New RF: James Dempsey

The Centre for the Study of Global Ethics is pleased to welcome James Dempsey to the team as a Research Fellow on the FINCRIS Project, 'Responsibilities, Ethics and the Financial Crisis'.

To learn more about the new FINCRIS project, click here.

For more about James Dempsey, visit his staff page here.

New SURVEILLE Advisory Service Twitter Account

The SURVEILLE Advisory Service is now on twitter.

Follow us at https://twitter.com/surveilleuob for all the latest news, events and analysis from the Advisory Service team.

SURVEILLE Advisory Service in SECEUR Magazine

The University of Birmingham's Surveillance Technology Ethics Advisory Service offers a 'valuable contribution to EU research community' says SECEUR magazine.

See http://www.seceur.info/ for more information.

Global Ethics Master's - Open Lunch

What: Informational Meeting about Global Ethics Master’s programmes at Birmingham (with lunch provided)

When and Where: Monday, March 21, 12-1 p.m., Muirhead 417

This is Luis Cabrera from the POLSIS staff, writing to invite you to an information meeting on the Master’s programmes in Global Ethics here at Birmingham.

The programmes are offered by the Centre for the Study of Global Ethics. It’s an internationally known centre that is very active in pursuing funded ethics research, as well as bringing leading scholars of global ethics to campus for regular seminars.

The Centre currently offers an MSc in Global Ethics and an MSc in Human Rights & Human Values as well as several Diploma and Certificate Programmes and the option to undertake flexible study.

MSc in Global Ethics

MSc in Human Rights and Human Values

Postgraduate Diploma/Certificate in Global Ethics

Postgraduate Diploma/Certificate in Human Rights and Human Values

This meeting will be to provide details about the programmes and answer any questions you may have. It will be chaired by Professor Tom Sorell, head of the Global Ethics Centre. Lunch is free for all attendees.

Global Poverty - Call for Proposals

Call for Proposals

Impact: Global Poverty

Academics Stand Against Poverty UK Launch Meeting

When: Monday, May 23, 2011, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with buffet/reception to follow

Where: University of Birmingham

Hosts: Thomas Pogge (Yale University), and Luis Cabrera (University of Birmingham)

Background: Academics Stand Against Poverty is a developing worldwide network of scholars focused on global poverty and global/trans-state justice. Its aim is to help academics leverage their research expertise on such issues by making effective interventions in public debates, by supporting good work by international agencies and non-governmental organisations, and by launching real-world projects aimed at realizing positive change.

This meeting marks the launch of the ASAP network in the UK. It will be co-hosted by Thomas Pogge, who has been at the centre of ASAP development efforts in the United States and elsewhere. Confirmed participants include such leading scholars of global justice, ethics, and development economics as Simon Caney, Darrel Moellendorf, Kalypso Nicolaidis, Sonia Bhalotra, Suzanne Uniacke, Christien Van Den Anker, Thom Brooks, Elizabeth Ashford, Paul Jackson, Heather Widdows, Tom Sorell, and others.

This open call is for contributions of up to 1,500 words outlining a project proposal that academics might initiate toward making concrete contributions to the reduction of world poverty or addressing related issues, e.g., climate change, aspects of immigration. Examples of proposals that are well on their way toward implementation are available at the internet links below.

Proposers for the May 23 meeting are encouraged to provide details in three main categories:

1) Normative and/or empirical research that could be conducted as groundwork for the project (as well as salient research that has been produced by yourself or others and could feed into the project). It would be particularly helpful here also to identify any potential for collaborative research with others as part of the project.

2) Any opportunities for collaborative funding proposals to support the research.

3) An outline of ways in which the project might achieve its practical aims, and ways in which other members of the ASAP network in the UK and elsewhere would be able to contribute. Part of the aim of ASAP is to help identify best practices for making actual interventions, so this category should be viewed as open to all ideas. Interventions could involve anything from strategically targeted opinion pieces by project members, to NGO partnerships, broad advocacy campaigns, including online and media outreach; policy maker interaction, etc. Again, all ideas are welcome as a means of generating fruitful dialogue and sharing of experience and expertise at the May 23 meeting. (Please see the links below for details on how some intervention campaigns have been structured).

Draft proposals will be posted online for open discussion by participants. Selected proposals will receive structured attention at the May 23 ASAP Launch meeting at Birmingham, and shared-interest groups will be formed to take them forward as collaborative research and intervention projects.

All those working on aspects of global poverty, global justice and related issues are invited to submit proposals and attend the meeting. You need not submit a proposal to attend, and broad participation will be encouraged. Lunch and a dinner buffet with wine reception will be provided.

To register to attend the event (for catering purposes), and to submit a draft proposal, please contact: Luis Cabrera (University of Birmingham Political Science and International Studies) a.l.cabrera(at)bham.ac.uk

Examples of proposals or efforts underway:

1) Giving What We Can (Toby Ord, Oxford University): http://www.givingwhatwecan.org/

2) Clean Trade in Natural Resources (Leif Wenar, King’s College, London) http://cleantrade.org/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/clean_trade_brief_9-10.pdf

3) Health Impact Fund (Thomas Pogge, Yale University) http://www.yale.edu/macmillan/igh/

Ethics Consulting for FP7 project FOCUS

Prof. Sorell has been specially engaged as a consultant for the future FOCUS project, which is being funded under the 3rd FP7 Security Call. FOCUS is a project on scenario building for EU security threats. The work is worth 30k Euros to the Centre, and starts in 2011.

FRONTEX CoC Ethics Advice

The Centre for the Study of Global Ethics will be providing the European Border Agency (FRONTEX) with ethics advice on a Code of Conduct for Frontex border operations, which supplements the work the Centre already does on FRONTEX on the ethics of border guards. The work will bring an additional €5k to the Centre.