The German Reference Centre for Ethics in the Life Sciences (DRZE) is a national documentation and information centre for the entire field of ethics in the biomedical sciences in Germany.
The DRZE is a Central Research Institute of the University of Bonn. Upon the discontinuation of the BMBF’s funding of the project “Ethics in the Life Sciences”, the DRZE applied to be part of the “Akademienprogramm”. The project was admitted into the research programme of the German Scientific Academies on 1 January 2004, as a research project of the Project of the North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences, Humanities and the Arts.
It has the task of:
- to scientifically elaborate the normative foundations of qualified judgement formation and to make them available in various formats;
- to prepare and make available information from a wide variety of fields on the current bioethical discussion in science, society and politics;
- to promote scientific networking and thus advance the German, European and international discourse.
RE4GREEN
The EU-funded RE4GREEN project on climate and environmental ethics in research and innovation, coordinated by the DRZE, started on 1 February 2024.
In Focus
The short information In Focus enables interested non-specialists in particular to get a quick overview of the debate on a current bioethical topic.
Imaging in Neuroscience
Research with Human Embryonic Stem Cells
Expert Reports
The aim of the series Ethics in the Life Sciences - DRZE Expert Reports is to prepare ethical problem areas from the field of the life sciences in a scientifically sound manner for interdisciplinary and societal discourse by comprehensively presenting the respective state of research and discussion.
Climate Justice
Marius Bartmann / Aurélie Halsband / Andrea Schapper
Die Generierung von künstlichen Keimzellen
(The Generation of Artificial Gametes)
Eva Mall / Stefan Schlatt / Ulrich M. Gassner / Tade Matthias Spranger / Robert Ranisch / Vasilija Rolfes
News
Here you will find news on current topics, projects and events of the DRZE.
Dirk Lanzerath elected Chairman of the JRF Ethics Committee
The Ethics Committee of the Johannes Rau Research Foundation (JRF) has elected Prof. Dr. Dirk Lanzerath as Chairman on 11 April 2024.
DRZE Journal Club: Ethical perspectives on surrogacy
In the fifth issue of the Journal Club, Sandra Scholl provides an overview of the various areas of discussion in the ethical debate.
Medizinische Forschung und COVID-19
New collection on medical research and COVID-19, edited by Dirk Lanzerath und Sebastian von Kielmansegg
Biodiversity in the Anthropocene
The videos of the Ethik-Forum “Biodiversity in the Anthropocene – Restore or Design?” are now online.
Bioethics Press Review
The DRZE's bioethics press review presents discourses on bioethical topics in the German and foreign press.
Third-party funded projects
RE4GREEN
The DRZE is coordinating an EU-funded project on climate and environmental ethics in research and innovation.
iRECS
The DRZE is coordinating an EU-funded project on research ethics in the context of new and emerging technologies.
PRACC
The DRZE is coordinating a BMBF-funded project on challenges of climate change in the context of intergenerational justice and freedom.
FRAIM
The DRZE is involved in a BMBF-funded project developing an ethical framework for the use of AI in neuromedicine.