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 ¹û¶³app 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), (Associate Director) and Dr Ned Dobos (Associate Director)
Launch videos
-
‎Â
-
‎Â
‎Â
Network
, US Naval Academy
Dr Srinjoy Bose, UNSW Kensington
, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
Associate Professor James Connor, UNSW Canberra
, Case Western Reserve University
, Stockholm University
Dr Milad Ghasrikhouzani, UNSW Canberra
, ADF Centre for Defence Leadership and Ethics
, University of Haifa
, 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
, Hellenic Air Force Academy
Dr Deanna Messervey, Department of National Defence, Canada
, Australian Army and UNSW Canberra
Dr Oleksandra Molloy, UNSW Canberra
, Royal Military Academy of Belgium and KU Leuven
, United States Military Academy
, Netherlands Defence Academy
, US Army War College
Dr Jo Plested, UNSW Canberra
, Arizona State University
, Oxford University
, Military Academy Belgrade
, Naval Postgraduate School
, EuroISME
, Royal Military Academy Sandhurst
, UNSW Canberra
, King’s College London
, University of Adelaide and UNSW Canberra
, PhD, Army Center for Strategic Studies, Brazilian ArmyÂ
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