The Wellcome Centre for Ethics, Innovation, Globalisation and Medicine

Medical ethics, largely shaped by 20th-century concerns, no longer fits the problems created by modern genomics, brain science, and global data-sharing. The Wellcome Centre for Ethics, Innovation, Globalisation and Medicine at the University of Oxford will develop new ethical frameworks for 21st-century medical research. The problem is that existing ethical guidelines were built for an era before large-scale data-driven science, gene editing, neurotechnology, and globally interconnected health systems. These advances raise questions that older ethics cannot answer—such as who owns genomic data, how to govern brain-computer interfaces, or what fairness means when medical tools are developed in one country and deployed in another. The Centre’s research will focus on four themes: data-driven science, genomics, neuroscience, and global health interdependence. A cross-cutting programme will examine how these developments converge. The Centre will also run public engagement activities to ensure its findings shape real-world debate. If successful, this work could change how research funders, regulators, and policymakers design ethical guidelines for future medical technologies. It may help ensure that scientific progress earns public trust rather than provoking backlash. This is fundamental humanities research—it will not produce a new drug or device, but it could determine whether those technologies are used responsibly.