News
Archive: DRZE Info Letter
DRZE Journal Club:
Planetary Health and Bioethics
In the ninth issue of the DRZE Journal Club, Prof. Dr. Dirk Lanzerath examines contributions to the discourse that focus on the concept of ‘Planetary Health’ from an ethical perspective.
Obituary of Professor Tom L. Beauchamp
With the death of Professor Tom L. Beauchamp on 19 February 2025, the world has lost one of the most influential bioethicists of our time. As Professor of Philosophy and Senior Research Scholar at the Kennedy Institute of Ethics at Georgetown University, he had a lasting impact on the bioethical landscape.
Since its foundation, the DRZE has been closely associated with Tom L. Beauchamp and the Kennedy Institute in bioethical research and the realisation of the literature database BELIT.
EU-funded project RE4GREEN:
2nd newsletter
The DRZE coordinates the three-year project RE4GREEN funded by Horizon Europe aiming to develop an encompassing framework supporting the transition to a sustainable economy and society.
Technological and Normative Transformation in Society: Smart Bioeconomy and Sustainability
With our BMBF-funded project PRACC, we participated in the 8th International BioSC Symposium ‘Bioeconomy and sustainability’.
Preparing Young Professionals for New Responsibilities
Prof. Dr. Dirk Lanzerath gave a lecture on the importance of professional ethics in healthcare at the ‘6th National Symposium on Developing Socially Responsible Professionals’ at City St George’s, University of London on 15 January 2025 and moderated the subsequent panel discussion in which the concept of ‘Planetary Health’ was discussed.
Bioökonomie
Sozioökonomische und politikwissenschaftliche, rechtliche, ökonomische und ethische Aspekte
Christina Pinsdorf / Sandra Venghaus / Sascha Stark / Wiltrud Fischer / Peter-Tobias Stoll / Erik Gawel
Ethics in the Life Sciences – DRZE Expert Reports, Volume 27
open access
DRZE Journal Club:
Ethical Challenges in the Treatment of Minors with Hormone Suppressants
In the eighth issue of the DRZE Journal Club, Fabian Fischbach sheds light on some aspects of the current debate on the permissibility of treating trans* minors with hormone suppressants (puberty blockers).
EU-funded project RE4GREEN:
1st newsletter
The DRZE coordinates the three-year project RE4GREEN funded by Horizon Europe aiming to develop an encompassing framework supporting the transition to a sustainable economy and society.
Prinzipien der Bioethik
Tom L. Beauchamp / James F. Childress
Dirk Lanzerath / Aurélie Halsband (eds.)
Julia Pelger (transl.)
First German translation of the »Principles of Biomedical Ethics« into German. It is not only an easily read interdisciplinary textbook of medical ethics for health professions, but it is also a significant contribution to applied philosophical ethics – translated and edited at the DRZE.
DRZE Journal Club:
Questions of Autonomy in Medical Ethics
In the seventh issue of the DRZE Journal Club, Dr. Roman Wagner examines contributions to the discourse that aim to shed light on the nature of autonomy and the question of the relative weight of the principle of respect for autonomy vis-à-vis other ethical principles.
The Rediscovery of Bioethics
Die Wiederentdeckung der Bioethik
Symposium to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the DRZE
The founding of the German Reference Centre for Ethics in the Life Sciences (DRZE) in 1999 was a milestone for bioethical research in Germany. To celebrate its 25th anniversary, the DRZE is organizing an international scientific symposium in German and English.
DRZE Journal Club:
Social Robots in Medicine and Healthcare
The sixth edition of the DRZE Journal Club examines the extent to which the deduction of ideal characteristics or capabilities that social robots should exhibit can meaningfully guide the ethical evaluation of their use.
PRACC at Dies Academicus and the Bonn Science Night
The BMBF-funded project PRACC took part in the Dies academicus on 15 May 2024 with a lecture and a panel discussion entitled “What kind of diversity should we protect? An interdisciplinary perspective on nature conservation” (programme of the Faculty of Arts, 11.15 a.m. to 12.45 p.m., lecture hall VIII).
On 16 May 2024, it attended the Bonn Science Night with a booth on the Münsterplatz.
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.
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.
Medizinische Forschung und COVID-19
New collection on medical research and COVID-19, edited by Dirk Lanzerath und Sebastian von Kielmansegg.
