Julian  

Savulescu

Professor Julian Savulescu is the Chen Su Lan Professor in Medical Ethics at the National University of Singapore, where he directs the Centre for Biomedical Ethics in the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine.

Savulescu is trained in medicine, neuroscience, and philosophy. He held Uehiro Chair in Practical Ethics at the University of Oxford as the founding incumbent. In 2003, he founded the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics.

He is Visiting Professorial Fellow in Biomedical Ethics at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, and Distinguished Visiting Professor in Law at Melbourne University (2017-), where he directs the Biomedical Ethics Research Group. He was editor of the Journal of Medical Ethics for over 10 years. His research. He has led a series of major grants worth over £20 million, including a Wellcome Trust Strategic Centre.

He has written over 400 publications in medical and practical ethicsm with over 25,000 citations to those pieces, and made over 3000 media appearances.

Genethics

Savulescu established one of the world’s first ethics of genetics units in 1998 at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute. This has continued as a major research theme including cell and gene therapy, precision and genomic medicine, and in 2020, he established the Australian Centre for Paediatric Genomics with a grant from the Australian Medical Research Future Fund as well as a further Australian Research Council awards.

Neuoroethics

Savulescu established Europe’s first centre for neuroethics with a Wellcome Trust strategic award in 2008. He has pioneered programmes in moral psychology and experimental bioethics and holds active grants from the European Union relating to neuroethics and artificial intelligence.

Selected Awards and Honours

In 2019, Savulescu was made Fellow of the Australian Academy for Health and Medical Sciences in recognition of his contribution to the field. In 2018, he won the Daniel M Wegner award for Theoretical Innovation for the Oxford Utilitarianism Scale, and the British Medical Association President’s Choice award for his book with Dominic Wilkinson on resolving conflict between doctors and parents of seriously ill children.

In May 2014, he was awarded the title Doctoris Honoris Causa (honorary doctorate) by the University of Bucharest. In 2009, he was awarded the title of Monash Distinguished Alumni for outstanding achievement. He was also selected as the winner of the ‘Thinkers’ category of The Australian’s Top 100 Emerging Leaders awards, presented by the Australian Prime Minister at Parliament House.

He has presented at conferences across the world including the World Economic Forum at Davos (2009) and the Mont Pelerin Society’s Annual Meeting in Tokyo in 2008, and in 2015, the CLSA Investors Forum, Hong Kong. He was a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council (2016-2018).

Selected Lectures

Distinguished lectures include the Tanner Lectures (2009), the Crown Lectures (2008), Pierce Lectures (2008), Herbert Spencer Lectures (2005). He was the Australian Society for Medical Research’s (ASMR) National Lecturer and Medallist in 2005 and presented to the Royal Institution in 2009.

Leadership and Policy

Savulescu has been active in government consultations and policy formation. He recently co-authored a report for the UK Infected Blood Inquiry, as   member of the Medical Ethics Expert Group. He has produced submissions, evidence and advice to the US President’s Council on Bioethics, the UK Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit, the UK House of Lords, the European Commission and other governing bodies across Europe and Australia. He was invited to join the UK’s Home Office Select Affairs Committee in 2021, and was a founding member of the Human Brain Project’s ELSA committee.

He has made contributions to the formation of law on assisted dying, the use of mitochondrial transfer techniques, direct to consumer brain stimulation devices, cloning and embryonic stem cell research, and abortion law reform.

• Medical ethics, especially the ethics of new biotechnologies;
• Ethics of genetics;
• AI ethics;
• Practical ethics, and philosophical bioethics;
• Neuroethics