October 29, 2008

International bioethics education network

The international bioethics education network was started in 1993.

The initial network was created by Darryl Macer at Eubios Ethics Institute (www.eubios.info) in 1993 in Japan and New Zealand, with surveys and research on the extent of bioethics across the world. The network continues under his coordination at UNESCO Bangkok, Thailand, http://www.unescobkk.org/rushsap.
Since 2008 it is officially an IAB network.
The goals of the network are
1) Promotion of bioethics education at all levels
2) Promote public discussion of bioethics

We welcome feedback. A balanced approach to these issues is needed, as education should prepare citizens for difficult moral dilemmas that they may face in their life. In recent times new approaches such as community engagement, use of museums exhibitions on bioethics, and other means to promote public discourse have been developed.

Members - the network welcomes individuals with an interest in all approaches to promote the discussion of bioethics. If your school or institution wishes to be linked on the site please send the name and details.

Action - There are community, school and university trials of methods for bioethics education in many countries. Some of the institutions and individuals involved are also members of the UNESCO Asia-Pacific School of Ethics (http://www.unescobkk.org/index.php?id=4913).

Members of this network have produced and shared teaching materials for bioethics education in different countries, for school and university classes. There are various types of classes the materials have been used in. Materials can be downloaded in a growing number of languages from http://www.unescobkk.org/index.php?id=2508.

Empirical research on the effectiveness of teaching bioethics at different ages and places is encouraged, and the results linked to policy. A regional bioethics education action plan was developed in Asia and the Pacific. This network is global.

There is a related yahoo network for students also.

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