Workshop on 'Paternalism, Children's Health and Parental Rights (Info and CFP)

The Paternalism, Health, and Public Policy Project (funded by the Wellcome Trust) is pleased to announce its fourth workshop.

‘Paternalism, Children’s Health and Parental Rights'. 12th-13th September 2022, Durham University. Co-hosted with the Centre for Ethics and Law in the Life Sciences (CELLS), Durham University

The workshop will consider the limits of parental rights. It will also focus on the ethics of state interference in the family, and the extent to which children’s own decisions and preferences should contribute to medical decision-making and public health policy. 

We have reserved one slot at the workshop for either a graduate student or early career researcher (defined as within 10 years of viva at the date of the workshop). To apply for one of these slots, please send a 500-word, anonymised abstract to [email protected] by 7th February 2022. We hope to inform applicants of our decision by the end of February. Travel and accommodation will be provided for speakers.

To register for the workshop, please email: [email protected]

Confirmed speakers: 

•      Emma Cave, Professor of Healthcare Law, Durham University; Fellow of the Wolfson Institute for Health and Wellbeing.

•      Matthew Clayton, Associate Professor of Political Theory, University of Warwick; Convenor of the Children, Education and Philosophy Group.

•      Dominic Wilkinson, Professor of Medical Ethics, University of Oxford; Consultant Neonatologist, John Radcliffe Hospital; Director of Medical Ethics, Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics

•      David Archard, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at Queen’s University Belfast, Chair of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics and Honorary Vice-President of the Society for Applied Philosophy.

•      Anca Gheaus, Assistant Professor in the Political Science Department at the Central European University in Vienna, Associate Editor for the Journal of Applied Philosophy and the Journal of Ethics and Social Philosophy.

The workshop will also feature a roundtable discussion to further explore the practical and policy implications of research in this area.