ÌÇÐÄÔ­´´

Xavier Symons

Director of the Plunkett Centre for Ethics
BA Adv. Hons, MA (Res)(USyd), MSt Practical Ethics (Oxon.), PhD (ÌÇÐÄÔ­´´)

Email: Xavier.Symons@acu.edu.au

Biography

Xavier Symons is Director of the Plunkett Centre for Ethics at ÌÇÐÄÔ­´´. Xavier previously worked as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Human Flourishing Program in the Institute for Quantitative Social Science at Harvard University and prior to this was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Plunkett Centre and a Research Associate at the Institute for Ethics and Society at the University of Notre Dame Australia. He has lectured in bioethics at the University of Technology Sydney Faculty of Law and at the University of Notre Dame Australia Medical School.

Xavier's research interests span a broad range of themes in bioethics. He wrote a doctoral thesis on contemporary theories of distributive justice and the ethics of healthcare resource allocation. He has written extensively about the ethics of end of life care and voluntary assisted dying. More recently he has explored the ethics of conscientious objection in healthcare. His first book, Why Conscience Matters: A Defence of Conscientious Objection in Healthcare, was published in July 2022 by Routledge.

Xavier has contributed extensively to both Australian and international media outlets and his work has been featured in the Sydney Morning Herald, the Australian Financial Review, ABC Religion and Ethics, The Guardian, and Public Discourse. He holds degrees from the University of Sydney, the University of Oxford, and the ÌÇÐÄÔ­´´.

More information:

Teaching areas

Area of competence: bioethics, political philosophy, medieval philosophy, Catholic social teaching

Selected Refereed Journal articles and book chapters

Books

Why Conscience Matters: A Defense of Conscientious Objection in Healthcare (Routledge 2022)

Journal Publications

''. BMJ Global Health 2024 Dec 27;9(12):e017555.

Hernandez-Ojeda, J, Symons, X. ''. Medicine, Healthcare and Philosophy 27(2024): 545-553.

Symons, X, Rhee, J, VanderWeele, T, et al.. ''. Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics 45(2024): 401-425.

Symons, X. ''. Bioethics 22 Jan 2025.

Long, K, Symons, X, Ko, H, et al. ''. Health Affairs 43;6(2024): 783-790.

Rodger, D, Hurst, D, Bobier, C, Symons, X. ''. Journal of Medical Ethics 50(2024): 742-743.

Rodger, D, Hurst, D, Bobier, C, Symons, X. ''. Journal of Medical Ethics 50(2024): 729-733.

Symons, X. ''. Cosmos and Taxis 12;11(2024): 32-36.

Rigby, B, Symons, X. ''. Journal of Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy 26(2023): 549-556.

Symons, X, VanderWeele, T. ''. Journal of Happiness Studies 25(2024): 26.

Symons, X. ''. Journal of Medical Ethics 50(2024): 347-348.

Jackson Meyer, K, Symons, X, Duffee, C. '''. American Journal of Bioethics 23;4 (2023): 79-82.

Symons, X, Kha, H. ''. Journal of Bioethical Inquiry 21;1(2024): 105-115.

Symons, X. ''. Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 47;4(2022): 549-557.

Michael, N, Kissane, D, Mendz, G and Symons X. ''. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management 64;5(2022): 438-448.

Symons, X. ''. Res Publica 29(2023): 1-21.

Symons, X, Poulden, B. ''. Asian Bioethics Review 14(2022): 259-270.

Chua, R, Symons, X. ''. Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 49;3(2024): 298-312.

Pennings, S, Symons, X. ''. Journal of Medical Ethics 50(2024): 212-218.

Jones, K, Paal, P, Symons, X, and Best, M. ''. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management 63:2(2021): 261-278.

Symons, X. "". Journal of Moral Philosophy 18;4 (2021): 425-428.

Symons, X. ''. Bioethics 2021 35(5): 392-399.

Symons, X., Chua RM. ''. The Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal 2021 31(1): 53-76.

Symons X. '''. Journal of Medical Ethics 2021 47: 108-112.

Pennings, S, and Symons, X. ''. Journal of Medical Ethics 2021 47:709-711.

Symons, X. ''. Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 2022 47(4):549-557.

Symons, X. ''. 2020 46: 57-58.

Symons, X., Chua, RM. "'. Bioethics 2020 34(3): 288-294.

O'Callaghan, C., Michael, N., Kissane, D., Symons X. et al. ''. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management 2019 58(6): 977-988.

Symons, X. ''. Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics 2019 40(3): 243-251.

Symons, X., Chua, RM. ''. Journal of Medical Ethics 2018 44(12): 868-871.

