Ethics meetings & conferences

International Conference on Deep Brain Stimulation - 25 Years

The International Conference on Deep Brain Stimulation - 25 years - will take place in Düsseldorf, Germany, from 30 - 31 May, 2013.

The topics of the scientific program include

1) Basic mechanisms and animal models of DBS

2) Human electrophysiology and imaging

3) Deep Brain Stimulation in

- Movement disorders

- Neuropsychiatric disorders

- Dementia / epilepsy / pain

4) History, visions, ethics

In the past 25 years the development of deep brain stimulation has revolutionized the treatment of Parkinson´s disease and other movement disorders. Although the mechanisms of DBS are still not fully understood the remarkable therapeutic efficacy of DBS in Parkinson´s disease and tremor has prompted clinical and basic research to scrutinize further applications in neurological and psychiatric disorders. At the same time DBS has tremendously fostered research in basal ganglia physiology and pathophysiology.

This conference will provide a unique opportunity to cover and discuss the current state-of-the-art, hot topics, and future directions of DBS in plenary talks, symposia, short oral communications and poster presentations.

International Summer Course in Bioethics

July 2nd -July 12th, Rome, Italy

The 2013 Summer Course in Bioethics is organized by the School of Bioethics in collaboration with the Institute of Science and Faith and the Superior Institute of Religious Sciences and will be held from July 2nd -July 12th.

The topic of the course will be: “Bioethics at the crossroads of Faith, Reason and Science".

Simultaneous translation: English-Italian-Spanish.

The topic of the course will be: "Bioethics at the crossroads of Faith, Reason and Science".

Bioethics often studies subjects related to advances in biological and medical sciences, but they cannot be reduced to scientific rationality.

Ethical dilemmas concerning life and death, healing and suffering, the relationship between people, and so on, cannot be separated from an integral vision of reality. This vision can be opened or closed to transcendence, i.e., with reason enlightened by faith alone or with faith. The aim of the course is to analyze these deep relationships, to be a platform of dialogue between different views, even opposing ones, to arrive at the greatest good for all.

It is possible to attend both tracks - or just one.

The first track will deal with fundamental issues: the relationship between faith and reason, the relationship between science and philosophical reason, scientism, science and technology in the face of human life, secular and Catholic bioethics, theological study of bioethics; natural law and bioethics, different religious visions, and the pastoral application of bioethics.

The second track will address some of the specific problems of bioethics considered under different points of view: from the beginning of life to the end of life, from procreation to the respect for the environment, genetic manipulation and eugenics, etc.

The lectures will be offered by professors of the School of Bioethics, with participation of experts and professors from different countries.

In addition to the conferences, meetings and activities for reflection and discussion will be organized to encourage active participation of all the students.

12th Congress of the International Society of Organ Donation and Procurement

November 21-24, 2013 Sydney, Australia

Contact Us

Congress Secretariat
2013 Organ Donation Congress
c/o The Transplantation Society
Professional Conference Services
1255 University Street, Suite 605
Montreal, QC, H3B 3V9
Canada

Phone: 1-514-874-1717
Fax: 1-514-874-1716
Email: info@isodp2013.org

Frontiers of Informed Consent 3rd Annual Workshop in Applied Ethics

Northeastern University, Boston, MA, September 27-29, 2013

Informed, autonomous consent is widely considered to be central to the ethics of human subjects research. However, it remains both conceptually and practically underspecified. A conceptually clear account of informed consent that is appropriate to the broad array of human subjects research, from medical to social science, has been elusive. Moreover, it has proven to be difficult to operationalize informed consent in practice. These challenges to the ethics of informed consent have been compounded by the globalization of research and rapid technological developments.

This interdisciplinary workshop will bring together practitioners and theorists at the leading edge of the ethics of informed consent to share their research and discuss the future of informed consent. The workshop is designed to be highly interactive, and to provide speakers with constructive feedback from colleagues working on related issues.
 

2013 Annual Meeting of the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities

October 24-27, 2013 Atlanta, Georgia

The 2013 Annual Meeting, "Tradition, Innovation and Moral Courage," will take place October 24-27, 2013 in Atlanta, Georgia.

Theme: Tradition, Innovation and Moral Courrage

The theme for the 2013 ASBH meeting, “Tradition, Innovation and Moral Courage,” encourages participants to respond to the ways bioethics is inspired and shaped by various moral traditions, beliefs, and methodological approaches, as well as how these very traditions and practices become the foci of contemporary bioethical work bearing on moral progress and moral “innovation.”  This year’s ASBH theme invites members to reflect on the dialectic among moral traditions, moral inquiry, and moral innovation, and the ways that cultures identifying themselves as morally progressive might conceptualize the meaning and role of moral courage in realizing that progress.  With bioethical work being received with ever increasing public scrutiny and impact, the 2013 ASBH conference will be held in Atlanta, Georgia, whose cultural roots and evolution reflect the ways tradition and innovation propelled and shaped a history in which moral courage played and continues to play a quintessential role.

European Association of Centres of Medical Ethics Annual Conference

September 19-21, 2013 Bochum, Germany

“Personalised medicine” – medicine for the person? Ethical challenges for medical research and practice

The Institute for Medical Ethics and History of Medicine, Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, and the European Association of Centres of Medical Ethics (EACME) will organise the EACME annual conference in 2013. The conference will be organised in cooperation with the Centre for Medical Ethics Bochum (ZME e.V.) and supported by the Research Ethics Committee of the Medical Faculty, Ruhr University Bochum. 

