Welcome

The W. Maurice Young Centre for Applied Ethics (the Centre) is an interdisciplinary research unit within the School of Population and Public Health at the University of British Columbia. The Centre was created in 1993 with endowments by W. Maurice Young (LLD) and the Bentall Foundation.

The Centre’s approach to other UBC academic and research units follows from our position as an interdisciplinary academic centre, and from our mission to advance the research agenda of applied ethics. A number of departments and units, including Animal Welfare, the Institute for Resources, Environment, and Sustainability, Nursing and Philosophy, have contributed outstanding students to the Centre, while our research and teaching/supervision now ties us to Medical Genetics, Law, Political Science, Journalism, Forestry, Botany and Computing Sciences. These relationships and the products of our collaborations place the Centre at the forefront of the movement to create transdisciplinary research.

The Centre’s affairs are managed by a Coordinating Committee representing faculty, students and research associates, chaired by the Director of the Centre.

Mission

The Centre’s mission is to advance research and teaching of applied ethics, conceived as the application of normative methods to core issues in science and technology ethics and policy, organizational ethics, animal welfare, health, the environment, and research ethics.

The Centre is an interdisciplinary group of philosophers and social scientists who employ diverse methodologies to a wide range of problems, including healthcare practices, business and professional procedures, new technologies and environmental issues.

Objective

The Centre aims to conduct world-class research in applied ethics and to educate the next generation of applied ethics researchers and practitioners. It has, in part, met the challenges of working in this field by successfully seeking funding for several major research programs and a growing number of graduate and post-doctoral students.

Finding Common Ground on Animal Welfare

Speaker: Bob Fischer, Professor of Philosophy, Texas State University

Tuesday Apr 14, 2026, 12:30-2 pm PDT | SPPH B104 or via Zoom | Register

Ethical Third Spaces: A Multi-eyed Seeing Approach to Mental Health and Psychedelic Medicine

Speaker: Jimena Garcia Chalchi, MA Global Leadership

Friday Apr 17, 2026, 9-10 am PDT | Via Zoom | Register

Equitable and Targeted Pathways towards SDG-3 Acceleration in Low-Resource Settings: Lessons from Ethiopia

Speaker: Fentabil Getnet Yimer, National Data Management and Analytics Center, Ethiopian Public Health Institute

Wednesday Apr 22, 2026, 12-1:30 pm PDT | SPPH 219 or via Zoom | Register

When Society Bans What Conscience Demands: Conscientious Provision of Gender-Affirming Care in Canada and the U.S.

Speaker: Alison Reiheld, Professor, Southern Illinois University – Edwardsville
Friday May 1, 2026, 12-1:30 pm PDT | SPPH B104 or via Zoom | Register