Southampton academic discusses public health issues in Montreal

Reader in Law and member of Southampton Law School’s Health, Ethics and Law research centre ( HEAL ) , Dr John Coggon , is currently discussing key issues in public health during a two-week research visit to Montreal.

While in Canada, he is taking part in a series of events and activities, all advancing projects in public health, ethics, and law. First is a symposium on Population and Public Health Ethics, led by Professor Jean Shoveller of the University of British Columbia, aimed at the dissemination and development of international research collaborations and agendas. As part of this event, John is presenting a paper on the ethics of public health activism, and the role of public health practitioners in the development of policy. Following the symposium, he will give the keynote address at the Summer Institute of the Population Health Intervention Research Network . This pan-Canadian organisation, involving eight universities, focuses on finding solutions to problems concerning the causes and determinants of ill-health. His keynote will explore how prominent theories of public health ethics are developed, and may be applied in policy and practice.

During his visit to Montreal, John will also be a scholar-in-residence with the Montreal Health Equity Research Consortium , in the Biomedical Ethics Unit at McGill University’s Faculty of Medicine. He will present a public lecture Does Ethics Govern Public Health, or Does Public Health Govern Public Health Ethics? It examines the idea of public health ethics as a response from health policy and practice to ethical, legal, and political theory through the analysis of three questions: who owns public health ethics?, what lies within the field of public health ethics?, and how and by whom should public health rights be exercised? While at McGill, John is also participating in a workshop based on his book What Makes Health Public?