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MERLIN

Military Ethics Research Lab and Innovation Network

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Photo of ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ Canberra building

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), (Associate Director) and Dr Ned Dobos (Associate Director)

Launch videos

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Network

, US Naval Academy

Dr Srinjoy Bose, UNSW Kensington

, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)

Associate Professor James Connor, ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ

, Case Western Reserve University

, Stockholm University

Dr Milad Ghasrikhouzani, ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ

, ADF Centre for Defence Leadership and Ethics

, University of Haifa

, ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ, Arizona State University and US Naval Academy

Dr Margaret Hutchison, ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ

Dr Erandi Hene Kankanamge, ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ

Professor David Kilcullen, ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ

Associate Professor Twan Huybers, ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ

, Hellenic Air Force Academy

Dr Deanna Messervey, Department of National Defence, Canada

, Australian Army and ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ

Dr Oleksandra Molloy, ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ

, Royal Military Academy of Belgium and KU Leuven

, United States Military Academy

, Netherlands Defence Academy

, US Army War College

Dr Jo Plested, ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ

, Arizona State University

, Oxford University

, Military Academy Belgrade

, Naval Postgraduate School

, EuroISME

, Royal Military Academy Sandhurst

, ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ
, King’s College London

, University of Adelaide and ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ

, 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

Recent News