Katla Heðinsdóttir

• Presentation
• CV
• Research outputs
• Activities

Primary fields of research

Bioethics

Current research

My Ph.D.-project is part of the research project Convergent Ethics and Ethics of Controversy (CEEC) which investigates public skepticism towards new biotechnologies from an ethical, psychological, and political-philosophical perspective. I am primarily involved in the first part of the project, Convergent Ethics, and will work on questions on how (or if) various applications of biotechnologies can be said to imply morally problematic exploitation. In the literature, the issue of exploitation is sometimes linked to a concept of vulnerability, and is often discussed in relation to e.g. surrogacy and clinical research in low-income settings. The concepts of both exploitation and vulnerability are subject to significant controversy, but can potentially bring new insights on ethical evaluation and analysis of biotechnologies. My project may thus function as a possible challenge to the plausibility of the framework developed in the general project that emphasizes the principles of consent, beneficence, and acceptable levels of risk. The project is funded by the Novo Nordisk Foundation.

Fields of interest

Bioethics

Research ethics

Medical ethics

Political philosophy