RE4GREEN
The DRZE coordinates the EU-funded project RE4GREEN on climate and environmental ethics in research and innovation.
The videos of the kick-off meeting are now online.
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?
Bioethics Press Review
The DRZE's bioethics press review presents discourses on bioethical topics in the German and foreign press.
New employee
Dirk Lanzerath elected Vice-Chairman of the Central Ethics Committee at the German Medical Association (ZEKO)
The members of ZEKO elected Prof. Dr. Dirk Lanzerath as Vice-Chairman for the upcoming 10th term (2023-2025) at their constituent meeting on March 9, 2023. The new chairperson is the hematologist/oncologist Prof. Dr. Eva Winkler.
The German Medical Association has published the following press release:
https://www.bundesaerztekammer.de/presse/aktuelles/detail/vorstand-der-zentralen-ethikkommission-in-der-10-amtsperiode-gewaehlt
New in Open Access
Expert report Vol. 24 "Bildgebung in den Neurowissenschaften"
(Imaging in the neurosciences)
Patient-Oriented Data Use
Kick-off PRACC
Kick-off iRECS
New employee
New article published
Aurélie Halsband and Bert Heinrichs
Talk by Dirk Lanzerath
„Research Integrity: Principles, Challenges and Dilemmas“.
Dirk Lanzerath will give a presentation to young scientists at the workshop of the German Society of Internal Medicine (GSIM) in Berlin on 17 November 2022 and explains the function of the European "Embassy of Good Science".
Dirk Lanzerath reappointed to the Central Ethics Committee at the German Medical Association (ZEKO)
The Executive Board of the German Medical Association has reappointed Prof. Dr. Dirk Lanzerath as a member of the Central Commission for the Preservation of Ethical Principles in Medicine and its Border Areas for the term of office 2022 - 2025.
Further information is available here:
https://www.zentrale-ethikkommission.de/wir-ueber-uns/mitglieder
New in Open Access
New article
Job vacancy
New in Open Access
Recently published
(Nature, Ethics & Aesthetics)
Job vacancy
Job vacancy
Recently published
Media and talks by Prof. Dr. Dirk Lanzerath
- "How are National Ethics Councils able to react and change?"
Talk by Prof. Dr. Dirk Lanzerath at the 29th Meeting of the National Ethics Councils Forum on 12 May 2022 (more) - When Am I Ill? – Prof. Dr. Dirk Lanzerath in conversation with Prof. Gert Scobel (in German), April 2022 (more)
- Talk “When Am I Ill? Medical-Ethical Considerations” by Prof. Dr. Dirk Lanzerath (in German), April 2022 (more)
New article
New article
COVID-19 pandemic
Guidelines and statements on ethical aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic may be retrieved in the bioethics literature database BELIT.
Please enter the search term COVID-19 document in the Subject Keywords field.
All newspaper articles on the new coronavirus and the COVID-19 pandemic are available in the archive of the Bioethics Press Review.
Please enter the search term coronavirus.
Further online resources on ethical aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic are listed in the Bioethics Links under COVID-19.
COVID-19 pandemic: Contributions and interviews
Contributions by Prof. Dr. Dirk Lanzerath:
- COVID-19 Human Challenge Trials. What Research Ethics Committees Need to Consider. In: Research Ethics 16 (2020), 3-4, 1-11. DOI 10.1177/1747016120943635
- The Ethics of COVID-19 Tracking Apps. Challenges and Voluntariness. In: Research Ethics 16 (2020), 3-4, 1-9. DOI 10.1177/1747016120943622
Contributions by Prof. Dr. Bert Heinrichs of the Institute for Science and Ethics, IWE (more)
Dirk Lanzerath elected to the ZEKO Board of Directors
The Managing Director of the DRZE, Prof. Dr Dirk Lanzerath, has been a member of the Central Commission for the Preservation of Ethical Principles in Medicine and its Border Areas (Central Ethics Commission, ZEKO) at the German Medical Association since 2008. Within the current 9th term of office (2019-2022), he was elected to the board of the committee in November 2020.
Further information can be found in the press release (in Germen) of the German Medical Association.
New in Open Access
(Big Data in Medicine)
New in Open Access
(Synthetic biology)
Recently published
Recently published
Recently published
