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The University of Southampton
Medicine
Email:
gns1c20@soton.ac.uk

Dr Gabrielle Samuel BSc (Hons I), MA, PhD (science), PhD (social science)

Senior Research Fellow

Dr Gabrielle Samuel's photo

Dr Gabrielle Samuel is a Senior Research Fellow at UKBiobank and the University of Southampton.

Gabrielle completed her undergraduate degree in Biochemistry at the University of Birmingham, her PhD in Genetics at the University of Adelaide, and a two-year genetics post-doctoral position at the University of Sydney (Australia), before moving to the social sciences. Here she has completed an MA in Bioethics and a Wellcome Trust Biomedical Ethics PhD.

Gabrielle’s main interests relate to the ethical issues surrounding innovative biotechnologies such as genomics. She spent some time at the Centre for Values, Ethics, and the Law in Medicine (University of Sydney) exploring ethical concerns related to the advertising of prescription medicines, umbilical cord blood banking, synthetic biology, and direct-to-consumer genetic testing. Following this, her PhD explored ethical and social issues surrounding the use of fMRI for severely brain-injured individuals.

From here she has worked as a Research Fellow at Brighton and Sussex Medical School exploring ethical issues related to the UK 100,000 genomes project; and as a research associate at King’s College London on the VISAGE project exploring the ethical, social and regulatory issues related to forensic DNA phenotyping.

She has also won two Wellcome Trust seed awards to explore ethical issues related to health research which uses social media data, as well as the ethical governance of AI research in HEIs.

Qualifications

BSc, 1997. Biochemistry, University of Birmingham

MA, 2004. Bioethics, MONASH, Australia

PhD, 2002. Molecular genetics, University of Adelaide, Australia

PhD, 2014. Medical sociology, Brunel University

2020 Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

Appointments held

2019 - 2021- Research Fellow, King’s College London

Ethical decision-making when using AI for health research

2017 -  2020 - Research Associate, King’s College London

Regulatory, ethical and social issues of forensic DNA phenotyping

2016 – 2018 - Research Fellow, Lancaster University

Ethical decision-making when using social media data for health research

2016 – 2017 - Research Fellow, Brighton and Sussex Medical School

Ethical and social issues related to the UK’s 100,000 Genomes Project

2014-2015 - Research Associate, Institute of Environment, Health and Societies, Health Economics Research Group, Brunel University London

Evaluation of research impact/group-decision making

Research interests

  • Innovative biotechnologies and biobanking
  • Ethical issues
  • Qualitative research
  • Genomics
  • Digital sustainability
  • Social media research ethics
  • AI research ethics

Gabrielle is a social scientist interested in exploring the ethical, social and regulatory aspects of innovative bio- and health technologies. Here, her research, which draws mainly on qualitative research methods, has spanned a range of technologies, particularly in genomics. Her areas of interest include the ethics of forensic, recreational and health genetic biobanking, the ethical issues associated with the use of genetic technologies and data ethics issues more broadly.. She also has an interest in other health technologies more generally eg NHS COVID-19 app; digital phenotyping.

Gabrielle also has expertise in research ethics, particularly as it relates to the use of digital methodologies (eg social media research and AI research).

Finally, Gabrielle is increasingly interested in the environmental impacts of digital technologies and digital sustainability.

Competitive Grants and Awards

2020-present   £9566.14 Lucivero (PI), Samuel, G. (CI). Digital Sustainability: Exploring ethical challenges and opportunities for a sustainable digital revolution. British Academy small research grants scheme. UK.

2020-present - £26,783.67 Samuel, G. The ethics of the NHSX Covid-19 contact tracing app (extension/re-purpose of grant). Wellcome. UK.

2018-2020 - £84,751 Samuel, G. The ethical governance of Artificial Intelligence health research in Higher Education Institutions. Wellcome. UK.

2016-2018 - £81,248 Samuel, G. Social media approaches to health research: an empirical analysis of decision-making within the ethical landscape. Wellcome. UK.

2013-2014 - Wellcome Trust-funded Fellowship at POST

2010-2014 - Wellcome Trust Biomedical Ethics PhD scholarship    

1999-2002 - International Postgraduate Research (PhD) Scholarship

Research group

Cancer Sciences

Affiliate research group

CELS

Associate Editor for the Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics

Dr Gabrielle Samuel
Faculty of Medicine, Room AB215, Mailpoint 801, South Academic Block, University Hospital Southampton, Tremona Road, Southampton, SO16 6YD

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