Congratulations to Dr Elselijn Kingma, Professor Fiona Woollard and the whole BUMP Research Team from Philosophy whose research was Highly Commended at this year’s Times Higher Education Awards.
Their major project – The Philosophy of Pregnancy, Birth and Early Motherhood – was shortlisted for Research Project of the Year: Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences. Through a number of initiatives such as the ERC-funded BUMP project (Better Understanding the Metaphysics of Pregnancy), public engagement initiative ‘the breastfeeding dilemma’, workshops, conferences and outreach events, Professor Woollard and Dr Kingma are bringing to the fore a number of questions that have largely been ignored about pregnancy and early motherhood.
Dr Kingma, whose main focus is metaphysics, ethics and philosophy of science, said:
“We’re delighted that our work has been recognised for Research Project of the Year,
“Pregnancy is a really interesting state; you are one person, one human, one organism, but there is another organism intimately located within you. Therefore, it’s not clear where pregnant women fit in terms of being individuals. This is not something that has received previous philosophical attention.”
Professor Woollard, whose specialism is ethics and epistemology, added:
“The unique nature of pregnancy also means that many traditional ways of thinking about morality do not apply easily in pregnancy. For example, women who make less than optimal choices when it comes to their foetus’ wellbeing are often treated as if they are doing harm, rather than merely allowing harm or failing to benefit. This matters because we treat ‘doing harm’ much more seriously.”
Read more about this project here.
Our University was also a Times Higher Education Awards finalist for Outstanding Contribution to the Local Community based on our work with Uni-link buses to achieve air quality improvements. You can read more here.
