Welcome

The Bioethics Centre at the University of Otago was established in 1988 in response to growing awareness of new ethical issues relating to law, medicine and technology; issues which touch the lives of everyone.  It is rated as an Area of Research Strength in the University of Otago, with an international reputation. 

The Centre's aims are to encourage and co-ordinate teaching and research, to stimulate informed public debate, and to provide a consultation and resource service for health professionals and others in the community. 

The backgrounds of the academic staff provide a variety of perspectives in the humanities and health, which helps students to reflect on current ethical issues in medicine, biology, health care and the broader issues of environmental ethics.  Centre staff are also responsible for teaching one of the most extensive programmes in medical ethics of any medical school in the world, and also ethics courses in, pharmacy, physiotherapy, oral health and midwifery.  The Centre has developed a network of links with other research centres and attracts numerous overseas scholars and postgraduate students.

The Centre has secured major research grants in a number of areas including ethics and stem cell research, ethics and the human genome project, ethics and emerging biotechnologies, and the ethical dimensions of resource allocation.  It plays a prominent role in national and international affairs in Bioethics.