ESRC Centre for Economic and Social Aspects of Genomics (Cesagen)
Description of organisati
on
The ESRC Centre for Economic and Social Aspects of Genomics (Cesagen) was established in October 2002 as a collaboration between the Universities of Cardiff and Lancaster. Cesagen is a multidisciplinary centre in which staff from social sciences and humanities work closely with natural and medical sciences to address the social, economic and policy aspects of developments in genomics.
Cesagen’s main objective is to investigate the economic and social factors that shape natural knowledge in genomics and other life sciences. The Centre is directed by Professor Ruth Chadwick with Professor Adam Hedgecoe as Associate Director in Cardiff and Professor Maureen McNeil as Associate Director in Lancaster.
The Cesagen research programme for 2007-2012 builds upon the collective pool of evidence and skills, as well as the evidence base created by Cesagen and its Network partners in the first phase of funding. We are developing the framework for a coherent cross-disciplinary theoretical perspective built on sound methodological principles with which to further understand the post-genomic era.
We work with colleagues across the EGN and other networks to establish a coherent and complementary research agenda that recognises and encourages the strengths that have already been established. We continue to work closely with life scientists, clinicians, policy actors and other key stakeholders in partnership, and in mutual engagement with the complexities and uncertainties that the genomic era brings.
Previous Experience
Ruth Chadwick is Distinguished Research Professor and Director of the ESRC Centre for Economic and Social Aspects of Genomics (Cesagen): a Lancaster-Cardiff collaboration. She holds a Link Chair at Cardiff University between the Law School and the School of English, Communication and Philosophy (ENCAP). She has co-ordinated a number of projects funded by the European Commission, including the EUROSCREEN projects (1994-6; 1996-9) and co-edits the journal Bioethics and the online journal Genomics, Society and Policy. She is Chair of the Human Genome Organisation Ethics Committee, a member of the Advisory Committee of the UK National Stem Cell Network; and has served as a member of several policy-making and advisory bodies, including the Panel of Eminent Ethical Experts of the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), and the UK Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes (ACNFP). She was editor-in-chief of the award winning Encyclopedia of Applied Ethics (1998), of which a second edition is now being prepared. She is an Academician of the Academy of Social Sciences and a Fellow of the Hastings Center, New York; of the Royal Society of Arts; and of the Royal Society of Medicine. In 2005 she was the winner of the World Technology Network Award for Ethics for her work on the relationship between scientific developments and ethical frameworks.
Webpage
http://www.genomicsnetwork.ac.uk/cesagen/
Five Relevant Publications to the Project
Lunshof, J., Chadwick, R., Vorhaus, D. and Church, G., 2008. From genetic privacy to open consent Nature Reviews Genetics 9: 406-411.
Chadwick, R, 2011. Encyclopedia of Applied Ethics 2nd edn. Oxford: Elsevier
Chadwick, R., ten Have, H. and Meslin, E. (eds) 2010 Handbook of Health Care Ethics Sage, 2011
Chadwick, R. 2004. Science, context and professional ethics. In: Korthals, M. and Bogers, R.J. eds. Ethics for life scientists. Vol. 5. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer, pp. 175-182.
Häyry, M., Chadwick, R., Árnason, V. and Árnason, G., eds. 2007 The Ethics and Governance of Genetic Databases Cambridge University Press.