91É«Ç鯬

MERLIN

Military Ethics Research Lab and Innovation Network
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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 91É«Ç鯬 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 Army War College, The Naval Postgraduate School, 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:

Dr Neil RenicÌý(¶Ù¾±°ù±ð³¦³Ù´Ç°ù)Ìý

Professor Deane-Peter Baker (Associate Director)

Dr Ned Dobos (Associate Director)

(Associate Director - Europe)

When: Friday 3 April 2026 - 11am 

Where: 91É«Ç鯬 Canberra at ADFA 

Registration: Email Deane-Peter Baker (deane-peter.baker@unsw.edu.au) for registration information.

Recent projects

Launch videos

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Network

, US Naval Academy

Dr Srinjoy Bose, 91É«Ç鯬 Kensington

, Netherlands Defence Academy and Eindhoven University of Technology

, Australian Defence College 

Associate Professor James Connor, 91É«Ç鯬 Canberra

, Case Western Reserve University

, Stockholm University

Dr Milad Ghasrikhouzani, 91É«Ç鯬 Canberra

, Australian Army

, University of Haifa

, 91É«Ç鯬 Canberra, Arizona State University and US Naval Academy

Dr Margaret Hutchison, 91É«Ç鯬 Canberra

Dr Erandi Hene Kankanamge, 91É«Ç鯬 Canberra

Professor David Kilcullen, 91É«Ç鯬 Canberra

Associate Professor Twan Huybers, 91É«Ç鯬 Canberra

, Hellenic Air Force Academy

Dr Deanna Messervey, Department of National Defence, Canada

, Australian Army and 91É«Ç鯬 Canberra

Dr Oleksandra Molloy, 91É«Ç鯬 Canberra

, Australian National University

, Netherlands Defence Academy

, US Army War College

Dr Jo Plested, 91É«Ç鯬 Canberra

, Arizona State University

, Oxford University

, Military Academy Belgrade

, Naval Postgraduate School

, EuroISME

, Cranfield University

, King’s College London

, National University of Singapore

, PhD, Army Center for Strategic Studies, Brazilian Army 

Current Research Students

Jenna Allen

David Evered

Robert Goldsmith

Aluma Kepten

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

Developing Framework for Measuring Ethical Readiness of Autonomous Systems.

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