International

The Nuffield Council on Bioethics is an active and well-respected member of the international bioethics community. We have close links with other ethics bodies abroad, especially those in the European Union. As such, members our Council participate in a wide range of meetings and activities around the world, to help strengthen the voice of ethics in biomedicine and health policy. We collaborate with partners and advise policymakers based overseas. We consider the international dimension of our work across all our activities from horizon scanning to influencing. We also monitor developments relating to our work abroad to ensure that we are in a position to respond to international developments in biomedicine and health.

We take a proactive approach to increasing our global profile. For example, we presented our work at 62 international conferences between 2018-2023.

As part of our 2024-2028 strategy, we are working to cultivate bioethics networks by continuing to develop new partnerships and connect bioethicists to share learning and approaches, both in the UK and internationally.

Meetings with National Bioethics Commissions

The Council regularly meets the French and German National Bioethics Commissions to discuss bioethics topics of mutual interest and share best practice.

International meetings of national bioethics advisory bodies

Council representatives work closely with a number of international organisations involved in bioethics, such as the:

• WHO Ethics and Health programme
  
• the UNESCO bioethics programme
  
• the Council of Europe, and the
  
• European Union’s European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies.

We also regularly take part in the biennial Global Summit of National Bioethics Advisory Bodies and the European Commission’s annual Forum of National Ethics Councils (NEC Forum).