MERLIN
Military Ethics Research Lab and Innovation Network
What we do
Launched in November 2023, MERLIN exists to fill what is arguably the most significant gap in military ethics research, namely qualitative and quantitative empirical research into the factors that impact on real-world ethical decision-making in the military context.
MERLIN’s lab offers state of the art research capabilities suited to undertaking experimentation in applied military behavioural ethics research. MERLIN’s greatest strength, however, is its network – an interdisciplinary team of researchers from across UNSW and around the globe, all committed to identifying and mitigating ethical risk factors for military personnel. Members of the extended network are based in military institutions including The US Naval Academy, the US Military Academy (West Point), the US Army War College, The Naval Postgraduate School, The Royal Academy Sandhurst, the Royal Military College of Canada, The Netherlands Defence Academy, the Royal Military Academy of Belgium, the Hellenic Air Force Academy, and the Military Academy Belgrade; as well as at universities including Oxford University, King’s College London, Arizona State University, Haifa University, Case Western Reserve University, the University of Adelaide, KU Leuven and Stockholm University.
MERLIN is led by A/Prof Deane-Peter Baker (Director), Dr Christine Boshuijzen-van Burken (Associate Director) and Dr Ned Dobos (Associate Director)
Launch videos
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Network
Dr Edward Barrett, US Naval Academy
Dr Srinjoy Bose, UNSW Kensington
Dr Andrew Bell, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
Associate Professor James Connor, UNSW Canberra
Professor Shannon French, Case Western Reserve University
Professor Helen Frowe, Stockholm University
Dr Milad Ghasrikhouzani, UNSW Canberra
Anne Goyne, ADF Centre for Defence Leadership and Ethics
Professor Michael Gross, University of Haifa
Dr Roger Herbert (CAPT USN, Ret.), UNSW Canberra, Arizona State University and US Naval Academy
Dr Margaret Hutchison, UNSW Canberra
Dr Erandi Hene Kankanamge, UNSW Canberra
Professor David Kilcullen, UNSW Canberra
Associate Professor Twan Huybers, UNSW Canberra
Dr. Ioanna K. Lekea, Hellenic Air Force Academy
Dr Deanna Messervey, Department of National Defence, Canada
COL Thomas McDermott CSC DSO, Australian Army and UNSW Canberra
Dr Oleksandra Molloy, UNSW Canberra
Ann-Katrien Oimann, Royal Military Academy of Belgium and KU Leuven
Associate Professor Graham Parsons, United States Military Academy
Professor Lonneke Peperkamp, Netherlands Defence Academy
Professor C. Anthony Pfaff, US Army War College
Dr Jo Plested, UNSW Canberra
Professor Robert Schmidle (LTGEN USMC, Ret.), Arizona State University
Associate Professor Tom Simpson, Oxford University
Associate Professor Dragan Stanar, Military Academy Belgrade
Professor Bradley J. Strawser, Naval Postgraduate School
Air Commodore (Ret.) John Thomas, EuroISME
Dr Dennis Vincent MBE, Royal Military Academy Sandhurst
Mathew Wann, UNSW Canberra
Prof David Whetham, King’s College London
Dr Samuel White, University of Adelaide and UNSW Canberra
Lt. Col. Daniela Schmitz Wortmeyer, PhD, Army Center for Strategic Studies, Brazilian Army
Current Research Students
Jenna Allen
David Evered
Robert Goldsmith
Benjamin (Benny) Grey
Aluma Kepten
Recent projects
Current and planned projects
Military Training and Moral Injury
Zoomorphism, Remote Autonomous Systems, and Cognitive Empathy
Ethics for Wargaming, Wargaming for Ethics
Measuring the Effectiveness of Military Ethics Education
Measuring the Effectiveness of Military Ethics Decision Making Models
Autonomous Ethical Decision Making in Special Operations Forces
Neuroscience of Ethical Decision Making for Battlefield Innovators (with KCL Neuroscience)
Impact of ‘Death Symbols’ on Military Ethics Decision Making
Impact of Thermal Imaging on Military Ethics Decision Making
Quantitative and Qualitative Evaluation of Practitioner and Public Perceptions of the Application of Just War Principles in Practice