Symons, X. ' (Vic)'. The Medical Journal of Australia 2017 207(9): 377-378.

Policy Briefings

Symons, X. ''. Anscombe Bioethics Centre Euthanasia Briefing Paper No.7 8^th April 2022.

Symons, X. ''. Anscombe Bioethics Centre COVID-19 Briefing Paper No. 4. Published 23^rd May 2020.

Media Engagement

. Public Discourse 2^nd January 2025.

. Public Discourse 10^th December 2024.

. Public Discourse 5^th September 2024.

ABC Religion and Ethics 19^th July 2024.

. Seeking the Good April 2024.

. Church Life Journal 26^th June 2023.

'Conscientious objection and euthanasia'. Blog of the American Philosophical Association 11^th May 2023.

'The new (biomedical) normal'. Genealogies of Modernity 2^nd March 2023.

'Back to virtue? Effective altruism after FTX'. MercatorNet 16^th January 2023.

'Should we allow conscientious objection in healthcare?' ABC Religion and Ethics Report (interview with Andrew West) 23^rd November 2022.

'Respect for autonomy in medical ethics: its more complicated than you think'. Journal of Medical Ethics Blog 11^th April 2022.

'The Stoics: Antiquity's answer to Jordan Peterson'. MercatorNet 10^th April 2022.

'The end of the pandemic'. Public Discourse 13^th February 2022.

'Rediscovering the practice of hospitality in the 21^st century hospital'. ABC Religion and Ethics 2^nd February 2022.

'Love to the very end: towards a theology of dementia'. Church Life Journal 3^rd December 2021.

'"An attitude towards a soul": dementia and personhood'. ABC Religion and Ethics 18^th October 2021.

'Discovering humanity and the common good in a post-pandemic world'. ABC Religion and Ethics 12^th June 2021.

'I'm not anti-vaccine': Why Genevieve is waiting for Pfizer'. The Sydney Morning Herald 23^rd May 2021 (interview with Caitlin Fitzsimmons).

'COVID-19 and pandemic ethics'. Interview with Richard Wilkinson and Rebecca Maddern on The Today Show. 1^st of May 2021.

'Informed consent and the vaccine roll-out in aged care'. Life Matters (ABC Radio National) 23rd Feb 2021.

'COVID vaccine consent for aged-care residents: it's ethically tricky, but there are ways to get it right' The Conversation 19th Feb 2021.

'The 'oversight' in our COVID-19 vaccine rollout and the vulnerable Australians who will have to wait' ABC News 19th Feb 2021 (interview with Emily Clark).

'Experts call on Federal Government for vaccine roll-out plan'. ABC News 18^th September 2020 (interview with Ros Childs).

'Persuasion better than compulsion in vaccinating the nation'. Australian Financial Review August 20^th 2020.

'Pandemic ethics, herd immunity and the protection of vulnerable members of the community'. ABC Religion and Ethics 8^th May 2020.

'Who lives and who dies'. Interview with Andrew West. ABC Religion and Ethics Report 25^th March 2020.

'Rationing care to cope with COVID-19 should never be based on age alone'. Sydney Morning Herald 14^th March 2020.

'The delicate balance of enforcing quarantine laws'. Sydney Morning Herald 5^th March 2020.

'Human enhancement: The promise and perils of gene-editing technology'. ABC Religion and Ethics 29^th October 2019.

'The mystery of genealogy and the ethics of donor conception'. ABC Religion and Ethics 29^th April 2019.

'Reason why we cared so much for trapped Thai boys'. Sydney Morning Herald 11^th July 2018.

With Udo Schuklenk. 'Viewpoints: should euthanasia be available for people with existential suffering?, The Conversation, 6^th July 2017.

'The Syrian war is normalizing the weaponization of health care'. The Conversation 11^th May 2017.

'All children deserve to know who their parents are', The Age, 2^nd March 2017.

'Me Before You: life, disability and 'inspiration porn'', The Conversation, 15^th June 2016.

Awards

2020 ÌÇÐÄÔ­´´ Alumni Research and Scholarship Award

2020 Fulbright Future Postdoctoral Scholar (Funded by the Kinghorn Foundation)

2018 Annual Pellegrino Young Scholars Essay Prize (a prize administered by the Pellegrino Center for Clinical Bioethics, Georgetown University).

2018 Archbishop Mannix Travelling Scholarship (a scholarship given every three years by Newman College, University of Melbourne).

Visiting Scholar - Pellegrino Center for Clinical Bioethics, 2016

Lucy Firth Prize 2015

Lucy Firth Prize 2014