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Posted Mon, 16 Mar 2009 13:28:29
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2 Wellcome Trust PhD Studentships

Bioethics of Assisted Reproduction
Centre For Family Research, University of Cambridge

Applications are invited for 2 PhD studentships in bioethics in the Centre 
for Family Research. These have arisen as part of a Bioethics Enhancement 
Award from the Wellcome Trust. The studentships are available for a period 
of three years commencing in October 2009. A maintenance grant at standard 
Wellcome Trust rates (approximately £19500 per year, NI and tax-free), as 
well as payment of University and College fees (home/EU student rate) will 
be available to the successful candidates.

The Centre for Family Research (CFR) has approximately 25 members, and has 
an annual research grants income that currently exceeds £500,000 pa. The 
work of the Centre is described in detail on our website 
http://www.ppsis.cam.ac.uk/CFR/ and potential applicants are encouraged to 
look at this before applying.

The CFR has a long-standing reputation for empirical work in an area laden 
with bioethical considerations - the use of assisted reproductive 
technologies and the impact on children and families of living in the 
variety of family forms that have become possible with these technologies. 
The CFR has been granted a Bioethics Enhancement Award from the Wellcome 
Trust to enable engagement between social scientists working at the 
interface between empirical research and biomedical ethics, and 
philosophers who focus on biomedical ethics in the field of assisted 
reproduction. The aim is to integrate bioethical and empirical approaches 
from the outset, thus enhancing both ethical analysis and empirical 
research. The two PhD students will choose their research area from within 
the broad scope of the award which will address issues including parental 
rights, autonomy, consent and the welfare of children in relation to three 
newly-emerging family forms resulting from assisted reproductive 
procedures: (i) gay father families (ii) single mothers by choice, and 
(iii) donor siblings (i.e. donor conceived children raised in different 
families who the same donor). Each student will be co-supervised by 
Professor Susan Golombok and a bioethicist with interests relevant to the 
subject of the PhD.

It is anticipated that the successful applicants will have a Masters degree 
or equivalent in philopsophy, bioethics or a related subject; applicants 
without a Masters should hold a first degree at 2:1 or first class level or 
the equivalent standard from a European University.

Information about the admissions criteria can be found in the Graduate 
Studies Prospectus on the universtiy web site 
http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/offices/gradstud/.

Formal application for admission to the University of Cambridge as a 
graduate student requires the completion of an application form provided by 
the Board of Graduate Studies. This formal procedure should not begin until 
after the selection process is complete and the successful applicants have 
been recommended by the Centre.

For further information about the Enhancement Award and the studentships, 
please email: Abby Scott at [log in to unmask]

Applications should include i) a full CV ii) a covering letter explaining 
how your educational, research and employment (if applicable) experiences 
make you the right person to take up this studentship iii) a brief 1-2 page 
proposal of the sort of research you might wish to undertake within the 
bioethics programme and how you would go about it and iv) the names and 
full contact details of two referees familiar with recent relevant 
experiences. Please note that the proposal you describe here will not 
necessarily be the area you eventually choose to work in.

Applications should be emailed to Abby Scott at the above address by 4.00pm 
on Friday, 10th April 2009.

Candidates to be called for interview will be contacted by 22nd April 2009.

Interviews will be held on May 1st 2009.



Helen Statham
Senior Research Associate
Centre for Family Research
University of Cambridge
Cambridge CB2 3RF
Tel (+44) 1223 334513

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