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.
Biodiversity in the Anthropocene –
Restore or Design?
16 October 2023 – Universitätsclub Bonn
In the context of the 13th "Ethik-Forum", renowned experts will shed light in a panel discussion on how an appropriate understanding of biodiversity conservation can be developed under the conditions of the Anthropocene. Should natural processes be managed for the purpose of restoration and preservation with as little human intervention as possible, or must a greater claim to design be derived in the age of the Anthropocene?
The event was recorded and will be successively published on our YouTube channel in December 2023.
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.
Genome editing in human medicine
Genetically Modified Foods
Expert Reports
The aim of the series "Ethics in the Life Sciences - Expert Reports of the DRZE" 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.
Demenz ("Dementia")
Sebastian Knell / Dietmar Thal / Volker Lipp
Imaging in the neurosciences
Jan-Hendrik Heinrichs / Svenja Caspers / Alfons Schnitzler / Frederike Seitz
News
Here you will find news on current topics, projects and events of the DRZE.
Journal Club
The DRZE article series summarises current journal articles on selected discourses in the life sciences.
Bioethics Press Review
The DRZE's bioethics press review presents discourses on bioethical topics in the German and foreign press.
DRZE at the Academy Day
In November 2023, the DRZE was represented at the Academies' Day of the science academies united in the Academies' Union in Berlin.
Human embryos in medical research
Dirk Lanzerath was a rapporteur at the BMBF conference on the evaluation and regulation of embryo research.
AI in medicine: Ethical aspects
In his DRZE Journal Club article, Roman Wagner provides an overview of current research contributions on ethical aspects of the use of AI in medicine.
Third-party funded projects
iRECS
The DRZE is coordinating an EU-funded project on research ethics.
PRACC
The DRZE is coordinating a BMBF-funded project on climate ethics.
FRAIM
The DRZE is involved in a BMBF-funded project on the use of AI in medical diagnostics.