We are delighted to announce that the Postgraduate Bioethics Conference (PGBC) – the UK’s friendliest bioethics conference, run by and for postgraduates - is back for 2025 and will be held at the Ethox Centre, Oxford on 4-5 September!
Bioethics has always been a disruptive field, challenging the status quo and bringing together interdisciplinary perspectives to address society’s most impactful questions around health and science. In light of environmental, sociopolitical, technological and economic developments across the world, bioethics’ disruptive role has arguably never been more essential.
Accessibility
PGBC 2025 will take place in-person and online to facilitate attendance by as many as possible. The majority of the conference will be accessible to both remote and in-person delegates.
We are committed to being as inclusive as possible and can offer a number of small travel bursaries annually to those who would otherwise not be able to attend. Please note, however, that these are unlikely to be able to cover international travel and so we advise delegates who are based outside the UK to seek alternative funding or to consider presenting online.
We also have a fund for those with caring responsibilities who would need to make alternative arrangements in order to attend, and to cover access needs of disabled delegates. Please do contact us with any questions about this on pgbioethics@ime-uk.org.
About PGBC
PGBC has often been described as the UK’s friendliest bioethics conference, and PGBC 2025 looks set to be no exception. Each year we have multiple streams covering different areas of interest, with a supportive ethos – it doesn’t matter whether this is your first time presenting or your hundredth, you will be welcomed warmly and are sure to have a great experience! Unlike many conferences, we provide one night of accommodation, an evening social and full catering – all for a small (refundable!) deposit on registration.
We have plenaries aimed at building skills and navigating a career in bioethics, as well as eminent keynote speakers from a range of ethics backgrounds. As an example, PGBC 2024 in Cambridge saw an early career session with panellists from clinical practice, academia and policy; a session on publishing advice, and keynotes from Alex Ruck Keene KC (Barrister and Visiting Professor, KCL), Dr Pete Mills (Director, PHG Foundation) and Dr Zoe Fritz (Wellcome Fellow in Society & Ethics, University of Cambridge).
Conference Programme
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Registration and refreshments |
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David Lawrence (Durham University)
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Parallel session 1A (Main room)
The Silent Struggle: frequency and root causes of moral distress among radiologists in Pakistan
Ali Mansoor (Ameer ud Din Medical College)
Forgotten voices from the dispensary – pharmacy professionals and conscientious objection to assisted dying
Isaac Moore (University of Strathclyde)
ETH-MUD (Ethics Muda): the ethics of responsibility-shifting in digital mental health from the perspectives of young people in Indonesia
Nabila Puspakesuma (Ethox Centre, University of Oxford)
Key stakeholders’ moral attitudes on somatic gene editing for inherited cardiomyopathy: a qualitative interview study from the Netherlands
Jannieke Simons (UMC Utrecht)
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Parallel session 1B (BDI room)
Disruption in reproduction and early life
Support: Aycha Ates-Diadamo
Disrupting Reproductive Regulation: Ectogenesis, the ECHR, and Ireland
Alanna Kells (Maynooth University)
The Parental-Foetal Conflict and Substance Abuse: Practical Issues Faced by the Law in Endeavouring to Protect the Unborn Child
Disha Karani (King’s College London)
Infanticide and infant bodily rights
James Robinson (Stockholm University)
Will ectogenesis weaken mother-child bonding?
Jolie Zhou (University of Cambridge) |
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Federica Lucivero (University of Oxford)
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Plenary session 1 (Main room)
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Refreshments (tea, coffee, snacks) |
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Parallel session 2A (Room 1)
Disrupting norms and principles
Support: Aycha Ates-Diadamo
Bioethics Say That Honesty Improves Trust in Science and Medicine But, Given the Sorry State of Affairs, Lying Looks Like a Much Smarter Move
Byron Hyde (University of Bristol/Bangor University)
Principlism and social justice in US-based clinical ethics
Michael L J Greer (CUNY Graduate Center)
Can we measure what we mean? A critical analysis of public trust metrics in health systems
Sarah Savic Kallesoe (University of Oxford)
Deconstructing autonomy in mental health care in the Global South: a case for Tanzania
Hilda Tizeba (University of Edinburgh)
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Parallel session 2B (Room 2)
Responding to societal disruption
The ethics of selective deployment of AI in an infectious disease outbreak
Jamie Webb (Ethox Centre, University of Oxford)
A normative framework for disaster resilience
Gah-Kai Leung (University of Warwick)
Should healthcare professionals inform patients of the carbon footprint of their care?
