Staff at the Plunkett Centre for Ethics

Bernadette Tobin

MA (Melb) MEd (Melb) PhD (Cantab)

Bernadette Tobin is director of the Plunkett Centre for Ethics at St Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney, and Reader in Philosophy at Australian Catholic University. She previously taught philosophy at Mercy Teachers’ College in Melbourne and English at Tottenham Technical School in Melbourne. She has been the recipient of an Australian Post-Doctoral Research Scholarship.

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Xavier Symons

Postdoctoral Research Fellow
BA Adv. Hons, MA (Res.), PhD

Dr. Xavier Symons is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Plunkett Centre for Ethics, ACU, and an Adjunct Lecturer in the Institute for Ethics and Society, UNDA.

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Steve Matthews

Senior Research Fellow
BA Hons, PhD in Philosophy (Monash University)

Steve Matthews is Senior Research Fellow at the Plunkett Centre for Ethics. He has previously worked at Macquarie University, Charles Sturt University, and Monash University, where he wrote his doctorate in philosophy on the metaphysics of personal identity and its implications for ethics. 

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Dr Marija Kirjanenko

Lecturer in Philosophical Bioethics
MD, MSc Crit Care, FACEM, CertHE Phil (Oxford), MAppSc (RMIT), AFRACMA

Dr Marija Kirjanenko is a Lecturer in Philosophical Bioethics at the Plunkett Centre for Ethics branch Plunkett@Mercy.

She works as Emergency physician in Melbourne and completing her degree in Practical Ethics at Oxford university.

Marija’s interests include ethical issues at the beginning and end of life, women’s health ethics, moral injury, ethics and neurodiversity, AI and ‘teaching ethics on the go’.
Marija has taught professional and ethical practice for several years at the University of Melbourne Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, and helps clinicians to navigate acute ethical issues. Marija is focused on translating academic knowledge into practical applications in the day-to-day clinical practice.

Email: makirjanenko@acu.edu.au

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