MSt in Practical Ethics

Hey, I wonder if anyone else here applied for the MSt in Practical Ethics at Oxford? 😀

I just checked your history and realized that I read all of your posts before! I found them when I was reading everything I could find about this MSt a couple of months ago.
Your explanation about your own grading on the DSAR and the comments you received were super interesting to read, so thanks a lot for the public service you did!

Thanks for providing details about yourself, sounds like you have quite some work experience, which seems to fit very well with this MSt cohorts, many of which, as you know, are older than the average master student. So that might also be one of your advantages, other than the stellar academics you mentioned in your DSAR post.

Your interests steer definitely on the heavier side, but arguably are super worthwhile and purpose-driven, so it's great to hear that you seem to have well internally-developed interests. Any particular reason you got engaged in these specific topics?

As for me, I'm also a mature student. But my path is a bit unconventional. I used to work in various industries, the last being tech. Then I moved from Europe to Taiwan to do my undergrad degree in something you could call technology management, I'm about to finish it this semester. I was on a special customized study path, so almost half of my courses ended up being either master or PhD-level. I took a graduate course about Grief as understood from a philosophical and clinical perspective, which is somewhat related to your end-of-life research. That was fascinating.

But my general interests within this course relate more to the units about AI, Data Ethics and neuroethics. I've been following the AI field for almost 15 years and was super positively surprised to see that academia started to finally offer programs about AI ethics.

Have you applied to any other programs?

That is great, yes I posted before because I find the Oxford application process somewhat opaque so I thought if it could help someone in future then that would be worthwhile, I hope it helped.

Your path sounds really interesting, especially taking PhD level classes, I have not got to that level yet myself. Which university in Taiwan was that? Were they able to create bespoke programmes for students doing that degree because that is how the university works there or was this more tailored to yourself as a no doubt exceptional mature student?

In terms of the topics, in relation to the abortion matters, I am head of legal for a charity that helps rape victims so it was almost inevitable I would need to engage with ethical considerations around abortion. Then in terms of end of life considerations, my dad sadly had a terminal illness and so I was confronted with it as part of that process. It was that which led to my work with Macmillan around how we consider the views and opinions of those with terminal illnesses and their family in treatment plans. Whilst as a lawyer, I have had to deal with some medico-legal issues such as the separation of Siamese twins where separating a twin will kill the so called weaker twin but save the stronger twin, that is a very hard situation to argue.

AI and ethics is certainly an fascinating area to get involved in, did you work on AI software or similar when you were working in tech?

Out of curiosity, did you nominate a college, when you applied if so which one?

No, I did not apply to any other programmes, you?

If you do get an update on your application it would be good to hear from you about that.

Of course, and vice versa.
I do wonder when they usually release the results, but I guess we will just have to wait and see.

Of course, and vice versa.
I do wonder when they usually release the results, but I guess we will just have to wait and see.

I already hold 3 degrees (BA, MA, PhD Philosophy) and 2 PGCerts, including a PGCE from Pembroke, Oxford.
I'm an academic at a different University but my specialisms mean that I didn't really do much 'ethics' during my degrees. I work a lot in widening participation and non-traditional entry so I'm really interested in AI and data ethics for work, and end-of-life and neuroethics from a personal perspective.

Thanks, yes, good to know, I thought as much considering the 8-10 week suggested timeframe for results since the submission deadline.
Interesting, so you are already an academic. I find it fascinating that this MSt draws so much interest from people who already have a PhD. I think this is the only master's program I know of that is so popular with people with higher-level degrees. I guess it's due to the fact that this is kind of a parallel field of study that can be beneficial to people at various stages of their careers and can be used to contextualize whatever it is that they are doing.
Oh, you work in the UK? I actually have not knowledge of how non-traditional entry works there. We have something like that at my university in Taiwan where every year they admit a certain number of Taiwanese who show exceptional talent in various fields, often in fine arts, music, etc. Is it similar there?