Josh Parker (Lancaster University)
The credibility of bioethics after Israel’s genocide in Gaza
Maide Baris (Marmara University)
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Parallel session 2C (BDI room)
Wellbeing, pain and the mere difference view of disability
James Forsdyke (University of Oxford)
Beyond Individualistic Autonomy: Relational Ethics for the Moral Complexity of Palliative Care
Anna Gadignani (Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies)
Artificial intelligence and the emergence of post-explanatory biology
Disrupting peer review: bioethics as a testing ground for co-authorship and commentary-based incentives
Daniel Rodger (London South Bank University/Birkbeck, University of London)
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Travel to St Hilda’s College and check-in to accommodation
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Evening social (including dinner) |
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Refreshments (tea and coffee) |
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When words matter: communication gaps in pediatric compassionate deactivation
Stella Mosetti (Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies)
Is a Feminist Ethics of Care a Useful Tool to Interrogate the Role of the Physician in Physician Assisted Dying?
Gracie Heayns (University of Liverpool)
Medicalisation and the politics of assisted dying: why the ‘right to die’ is not called the ‘right to suicide’ (and why, perhaps, it should be)
Janna Bryson (University of Cambridge)
Pluralism for defining death: end of life ethics
Simran Puri (University of Edinburgh)
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Policy and practice disruption
Attitudes about NIPT routinisation: A report from a qualitative study of 20 UK healthcare professionals
Peter Young (University of Oxford)
Type 1 diabetes: a disruption to 30 years of screening policy?
Matthew Randell (University of Warwick)
Disrupting the policy-practice divide: ethical reflections on pandemic measures in Swiss nursing homes
Sophie Stephan (University of Zurich)
Ethical dilemmas and resilience: Swiss nursing homes 5 years after COVID-19
Nathalie Heinz (University of Zurich)
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Participants, patients and publics
Chair: Aycha Ates-Diadamo
Intensive Care Decision-Making, Survival and Dying Well: a mixed methods study with people who have been Intensive Care patients
Tom Donaldson (University of Manchester)
Ethical collapse in global health research: participant rights after funding withdrawal
Mabuchi Banda (National Health Research Authority, Zambia)
Participant selection for first in-human trials of stem cell-derived islet replacement therapy for type 1 diabetes: a casuistic approach
Lieke van Kempen (Leiden University)
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Sasha Henriques, Rachel Thompson
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Lunch and poster walk/poster judging |
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Parallel session 4A (Main room)
Support: Aycha Ates-Diadamo
Wu Wei: A Taoist Perspective on the Ethics of Neuro-AI
Miranda Wang (Durham University)
One Health Ethics, Just(ice) Do it: Why We Ought to Include Animals as Subjects of Justice
Emma Nance (University of Edinburgh)
Neurorights in Ibero-America: A misstep in legal evolution?
Diego Borban (Universidad Externado de Colombia/University of Zurich) |
Parallel session 4B (BDI room)
Using actor-network theory as a methodological tool to inform ethical reflection: the reuse of health data case
Vittoria Porta (Ethox Centre, University of Oxford)
Decoding the human experience: feasibility and ethical considerations of using AI to augment qualitative research
Habeebah Muhammed-Kamal (Harvard University)
Reframing medical AI: Visual Imagery and Legal Approaches to Medical AI in the UK
Zoya Jasmine (University of Oxford)
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Arianne Shahvisi (Brighton & Sussex Medical School)
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Thank you and closing remarks
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Posters:
Eugenics’ New Clothes: On the Myth of Moral Progress in Liberal Eugenics - Maisie Belle Norton (University of Edinburgh)
Advance Directives in Ghana: A Content Analysis of Three Ghanaian Policy Documents - Kwame Adjei (University of Ghana)
The Non-Identity Problem of the Principle of Procreative Beneficence - Marco Peruzzo (University of Padua)
Identifying gaps and issues of using AI in the diagnosis of sleeping disorders - Srushhti Trivedi ( Universitätsmedizin Göttingen)
Focused ethnography and confidentiality in a clinical genetics service - Melanie Pottle Iddon (Cardiff University)
Restrictions on Reproductive Rights in the US: From Eugenics to Abortion - Trisha Venkat (University of Massachusetts Medical School)
Drawing the Germline: Why moratoriums on human heritable genetic engineering should be lifted - John Quain (CUNY Graduate Center)
The Need for a Super Ethics - Roel Wolters (Research Master Student, Radboud University)
BOOKINGS are now open for PGBC for both presenters and non-presenters. There are a VERY limited number of spaces for non-presenting delegates (please ensure you select the correct category when booking).