The ethics and politics of the genetic modification and manipulation of foodstuffs
The deadline for 2012 Doctoral College Studentships has now passed.
The Brighton Doctoral College is pleased to welcome applications from self-funded or externally sponsored students for programmes of research in this or a closely related area, beginning from September 2012. Applications are welcome from students wishing to study full time or part time, and applications are welcome from students in employment who have the support of their employers.
- Based in the Faculty of Arts
- Supervisors: Professor Bob Brecher; Dr Leila Dawney.
Application deadline
The university cannot guarantee that students can start at their requested date unless deadlines are met.
- UK/EU students: The deadline for the university to receive applications for an entry date of October is the 1 August, for January entry it is the 1 November and for May it is the 1 March.
- International students: The deadline for the university to receive applications for an entry date of October is the 1 June, for January entry it is the 1 September and for May it is the 1 January.
The ethical and political implications of techniques developed over the last two decades or so which have made possible the genetic manipulation and modification of foods for human consumption are as far-reaching as they are complex.
This project seeks to develop an extensive and varied range of existing AHRC-funded and related work within the University around the politics of food production and distribution. It will focus in particular on the local-global interface, by developing a possible framework for ethical and political decision-making about genetically modified foodstuffs. While clearly not offering clear “off the shelf” answers, this would at least clarify the sorts of ethical and political issues at stake and, in particular, ask how far it may be possible to differentiate questions about safety, risk and related empirical matters from those concerning ownership, distribution and related political matters if only, perhaps, to reintegrate these into an overall ethical approach. The project thus complements both that on the Ethics and Politics of Disability and a current doctoral project, supervised by Professor Brecher, analysing the distribution of economic inequalities brought about by recent advances in human genetics. We therefore seek applications that combine relevant ethical and political expertise with a firm grasp of the science involved in the genetic modification of foodstuffs. Candidates are invited to visit CAPPE.
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