forces and following the unprecedented success of the Military and Medical Ethics physical deck of cards, the centre have developed an innovative app.

Each card suit follows specific medical topics; principles of healthcare, relations with patients, protection of healthcare personnel, and teamwork, communication and culture which provides a question/scenario for individual reflection or small group discussions. The cards also include a web link to the King’s Centre for Military Ethics website providing additional prompts for thought and discussion, explanation and information on supporting reading.

 

 

Speaker Bios

David Whetham is Professor of Ethics and the Military Profession in the Defence Studies Department of King’s College London. He is the Director of the King’s Centre for Military Ethics and delivers or coordinates the military ethics component of courses for between two and three thousand British and international officers a year at the UK’s Joint Services Command and Staff College. David supports military ethics education in many different countries and has held Visiting Fellowships at the Stockdale Center for Ethical Leadership, US Naval Academy Annapolis, the Centre for Defence Leadership and Ethics at the Australian Defence College in Canberra and at the University of Glasgow. David is the Vice President and founding member of the European Chapter of the International Society for Military Ethics (Euro ISME).

 

Professor Martin Bricknell took up his appointment as Professor in Conflict, Health and Military Medicine at King’s College London in April 2019 to build a focus for research into civil-military relations in global health systems. Prior to this he served 34 years in the UK Defence Medical Services, culminating his service as the Surgeon General of the UK Armed Forces. He undertook operational tours in Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Balkans with multiple additional overseas assignments. In 2010 and 2006, he held senior Medical Adviser appointments in the NATO ISAF mission.

 

James Connelly is Emeritus Professor of Political Theory at the University of Hull in 2006, after having taught at the University of Southampton and Southampton Solent University. He teaches political theory, contemporary political philosophy, environmental politics, and electoral systems. James also writes and researches on the political philosophy of R G Collingwood and other British idealists, the philosophy of history, and environmental ethics and politics.

 

Don Carrick is a philosopher and former lawyer, specializing in the field of applied ethics. His main interests are in professional military ethics education, medical ethics, just war theory and moral and political philosophy. Don teaches military medical ethics to third-year students in the Medical School at the University of Leeds, and he is also a Research Associate at King’s Centre for Military Ethics, where he is currently working on a book provisionally entitled ‘Teaching Ethics to the British Soldier’.

 

Discussant bios

Marina Miron holds a BA in Politics and American Studies (Jt Hons) from the University of Nottingham, and a MA in War & Contemporary Conflict. She completed her PhD studies in 2019 in the area of military strategy at the University of New South Wales Canberra at the Australian Defence Force Academy, Canberra, Australia. Marina’s main research interests include strategic and war studies with emphasis on the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Russia, the thought of Clausewitz, and forms of contemporary warfare, including cyber-warfare, and ‘irregular warfare’.

 

Peter Mahoney CBE is a Consultant in Anaesthesia and Pre-Hospital Emergency Medicine. He has served in both the Army Reserve (22 years) and Regular Army (18 years). Roles have included Deployed Medical Director of the Hospital in Camp Bastion, Afghanistan and the helicopter delivered Medical Emergency Response Team (MERT). His PhD in Defence and Security (Cranfield, 2018) investigated military ballistic head injury and his MBA (University of Nottingham, 2011) looked at the deployed trauma system as a High Reliability Organisation. He was the UK’s Foundation Defence Professor of Anaesthesia (2008). Current research projects include novel medicines for pain management (Cardiff University) and neuropathic pain mechanisms (Defence Science and Technology Laboratory). He has recently been appointed as an Associate Medical Director for St John Ambulance