Research Areas

Department Research Areas

• Genetics

• Global Public Health

• Mental Health & Neuroscience

• Clinical Ethics

Professor Michael Parker

Michael Parker is Professor of Bioethics and Director of the Ethox Centre at the University of Oxford. His main research interest is in the development and use of multidisciplinary approaches to researching the ethical and social dimensions of biomedical science and clinical practice. His current research activities include: leading a programme of multidisciplinary research on the ethical and social aspects of a major international genomic epidemiology consortium (MalariaGEN) which is carrying out research into severe malaria in childhood in 20 countries (funded as a Gates Grand Challenge through the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health and the Wellcome Trust); leading research into the ethical issues arising in the development and use of e-science and Grid technologies for medical research on patient records (funded by the Medical Research Council); carrying out multidisciplinary social science, ethical and legal research on the governance of genetic databases (funded by the Wellcome Trust); and, facilitating the Genethics Club, a national ethics forum for health professionals working in clinical genetics.

Michael is on a number of committees and working parties. He is a member of the Ethics in Practice Committee of the Royal College of Physicians, the Department of Health's Pandemic Influenza Ethics Committee, the Steering Committee of the UK Clinical Ethics Network, and the Steering Group of the Genethics Club. He is also a member of the editorial team of the Journal of Medical Ethics and Series Editor of ‘Ethics in Practice’ in the British Medical Journal. He has previously sat on a number of national and international committees and working parties including: Lord Warner’s Ad Hoc Advisory Committee on Research Ethics, the Ministerial Task Force on the Summary Care Record, the Royal College of Physicians Working Party on Clinical Ethics Committees, the British Medical Association Working Party on Cognitive Enhancement, and the Board of Directors of the International Association of Bioethics.

Below is a selection of some of Michael's past and present research grants (further details of the research can be found in the research section of this website):

            Oxford Genetics Knowledge Park, Department of Health and the Department of Trade and Industry £3,685,757 (One of a small group of Principal Investigators)

            Virtual Organisations for Trials and Epidemiological Studies (VOTES). Medical Research Council £2,919,266 (Co-applicant as part of a multi-centre team of researchers led by Professor Rory Collins of the Clinical Trial Service Unit)

            Governing Genetic Databases. Wellcome Trust  £350,000 (Principal Investigator, with Jane Kaye and Andrew Smart)

            Cancer genetics- research or clinical care? Lay and professional understanding of cancer genetics activities in the UK Cancer Research UK £127,000 (Co-applicant with Nina Hallowell and Anneke Lucassen)

            MalariaGEN: Learning from the human genome how protective immunity against malaria works Wellcome Trust and Foundation for the National Institutes of Health, Grand Challenges in Global Health US$ 16,400,000 (Co-applicant with consortium of partners from 20 countries, led by Professor Dominic Kwiatkowski).

            Procardis European Commission 10m Euro (Co-applicant with consortium led by Professor Hugh Watkins)

            MRC Translational Centre for Genomic Epidemiology of Infectious Disease, Medical Research Council £2,900,000 (Co-applicant in team led by Professor Dominic Kwiatkowski)

            Collaborative Workshop to Develop a Multidisciplinary Social Science and Ethics Research Agenda, Kilifi, Kenya. Wellcome Trust US$8,200 (Co-applicant with Sassy Molyneux at KEMRI and Jantina de Vries at Ethox).