Ethics and air pollution
All College members are invited to the first Friday Forum of the academic year, on the ethics of air pollution.
We are delighted to welcome to the discussion Sir Chris Whitty, the Chief Medical Officer for England. The event is organised in collaboration with Imperial’s Environmental Research Group, and is chaired by the Group’s director, Professor Frank Kelly, Battcock Chair in Community Health and Policy. We are also joined, as respondent, by Professor Sir Stephen Holgate, lead author of the Royal College of Physician’s recent report on air quality, ‘A Breath of Fresh Air’.
We will be discussing two ethical aspects of air pollution. The first is that there is a close relation between air pollution, resultant poor health, and social inequality. The second, more elusive matter concerns the way good ethical work – and science policy – always rely on combining, or at least understanding, different world views and different sources of knowledge. Air pollution is certainly the kind of complex area where those who wish to research the problem, and find solutions, will be expert in ‘triangulating’ information from all sections of society, ranging from the laboratory to the town hall to the playground to the home. In this kind of mastery Sir Chris Whitty is an exemplar, and we look also to Imperial’s Environmental Research Group as a place with the richest possible commitment to interdisciplinarity.
This event is one of the Friday Forums, a series of events where staff from across the campus can come together for a brief but considered discussion of an ethical issue. All College members are invited, and they are good opportunities to meet colleagues from across the disciplines and to gain new perspectives. A Friday Forum consists of a panel followed by plenty of time for audience Q&A. Do come along expecting to be involved in lively debate.
Following the Forum (14:00 – 15:15) all attendees are invited for tea and cake (15:15 – 16:15), further discussion, and networking.