Donal O'Mathuna, PhD

Chair of COST Action    IS1201 Disaster Bioethics (a network of academic and NGO members addressing disaster ethics)   EU Framework Programme – Horizon 2020

Senior Lecturer in Ethics, Decision-Making & Evidence   School of Nursing & Human Sciences, Dublin City University (DCU)

I have two main areas of research interest: ethics and evidence-based practice. The latter has led to my involvement in the Cochrane Collaboration and systematic reviews, particularly of complementary therapies and herbal remedies. My research in ethics has focused on issues of personhood, human dignity and moral reasoning. I am interested in their interplay with biotechnology, especially nanotechnology and stem cell research. Another general research interest is Disaster Bioethics: the ethical issues that arise for healthcare practitioners and researchers during disasters. The role of emotions in ethics is another research interest, especially in moral perception and how narratives help engage people with ethics. I am involved in projects examining the role of various types of narrative (novels, film, song lyrics, etc.) in ethics education. I am also interested in how religious belief influences ethics and the role of spirituality in health and healing.

BSc (Pharmacy) Trinity College Dublin, 1982 PhD (Medicinal Chemistry/Pharmacognosy) The Ohio State University, USA, 1988 MA (Bioethics) Ashland Theology School, USA, 1994