About the centre

Founded in 1992, the Plunkett Centre for Ethics is named after John Hubert Plunkett (1802-1869), the first Catholic Solicitor General and Attorney General of New South Wales who was also a great friend and benefactor of the first Irish Sisters of Charity in Australia.

Based at St Vincent's Hospital Sydney, our centre is part of Australian Catholic University and works closely with six healthcare partners, including St Vincent's Public and Private Hospitals Sydney, the Mater Hospital Sydney, Calvary Health Care and Mercy Hospital Melbourne. We also collaborate with a range of other healthcare and aged care organisations.

We seek to deepen and advance knowledge and understanding of the ethical standards which, relevant to the pursuit of human health and well-being, are found in clinical practice, medical research, business and management practice, and the allocation of healthcare resources.

We are leaders in end-of-life ethics, the ethics of conscience and conscientious objection, relational care, dementia care, moral distress and burnout, addiction and philosophy of mind, clinical ethics, virtual emergency care, human flourishing, the ethics of personhood, and the ethics of artificial intelligence – among other topics.

We are committed to excellence in research, teaching, consultation and community engagement. While we bring a Catholic perspective to our endeavours, our staff, students and fellows adopt other ethical positions that respect human dignity, virtue and flourishing.

The centre offers courses in philosophical ethics and in the ethics of healthcare provision. We conduct clinical education sessions, webinars and other outreach efforts for the staff of our partner organisations and the public. Where appropriate, we collaborate with local, national and international bodies as they seek to respond to their intellectual and ethical needs.

The centre realises its goals by conducting and promoting research; providing research training and supervision; developing and teaching courses; conducting ethical reviews of professional practice; providing an ethics consultation service; and by contributing to public discussions.

Staff of the Plunkett Centre for Ethics invite you to learn more about our work, and our resources, by contacting us directly.