LAUNCH OF THE UCL CENTRE FOR ETHICS & LAW:

Risk & Regulation
Professor Jonathan Wolff
Chaired by
The Rt Hon the Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury

on Wednesday  21 October 2009, from 6pm

Venue:
UCL Cruciform Building, Lecture Theatre 1
UCL Central Campus
Gower Street
London WC1E 6BT
 

About this lecture:
We now live in a "risk society," pre-occupied with hazards to life and health.  Risk is both negative and positive: risk is both danger and innovation.  What is the appropriate balance?
Under what circumstances is it acceptable for individuals to be exposed to risks to which they have not consented? How do we encourage socially beneficially risk-taking while avoiding recklessness? How do we frame regulation in order to reduce danger, but support innovation? Appropriate regulation will need to be sensitive to three parties to risk: the beneficiaries of the risky activity; those upon whom the risk is imposed; and those who determine whether the risky action takes place. Regulation will also reflect the fact that often individuals are happy to live with a particular level of risk in their lives, and so will change their behaviour in unexpected ways in response to a changing risk environment.
 
About UCL Ethics & Law
The Centre for ethics and law has been established to reflect the growing need for enhanced collaboration between academics, practicing lawyers and industry, given the fast changing and increasingly interdisciplinary nature of the global issues lying at the intersection between law and ethics. The work of the Centre is resolutely multi-disciplinary and practice-oriented, focusing on three broad themes: professional ethics, ethics of risk and distributive justice.  For more information about the Centre, please visit www.ucl.ac.uk/laws/law-ethics

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