Christopher Megone

Profile

I joined the University of Leeds as a Teaching Fellow in 1991, then promoted to lecturer in 1992, senior lecturer in 1996, and Professor in 2008. I was Faculty Knowledge Transfer (Impact) Director from 2006-2011, and Faculty International Director from 2012 to 2017.

I studied Classics at Oxford and went on to do a BPhil and a DPhil in Philosophy, also at Oxford. Prior to coming to Leeds I taught at the University of York from 1983-1991. I was awarded a National Teaching Fellowship in 2007.

After success in the National Centres of Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETLs) competition in 2005,  I founded the Inter-Disciplinary Ethics Applied (IDEA) CETL in 2005.  As Head of Centre, my prime responsibility is to work with the Executive and Centre Manager to develop the strategic direction of the Centre in its mission to become a world-class Centre for Inter-Disciplinary Applied Ethics. This includes leading the development of its learning and teaching, research and professional ethics training and consultancy activities, and seeking to ensure their integration as mutually supportive functions of the Centre.

I have contributed to the Centre's Consultancy and Training work with a number of prominent bodies in the professions, including the Institute of Chartered Accountants for England and Wales, the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, the Institute of Engineering and Technology, the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Chartered Institute of Banking, and the Banking Standards Board, among others.  I was an Expert Witness for the Leveson Inquiry: the Culture, Practices and Ethics of the Press.

My main relaxations are with my family (wife, two daughters and a son), and participating in cricket, tennis, squash, table-tennis, singing and walking, as well as in retaining our links to the Eastern Cape in South Africa.

Responsibilities

• Director of IDEA Centre, Programme Manager

Research interests

My research is focused on medical ethics and business and professional ethics, moral psychology and (neo-Aristotelian) ethics and political philosophy. I have edited two books and published more than forty articles across these fields. I am currently completing a book on rational desires and practical wisdom, a neo-Aristotelian approach.

My main areas of research interest are:

• Applied Ethics, especially medical ethics, business ethics and professional ethics
• Plato and Aristotle
• Rationality and Moral Psychology
• Ethics and Political Philosophy

Qualifications

• BA, MA, BPhil, DPhil

Student education

I am a National Teaching Fellow and Director of a National Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (the IDEA CETL). I have been Directo of Student Education in Philosophy (prior to its being part of the School of PRHS) and a member of the Faculty SE Committee from 2006-2017.

In addition to my role as Head of Centre, I also teach at undergraduate, taught Masters and PhD levels, in particular I have been a programme lead on the MA in Biomedical and Health Care Ethics (campus) and MA in Applied and Professional Ethics (online), and participated in the development of our online teaching more generally. At undergraduate level I am mainly involved in teaching with business ethics, medical ethics, and ethics in dentistry.

I also teach Ancient Philosophy in the School of Philosophy, Religion and History of Science, and supervise at Masters and PhD level in that area.

Research groups and institutes

• Centre for Aesthetic, Moral and Political Philosophy
• Ethics of Artificial Intelligence and Big Data
• History of Ethics
• Leadership Ethics, Persuasion and Public Reason
• Professional Ethics
• Moral Psychology

Current postgraduate researchers

• Dr David Molyneux
• Ruby Hornsby