Professional Ethics at Keele (PEAK)
Founded in 2002, the Centre for Professional Ethics (widely known as PEAK – Professional Ethics at Keele) has been a leading centre for research and teaching in ethics for over two decades. With a strong focus on bioethics, medical ethics, and areas of ethics with important professional application, it stands at the interface of applied ethics between multiple – and often interconnected – areas in law, philosophy, medicine and healthcare, social care, mental health, research ethics, and emerging technologies.
PEAK is now fully integrated into the School of Law at Keele, allowing its legacy of internationally excellent research in applied ethics and high-quality professionally orientated ethics courses to continue as part of the wider School. We regularly host conferences and workshops on topical issues in law and ethics, often in conjunction with other disciplines. Some past highlights include: Research Ethics in the EU (2010); Loss, Bereavement and Compassionate Care: Challenges and Opportunities in the Criminal Justice System (2014); 30 Years of Medical Ethics and Law: Looking Back, Moving Forward (2017); Confronting Dishonesty (2022); and The Implications of Ageing and Cognitive Impairment on Perspectives of the Soul and the Afterlife (2024).
We have one of the UK's longest running MA programmes in Medical Ethics and Law, and a unique MA in Medical Ethics and Palliative Care, which was initially developed and delivered with the Marie Curie Palliative Care Institute, Liverpool. PEAK was also one of the first providers of training for research ethics committees in the UK and Ireland, providing training for many years to the NHS, HEIs, and private healthcare institutions. Colleagues in PEAK co-authored the widely used European Textbook on Ethics in Research, published by the European Commission.
Academic staff affiliated with PEAK are engaged in research, publication and supervision of research students over a wide range of areas of applied and professional ethics. We are able to supervise research degrees (PhD and MPhil) in many fields of applied and professional ethics.
PEAK staff
Professor Anthony Wrigley
Professor of Ethics
- Chancellor’s Building, CBC2.013
- +44(0)1782 733143
- a.wrigley@keele.ac.uk
Dr Jonathan Hughes
Senior Lecturer
- Chancellor's Building, CBC2.004
- +44(0)1782 734078
- j.a.hughes@keele.ac.uk
Professor Anthony Wrigley
Professor Anthony Wrigley has research interests in applied and biomedical ethics across a broad range of issues in philosophy, law, medicine and society. His work has focused primarily on ethical and policy issues on the margins of life, including new genetic and reproductive technologies, consent for those who have lost capacity, research on vulnerable and terminally ill subjects, and end-of-life care. He is also interested in theoretical work on underlying concepts such as harm, vulnerability, personhood, identity, mental illness, autonomy, dishonesty, exploitation, hope, and trust. His work is often covered in the media and he has provided advice to various bodies and organisations on ethical issues, such as The Nuffield Council on Bioethics and Public Health England, as well as being a member of the NHS Organ and Tissue Donation and Transplantation Advisory Group and a committee member of the Innovation-Xenotransplantation sub-group for the Department of Health and Social Care. In 2015-16, he held a Research Fellowship for the Hope-Optimism Project at Cornell and Notre Dame Universities in the USA.
Dr Dunja Begović
Dr Dunja Begović has research interests in the ethics and regulation of human reproduction, as well as the end of life, especially palliative care. She has co-published papers on prenatal testing, maternal-fetal surgery, surrogacy and uterus transplantation, twin pregnancy reduction, the application of digital health interventions in cancer and palliative care, and care transitions for patients with advanced cancer.
Dr Laura Pritchard-Jones
Dr Laura Pritchard-Jones’ research interests are predominantly around the intersection of law, ethics, and society in relation to mental health and capacity law and social welfare. In recent years she has co-edited one of the only edited collections on the subject of mental capacity in the context of sexual relationships, and written a leading paper on the use of the High Court's inherent jurisdiction in relation to vulnerable adults. She is heavily involved in teaching and training health and social care practitioners in relation to aspects of the law, including through both the MAs in Medical Ethics and Law and Medical Ethics and Palliative Care, as well as directly through local authority, CCG, and NHS Trust consultancy work.
Dr Kevin De Sabbata
Dr Kevin De Sabbata joined Keele in 2021 as a lecturer working in healthcare law and ethics, mental health law, global health law, ethics, and disability rights. He has particular research interests in mental capacity, supported decision-making, consent to treatment, end-of-life choices, dementia, the life and rights of disabled people in various areas of the world and ethical dilemmas during a pandemic. He previously worked at the Athena Institute, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the University of Udine Law School, and the Centre for Ethics in Medicine, University of Bristol. Before his academic career, he worked for some years in legal practice.
Dr Sotirios Santatzoglou
Dr Sotirios Santatzoglou has a wide range of research interests that are framed by a socio-legal approach. In recent years, his research has addressed topics such as youth institutionalisation, surveillance, dishonesty, and bereavement and end-of-life issues within the context of criminal law and criminal justice. He has organised numerous cross-disciplinary research events in these areas, including seminars, workshops, and conferences on ‘Loss, Bereavement and Compassionate Care: Challenges and Opportunities in the Criminal Justice System’ (2014), ‘Who knows best: The management of change in criminal justice’ (2014), ‘Confronting Dishonesty – the Significance of Context in Considering Liability’ (2022), and ‘Law in the Age of Permacrisis’ (2024).