Contact details and further information:
President of the Conference: Prof. Dr. med. Dr. phil. Jochen Vollmann
Scientific Secretary: PD Dr. med. Jan Schildmann, M.A.  

Institute for Medical Ethics and History of Medicine
Ruhr University Bochum
Markstrasse 258a
44799 Bochum
Germany 

Tel.: 0049 234-32-23394      
Fax: 0049 234-32-14205      
E-mail: info(at)eacme2013.org
Conference website: www.eacme2013.org

Living Machines 2013--The 2nd International Conference on Biomimetic and Biohybrid Systems

29th July to 2nd August 2013 Natural History Museum, London, United Kingdom

Main Conference

The main conference will take the form of a three-day single-track oral and poster presentation programme, 30th July to 1st August 2013, that will include six plenary lectures from leading international researchers in biomimetic and biohybrid systems.

Biomimetics can, in principle, extend to all fields of biological research from physiology and molecular biology to ecology, and from zoology to botany. Promising research areas include system design and structure, self-organization and co-operativity, new biologically active materials, self-assembly and self-repair, learning, memory, control architectures and self-regulation, movement and locomotion, sensory systems, perception, and communication. Biomimetic research, particularly at the nano-scale, should also lead to important advances in component miniaturisation, self-configuration, and energy-efficiency.  A key focus of the conference will be on complete behaving systems in the form of biomimetic robots that can operate on different substrates on sea, on land, or in the air. A further central theme will be the physiological basis for intelligent behaviour as explored through neuromimetics—the modelling of neural systems. Exciting emerging topics within this field include the embodiment of neuromimetic controllers in hardware, termed neuromorphics, and within the control architectures of robots, sometimes termed neurorobotics.

Biohybrid systems usually involve structures from the nano-scale (molecular) through to the macro-scale (entire organs or body parts). Important implementation examples are: Bio-machine hybrids where, for instance, biological muscle is used to actuate a synthetic device. Brain-machine interfaces where neurons and their molecular machineries are connected to microscopic sensors and actuators by means of electrical or chemical communication, either in vitro or in the living organism. Intelligent prostheses such as artificial limbs, wearable exoskeletons, or sensory organ-chip hybrids (such cochlear implants, and artificial retina devices) designed to assist the disabled or elderly, or to aid in rehabilitation from illness. Implantable or portable devices that have been fabricated for monitoring health care or for therapeutic purposes such as artificial implants to control insulin release. Biohybrid systems at the organism level such as robot-animal or robot-human communities.  Biohybrid systems may take advantage of progress in the field of synthetic biology.

2nd Annual Conference on Medicine and Religion

May 28, 2013 - May 30, 2013 Chicago, Illinois

What Does It Mean to Care? Religious Traditions and Health Professions Today 

At the heart of medicine is care. Medical care, surgical care, nursing care, wound care, palliative care, even spiritual care—almost everything health professionals do is advanced as a form of care. Yet patients, health professionals, and critics of medicine often question how much care there is in health care. Moreover, it is often unclear how health care fits into a faithful life, as understood in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

The second annual National Conference on Medicine and Religion will provide a forum for scholars and health care professionals to ask what it means to care and how the traditions and practices of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam inform possible answers to the question.

What is the care that faith requires, with respect to one’s patients, one’s colleagues, and oneself? How are professionalized forms of care related to and potentially in tension with the care provided in other contexts? How do both types of care relate to the care taught by different religious traditions? What sort of care does contemporary medicine propose to provide and actually provide? What can we learn from paradigmatic expressions of care found within religious texts and historical or contemporary religious communities? How do illness experiences and health care practices inform and shape religious norms and practices? How do religious traditions and practices challenge or propose an alternative to conventional health care norms and practices?

For questions concerning the conference, please contact the Program on Medicine and Religion at medrelig@uchicago.edu or 773-702-0903.

Ethical Issues in Science Communication: A Theory-Based Approach

May 30 – June 1, 2013; Ames, Iowa

As science continues to become implicated in personal and collective decision-making, the stakes for communicating science to non-expert audiences intensify. In such an environment, a clear articulation of ethical issues arising from science communication is essential. Unfortunately, such an articulation does not yet exist. The purpose of this symposium is to bring together scholars from across disciplines whose research can contribute toward a theoretical articulation of the ethical issues surrounding the communication of science to non-expert audiences.

Organizing committee: Michael Dahlstrom and Jean Goodwin (Iowa State University), and Susanna Priest (University of Washington)

International Organisation for Forensic Odonto-Stomatology Congress

August 29-31, 2013 Florence, Italy

It is our privilege and great pleasure to invite you to the International Congress of I.O.F.O.S. on Forensic Odontology, which will be held in August 29-31, 2013 at Faculty of Medicine of University of Firenze.

The Congress will be organized by IOFOS and Legal Medicine Section of University of Firenze.

The IOFOS international meeting aims to incorporate sessions and panel discussion on the latest advances in forensic odontology research and practice. Presentation of researchers and delegates of the national fellow societies of Forensic Odontology will foster the scientific program of the meeting.

Scientific topics on forensic odontology for the meeting:

Body identification
Mass disaster management, procedures, DVI Interpol
Age estimation
Bite-mark analysis
Dental DNA
Dental injuries, abuse, torture, child neglect
Quality assurance and quality control
Research, scientific evidence and bias
Guidelines, recommendations, protocols and standards
Qualification, accreditation, credentialing
Ethics
Expert witness, evidence in court
Education and teaching Forensic Odontology
Statistic in Forensic science
Oral Photography, radiology and virtopsy