James Wilson

Dear Prof Foskett

I am dismayed to see the proposed closure of PEAK. I and all my colleagues in the field are baffled by this: the Centre for Professional Ethics is known worldwide for its rigorous and philosophical approach to bioethics.

I worked in PEAK from 2004-8, directing the MA Medical Ethics and Law 2006-8. If I had not taken up my current post, I would now be Director of PEAK. I can honestly say that PEAK are the finest group of colleagues I have ever worked with. I was struck immediately and continually by the extremely high quality of the teaching, and how valuable the students found the courses. PEAK has carved out a distinctive niche in teaching ethics to full-time professionals. This is a market which can only be expected to grow over the future, and I notice that the university's own projections have PEAK returning to profitability in the near future.

PEAK is a small unit, but it punches well above its weight in research. To give you the briefest summary of some its esteem indicators: PEAK currently has two prestigious Wellcome Trust Clinical Fellows in Biomedical Ethics; in 2010 it played host to a Leverhulme Visiting Professor, and in 2011-12 a Marie Curie Fellow. Its members edit two international journals (Public Health Ethics, and Research Ethics); it recently completed the EU's Textbook for Research Ethics; Angus Dawson is Vice-President of the International Association of Bioethics.

In short, PEAK is one of the best brands Keele University has. You cannot afford to let it close.

Yours sincerely

James Wilson
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Dr James Wilson
Lecturer in Philosophy and Health
University College London

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