Nils Hoppe

Dear Professor Foskett

I am writing to you, as no doubt many others are doing, to express my

surprise and dismay at your plans to close the Centre for Professional

Ethics at Keele.

The European ethics scholarship landscape is dominated by only a small

number of outstanding centres of excellence, Keele being one of them. I

find it simply astonishing that one of the academically most impressive

and prestigious centres, staffed by scholars of international

distinction, would be considered for closure. The realisation of such

plans would reflect extremely negatively on Keele University and

British academia as a whole, in particular at a time when - despite

budget constraints across Europe - most high-calibre research-led

universities are increasing their support for accompanying research in

ethics.

Further, the increasing focus placed on questions of ethics and the

practice of responsible science by the European Commission and other

strategic funding and policy bodies should be a clear indication of the

significance of the area. In the light of the circumstances I have

outlined, I can only imagine that the university's plans have been

misreported.

I would be immensely grateful if you could indicate whether I am

complaining in error.

Kind regards from Hannover

Nils Hoppe

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Dr. Nils Hoppe

Director

CELLS - Centre for Ethics and Law in the Life Sciences

Institute for Philosophy

Leibniz Universitaet Hannover