Following their outstanding success in this year’s Practical Ethics and Responsibility Competition (PERC), three of our MedVetDent students travelled to the University of Oxford on 25th March to compete in the national final hosted by the Uehiro Oxford Institute.
The prestigious national competition challenges students from Years 11–13 across the UK to explore complex ethical issues through both video submissions and live philosophical debate. After competing against dozens of schools nationally, our combined Year 1 and 2 MedVetDent finalist team earned their place at Oxford through an exceptional video entry examining the question: “Should adolescents be allowed to make autonomous decisions about long-term psychiatric conditions?”
The finalists — Immy Butler (Team Leader), Emily Crisp, Lila Crockett— represented the College superbly throughout the event, demonstrating outstanding critical thinking, teamwork, confidence, and intellectual maturity.
During their time in Oxford, students experienced university life first-hand whilst staying in halls of residence at St Hilda’s College, meeting fellow competitors from across the UK, and even taking part in a ghost tour of Oxford. The experience provided students with an invaluable insight into student life at one of the world’s leading universities, whilst also allowing them to build connections with like-minded students passionate about ethics, philosophy, medicine, and social responsibility.
The live final required students to engage in sophisticated philosophical debate across several challenging ethical topics. Teams debated the motions:
- “Commercial surrogacy is wrong.”
- “Under-sixteens should be banned from using social media.”
- “The government should promote plant-based diets.”
Our students performed exceptionally well throughout, holding their own against other very strong national finalist teams. Judges praised the team for the clarity and professionalism of their opening statements, the strength of their reasoning, and the quality of their oral presentation skills.
Particularly impressive was the team’s contribution during the commercial surrogacy debate, where they explored whether consent can truly be meaningful when surrogacy may feel like “the only option” available to some individuals. Their consideration of alternative pathways, including adoption, created a nuanced and thought-provoking discussion that challenged opposing teams effectively.
The students also delivered a clear and principled defence of individual freedom during the debate surrounding plant-based diets, arguing that food choices are often closely connected to culture, identity, and personal autonomy. Their distinction between governments informing rather than prescribing behaviour provided a strong foundation for their argument, whilst examples such as smoking legislation highlighted the complexity of determining the appropriate limits of state intervention.
Each student contributed confidently and effectively throughout the debates, consistently demonstrating high-quality communication, collaboration, and analytical skills. The team ultimately achieved Runner-Up position nationally — a phenomenal accomplishment against such strong competition.
In addition, Lila Crockett was awarded a medal for Best Speaker, recognising her exceptional debating ability, confidence, and clarity of communication throughout the competition.
The students were mentored throughout the competition by MedVetDent Coordinator Emma-Jayne Hanner, who supported them in preparing both their original video submission and live debate preparation, and accompanied the team to Oxford for the final.
We are enormously proud of all of the students involved. Their curiosity, resilience, professionalism, and willingness to engage thoughtfully with complex ethical issues embody the ambition and collaborative spirit at the heart of our MedVetDent programme.
Congratulations to everyone involved on an outstanding achievement — they did themselves and the College incredibly proud!
