The research program aims to produce world-class research in children's bioethics through the establishment of a sound evidence-base for ethical decision-making and rigorous, systematic and theory based ethical analysis. 

Specific areas of interest and activity

Specific areas of interest and activity in paediatric ethics research include:

• Clinical issues such as informed consent and end-of-life decision-making including withdrawal and withholding of treatment
• Genetics such as pre-natal screening and diagnosis, predictive genetic testing in children and young people, genetic counselling and informed decision-making
• Consent such as consent to children's participation in research, competence, opt-out consent, and children's assent
• Public Health such as vaccination, drug and alcohol service provision
• Behavioural disorders such as management of ADHD and other behavioural disorders and use of psychotropic therapies  
  

Recent publications 

Feldman, S., Gillam, L., McDougall, R. J., & Delany, C. (2026). How is clinical ethics reasoning done in practice? A review of the empirical literature. Journal of Medical Ethics, 52(1), 32–38.

Gillam, L., & Court, S. (2025). How could parents’ reasons shift a refusal of treatment into the zone of parental discretion? The American Journal of Bioethics, 25(11), 22–24.

El Ali, M., O’Neill, J., & Gillam, L. (2025). How paediatric nurses frame the ethics of non-disclosure directives. Nursing Ethics, 09697330251350383.

Storey, M., Gillam, L., Garland, F., Pang, K., & Giordano, S. (2025). The importance of early and accurate service information for young people accessing gender care. Scientific Reports, 15(1), 35282.

Adlan, A., Agich, G., Ambrogi, I., Dawson, A., van Delden, H., Frewer, A., Gillam, L., ... (2025). Interactive deliberation on WHO’s clinical ethics guidance: A critical examination of draft content and key recommendations. The Journal of Hospital Ethics, 11(2), 167–167.

Gillam, L., & Johnston, C. (2025). From conceptual to concrete: Learning ethics in a clinical ethics committee for medical students. The Journal of Hospital Ethics, 11(2), 64–64.

Gillam, L. (2025). Parents driving too much medical treatment for their child: Responding to the ethical challenges. The Journal of Hospital Ethics, 11(2), 133–133.

El Ali, M., O’Neill, J., & Gillam, L. (2025). Paediatric nurses’ personal accounts of being told not to disclose information to children with serious illness—An interpretative phenomenological study. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 81(7), 4067–4084.

Gillam, L. (2025). Traditional approaches to child and adolescent decision-making. In Deciding with Children in Pediatrics (pp. 53–65).

Wright, D., Pang, K. C., Giordano, S., & Gillam, L. (2025). Evaluating the benefits and risks of puberty blockers and gender-affirming hormones for transgender adolescents. Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health, 61(1), 7–11.

O’Neill, J., & Morley, G. (2025). Giving voice when no one is listening: The role for nurses in deciding with children. In Deciding with Children in Pediatrics (pp. 111–120).

Delany, C., Feldman, S., & Gillam, L. (2025). Advancing the scholarship of clinical ethics consultation. Journal of Medical Ethics, 51(1), 26–28.

Massie, J., Hall, G.A., & Gillam, L. (2025). Deciding with children: Putting theory into practice. In Deciding with Children in Pediatrics (pp. 173–179).

Delany, C., Feldman, S., Kameniar, B., & Gillam, L. (2025). Critical dialogue method of ethics consultation: Making clinical ethics facilitation visible and accessible. Journal of Medical Ethics, 51(1), 10–16.

Hall, G. A. (2025). Why nonidentity is not a problem: Parfitian defence of clinicians refusing to provide assisted reproductive technologies. The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy, 50(3), 168–180.

Hawley, M., O’Neill, J., Dorland, J., Richards, S., Kinney, S., Court, A., & Rayner, C. (2025). Restraint for nasogastric tube feeding in young people with anorexia nervosa or atypical anorexia nervosa: A retrospective audit. Journal of Eating Disorders, 13, 143.

Serratore, A., O’Neill, J., Jenkinson, B., Khan, A., Butler, A. E., Masterson, K., Winderlich, J., Woodgate, J., Raman, S., & Gibbons, K. S. (2025). Consumer and community involvement in paediatric intensive care research across Australia and New Zealand: A protocol for a mixed-methods environmental scan. Research Involvement and Engagement, 11(1), 82.

Chen, Y., Caudri, D., Andrinopoulou, E. R., Byrnes, C. A., Cheney, J., Cooper, P. J., ... (2025). Progression of structural lung disease and lung function in adolescents with cystic fibrosis. Journal of Cystic Fibrosis.

Massie, J., McWhinney, A., Greed, L., Robbins, N., Graham, P., Heather, N., ... (2025). Australasian guideline for the performance of sweat chloride testing (3rd ed.): To support cystic fibrosis screening, diagnosis and monitoring. Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine, 63(10), 1956–1964.

Goldman, C. M., Lewis, S., Massie, J., Kirk, E. P., Symons, A., & Delatycki, M. B. (2025). Prospective parents’ views on reproductive genetic carrier screening: “You know better, you do better”. Journal of Genetic Counseling, 34(4), e70100.

Tutty, E., McClaren, B. J., Lewis, S., Barlow Stewart, K., Boughtwood, T., ... (2025). Revising the reproductive story: Psychosocial and reproductive impacts 12 months after reproductive genetic carrier screening. European Journal of Human Genetics, 33(8), 1035–1043.

Kirk, E., Mundy, L., Lee, E., Lundie, B., Laing, N., Archibald, A. D., Newson, A. J., ... (2025). Guidelines for reproductive genetic carrier screening for cystic fibrosis, fragile X syndrome and spinal muscular atrophy. Pathology, 57(5), 539–545.

Klinner, C., Young, A., Strnadová, I., O’Neill, J., Newman, C. E., Wong, H., ... (2025). Vaccinating adolescents with intellectual and developmental disability at school: An opportunity to promote supported decision making. The Journal of School Nursing, 10598405241312981.

Hay, S., Kinney, S., Richards, S., Newall, F., Hawley, M., & O’Neill, J. (2025). Parents’ experiences of holding their child for healthcare procedures: A qualitative exploratory study. Journal of Advanced Nursing.

Hay, S., & O’Neill, J. (2025). Having a heart-to-heart: Parents’ experiences preparing their child for a cardiac procedure. Journal of Child Health Care, 13674935251321531.

Massie, J., & Feldman, S. (2025). Deciding with children: The model. In Deciding with Children in Pediatrics (pp. 67–82).

Guideline for the prevention and management of the use of restraint for nutritional delivery in young people with eating disorders at The Royal Children’s Hospital

This guideline was developed for use in the medical adolescent ward (Kelpie) at The Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne, Australia. Other centres are welcome to adapt this guideline for their context with appropriate referencing. This guideline is due for 
 review in November 2026.   

PDF version of guideline can be accessed here. 
Last updated November 2025

This document is temporarily housed on this webpage while a permanent location is finalised.