Log in
Dr Toby Ord is the founder of an international organisation called Giving What We Can. This organization is dedicated to the fight against poverty in the developing world. Its members pledge to give at least 10% of their income to aid and to direct their giving to the organisations that have a demonstrated ability to use their incomes most efficiently. The impetus for the founding of the organization was provided by Dr Ord's early work in ethics. He subsequently undertook additional research into how his ethical ideas could be put into practice. The fruits both of this research and of related research by other Oxford philosophers appear on the organisation's website, where, through a combination of pure and applied philosophy, the ethical case for making the pledge is urged. The arguments advanced have proved to be extremely persuasive: many people have been moved by them, and to great effect. The organisation has over 326 members, from seventeen countries, who together have pledged to give over US $130,000,000 to charity.
A new, more structured way of assessing the various harms done to individuals, families, communities and wider society by a range of legal and illegal drugs was first articulated by Professor David Nutt and colleagues at the University of Bristol. The "rational scale" they developed in the light of their research has stimulated extensive policy debate and informed drug classification in the UK and overseas. The research underpinning the scale has been disseminated through numerous public lectures and discussions and has stimulated worldwide media coverage. As a consequence, public awareness of drug harms has increased and public engagement in important debates about drugs has intensified.
Research into impaired cognitive performance related to drug misuse began at Edge Hill University (EHU) in 1998. It has predominantly concentrated upon impairments related to use of the illegal drug `ecstasy' (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine: MDMA), although some has focussed upon cannabis related impairments in order to identify which of these drugs was related to a specific performance decrement. The impacts presented arise from contributions to policy development through the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), the consultation response team of the British Psychological Society (BPS), media debate drawing upon our research, and through informing the design of a drug use prevention campaign.