Director of the Centre for the Study of Global Ethics, Professor Heather Widdows wins the Charles Beale Award for Policy Advancement, which is one of the University's prestigious Founders' Awards.
Each year during the degree congregations, the University of Birmingham holds a degree dinner and award ceremony, which recognises the very best academic work across the University. The awards are named after our most influential founders and benefactors, and they are given for research excellence that has benefits locally, nationally and internationally.
Professor Widdows has led a number of projects on issues of property in the body, reproductive rights, the ethics of war and terrorism and governance of the genome. She has published three books (The Connected Self, Global Ethics and The Moral Vision of Iris Murdoch), three co-edited collections (The Governance of Genetic Information, Women's Reproductive Rights, and Global Social Justice) and more than 60 articles and chapters.
The clearest evidence for Professor Widdows' impact on policy is through her work on the UK Biobanks Ethics and Governance Council (EGC). UKB is a 30-year epidemiological project building the world's largest information resource in this area and developing governance which is now adopted globally. Professor Widdows has been a member since 2007 and she as asked to extend her membership because her expertise was crucial for the development of the access policy.