German Reference Centre for Ethics in the Life Sciences (DRZE)
The DRZE is a national documentation and information centre for the entire field of ethics in the biomedical sciences in Germany.
PRACC Closing Conference
17 June 2026 in the Stucksaal of the Poppelsdorf Palace in Bonn
The closing conference will present the key project findings and facilitate a dialogue between academia, policymakers and the public. One particular focus will be the ethical, legal and environmental implications of the EU Nature Restoration Regulation, as well as the practical challenges of implementing it in different social contexts. In addition to fundamental conceptual issues, specific conflicts regarding application and objectives will also be discussed.
RE4GREEN at the Sustainability Day 2026
On 13 May, initiatives and projects from the University of Bonn focusing on sustainable development were showcased at Sustainability Day on the Poppelsdorf campus. The RE4GREEN project, coordinated by the DRZE, was also represented with a booth.
Die later, live less: Podcast on enhancement
In this episode of the Deutschlandfunk podcast, Michael Köhler interviews Dirk Lanzerath (in German) about human enhancement. Together, they explore both the past and the future. What does it mean to be human, and what do we aspire to be?
Bioethics without personhood?
The thirteenth issue of the DRZE Journal Club centres on the radical position of abandoning the concept of personhood in bioethics entirely.
90th birthday of Prof. Ludger Honnefelder
Professor Dr Dr Dr h.c. Dr h.c. Ludger Honnefelder, the founding director of the DRZE, celebrated his 90th birthday on 25 March. Congratulations!
In collaboration with the DRZE and the Albertus Magnus Institute, the University of Bonn held a small symposium for the guest of honour, titled 'Reason and Responsibility', which was attended by numerous guests.
International Exchange
Roberta Nobile is a PhD student on the Italian national PhD programme in Artificial Intelligence. We extend a warm welcome to her as a visiting researcher at the DRZE!
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:
- 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.
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.
Healthcare Data in Research
Imaging in Neuroscience
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.
Ethics by Design
Julia Maria Mönig / Petra Grimm / Sebastian Bernhard / Hendrik Tenbrake / Julia Berg-Postweiler / Jennifer Bosen / Clara Lemke / Marie Mirsch / Charlotte Nolles / Calvin Röhl / Ann-Kristin Winkens / Carmen Leicht-Scholten
Bioeconomy
Christina Pinsdorf / Sandra Venghaus / Sascha Stark / Wiltrud Fischer / Peter-Tobias Stoll / Erik Gawel
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.
STRATEGIC
The DRZE is coordinating an EU-funded project on co-creating digital health technology design in sub-Saharan Africa.
PRACC
The DRZE is coordinating BMFTR-funded project on challenges of climate change in the context of intergenerational justice and freedom.
FRAIM
The DRZE is involved in a BMFTR-funded project developing an ethical framework for the use of AI in neuromedicine.