On June 27 as part of the Oxfordshire Science Festival, Professor Ilina Singh hosted a discussion event for students of the John Mason School (Key stages 3 & 4) exploring the ethics of involving children in medical research.

Prof. Ilina Singh with the students at John Mason School, Abingdon

A panel including Prof Ilina Singh (BeGOOD project lead), Dr Mark Sheehan (Oxford NIHR Biomedical Research Centre Ethics Fellow) and Kate Harvey (Senior Research Officer, Nuffield Council on Bioethics) posed a series of cases that encouraged the students to consider a set of ethical issues; ‘Should children be involved in clinical trials?’ ‘Can children understand consent?’ ‘Can children make accurate assessments about future harms and benefits?’ The panel offered clear insights into these cases, and then opened the discussion up for the students to participate in a lively debate. BeGOOD summer interns were also in attendance, contributing to and facilitating the group debates.