The J Kenyon Mason Institute (MI) is an interdisciplinary network based at Edinburgh Law School that investigates the ethical, legal, social and political issues at the interface between medicine, life sciences and the law. As part of its portfolio of activities, the MI regularly holds events geared towards younger scholars. To that end, the MI hosted an event on career development and support, entitled ‘Developing a career in bioethics and health law’. This event was targeted to postgraduate students (LLMs and PhDs) and early career contract researchers (ECCRs) across the UK, but with a particular focus on Scotland and the north of England, tapping into the Northern Bioethics Network connections.

Session 4: Career opportunities in bioethics and health law
Proposed session leaders: Mary Guy (Lancaster) and Simon Woods (Newcastle)

This was a two-day virtual workshop, scheduled for Monday 19th and Tuesday 20th April 2021 held via Zoom. It was co-sponsored with the Empirical Legal Research Network (ELRN), as some of the discussion explored how one can conduct empirical investigation of legal issues in medicine and the life sciences.

The event consisted of several invited (external and internal) speakers, including a mix of career level and career type (academic, policy, practice), who spoke to their career experiences. The four sessions took place over two days, focusing on PhD research proposals and thesis writing; writing and publishing research; grant funding (how to, resources); and career opportunities.