Bioethics and research ethics in focus
Pressmeddelande
Uppsala University pools its resources and focuses on research ethics. On January 1 a new Interfaculty Centre for Research Ethics & Bioethics was established. “Ethical questions are raised in several fields and the fact that we now have close ties with all faculties at Uppsala University leads to new exciting collaborations”, says Mats G. Hansson, director at the new Centre.
Uppsala University pools its resources and focuses on research ethics. On January 1 a new Interfaculty Centre for Research Ethics & Bioethics was established. “Ethical questions are raised in several fields and the fact that we now have close ties with all faculties at Uppsala University leads to new exciting collaborations”, says Mats G. Hansson, director at the new Centre. Research ethics is a popular theme in both political and press debates. In the field of medicine, ethical questions are under continuous discussion, for example regarding priorities in health care, patient rights or how research results are put to use. Increased knowledge of the human brain has led to the development of a new interesting field of research, neuroethics. Seminars and courses on current issues and ethical problems have been arranged both by the Centre for Research Ethics, a collaboration between Uppsala University and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and the Centre for Bioethics at Karolinska Institutet & Uppsala University. Now we pool resources on these ethical questions in the establishment of a new Centre! The Centre for Research Ethics & Bioethics will continue research and graduate education in bioethics and medical law and will expand activities to include ethical questions that concern technology, humanities and the natural and social sciences. In 2007, Uppsala University conducted an international review of all research groups. The panel that looked at the Centre for Bioethics at Karolinska Institutet & Uppsala University judged the research quality of the Uppsala group to be of internationally high standard and concluded that "[t]he panel was impressed by the Centre's productivity, the excellent work done in this group and the manner in which the group seems to be working. This seems to be a stimulating intellectual environment". This research will be developed further in the new Centre. “Collaboration with Karolinska Institutet is still essential and will take place within the framework of a Network for Research Ethics & Bioethics that also includes the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences” says Mats G. Hansson. On June 9-10, the Centre for Research Ethics and Bioethics will arrange the X Annual Swedish Symposium on Biomedicine, Ethics and Society, “Dual Uses of Biomedicine – Whose responsibility?” Contact: Mats G. Hansson, director, phone +46 18 611 35 76, or +46 18 763 41 20 50, mats.hansson@crb.uu.se and co-ordinator Josepine Fernow, +46 18 611 22 96, Josepine.Fernow@crb.uu.se Visit the Centre website http://www.crb.uu.se or the Network http://www.nrb.uu.se