Research Ethics & Ethical, Legal & Social Issues
March 4, 2027 | In-person at Wyndham Grand Pittsburgh Downtown (600 Commonwealth Place, Pittsburgh, PA, 15222)
Research Integrity Scholars and Educators (RISE) 2026 Symposium
In advance of the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics conference, RISE will meet with the theme of ethical “engagement’ in research. Proposals for presentations as part of the symposium are due October 5.
Information regarding submissions
Supported, in part, by the University of Pittsburgh Research, Ethics and Society Initiative.
Bioethics, Health Humanities, Health Policy & Clinical Ethics
August 9, 2026 | 2:00 - 3:00 pm | Online
Violating the Public Trust—First-Person Authorization and Organ Procurement: A Halachic Perspective
Albert T. Quiery, Jr., MD, MSC, Assistant Professor of Medicine, University of Tennessee
Organ transplantation saves lives and significantly improves the quality of life for many patients. Yet the demand for transplantable organs continues to exceed supply, prompting policy reforms worldwide aimed at increasing organ donation. Many European countries have adopted systems of presumed consent (opt-out), while the United States relies on an opt-in model based on first-person authorization. This presentation examines organ transplantation through the lens of a Jewish, particularly halachic, perspective, using these views as a framework for evaluating the first-person authorization process. It explores how differing religious understandings of autonomy, bodily integrity, and the definition of death intersect with contemporary organ procurement policies. The discussion argues that transparency, together with recognition of and respect for diverse religious, cultural, and secular perspectives on organ donation and the determination of death, is essential to maintaining public trust. Because trust is foundational to successful organ procurement, policies that acknowledge and engage these differences are more likely to sustain public confidence while promoting ethical transplantation practices.
Join Zoom Meeting (Passcode: 444004)
https://luc.zoom.us/j/86239773993?pwd=XEqj7n3B45tsuTNyQTAZ1yGYJ1snjQ.1
Sponsored by the ASBH Jewish Bioethics Affinity Group
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September 14, 2026 | 9:00am - 5:00pm | Online
The Philosophy of Diagnosis
Diagnosis is central to the practice of medicine, yet it raises questions that medicine alone cannot answer. What is a diagnosis? What and who is it for? How do we deal with uncertainty about diagnosis and responsibility for it? As artificial intelligence reshapes how diagnoses are reached and what clinical reasoning is, these questions have become increasingly urgent.
This virtual workshop precedes the International Philosophy of Medicine Roundtable Conference.
The Workshop webpage includes additional details regarding speakers and talk titles.
Sponsored by the Department of History and Philosophy of Science, the Center for Philosophy of Science, and the Institute for Bioethics at the University of Pittsburgh
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September 15-18, 2026 | Online
13th International Philosophy of Medicine Roundtable Conference
Featuring over 15 sessions of talks on topics ranging from diagnosis, uncertainty, AI, and policy to measurement, extrapolation, and testimony, this virtual conference will bring together philosophers and other scholars, clinicians, and empirical researchers.
The Conference webpage includes daily timings and will feature a detailed program.
Sponsored by the Department of History and Philosophy of Science, the Center for Philosophy of Science, and the Institute for Bioethics at the University of Pittsburgh
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October 2, 2026 | Online
16th Annual Midwestern Medical Humanities Conference
This year’s conference theme is medical technologies, which includes the use of AI in medicine, though submissions on other non-technology topics are welcome. The Call for Abstracts is now available with submissions accepted through August 15 via Oxford Abstracts.
Note: faculty who would like to invite their classes should contact the conference organizers to make arrangements (medical-humanities@wmich.edu).
Sponsored by the Western Michigan University Center for the Study of Ethics in Society, Department of Philosophy, and Medical Humanities Workgroup
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October 14 - 17, 2026 | JW Marriott Indianapolis, Indiana
American Society for Bioethics & Humanities 2026 Annual Conference
Bioethics and the health humanities are evolving fields, in conversation with medical and social changes. While clinicians, academics, and other healthcare professionals continue to grapple with key ethical questions, such as end-of-life conflicts, ethical research design, and health disparities, the bioethics and health humanities communities also respond to an ever-changing political landscape that has tested the strength of our institutions and policies. This conference will address questions such as: Where do we go from here? How do we continue to advocate for humanistic and ethical care as we respond to systemic changes? What broad-reaching effects does the changing regulatory landscape have on our work and particularly on vulnerable communities? How do we move forward in medicine and humanities disciplines also facing scrutiny?
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November 12 - 14, 2026 | In-person in the Baron-Forness Library at PennWest University in Edinboro, Pennsylvania
2nd Biennial Conference on Global Bioethics
Sponsored by Duquesne University’s Center for Global Health Ethics and PennWest University’s James F. Drane Bioethics Institute
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November 17, 2026 | 7:00 - 8:30 pm | The Chapel @ Chatham University, 1103 Woodland Rd, Pittsburgh, PA
Experience, Suppression, and Expression: A Concert Exploring Art, Mental Health, and Inter-generational Trauma
The REgenerate Music Project performs music of composers labeled degenerate artists and suppressed by the Nazis in 20th Century Germany. The string quartet, comprising musicians of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, seeks to keep those composers’ music alive and to honor their lives. In this concert, the quartet will perform pieces that resonate with the artwork of Norman Klenicki, a self-taught artist and son of Holocaust survivors, who uses his visual art to express and address the symptoms of his bipolar disorder triggered by the legacy of injuries his mother incurred at the hands of Nazi death camp guards. In 2019, the University of Pittsburgh Center for Bioethics & Health Law created a virtual exhibition of his artwork: Experience, Integration, Expression: The Work of Norman Klenicki. In Fall 2026, the same curator is mounting an in-person exhibit of Klenicki’s work in the gallery space of Falk Library, accessed from the Mezzanine of Scaife Hall (enter at Terrace and Lothrop Streets). This concert celebrates the opening of that exhibit and the role of music and visual art in expressing and addressing the mental health challenges of inter-generational trauma.
The event and parking are free.
Contact for additional information: PittResearchEthics@pitt.edu
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March 4 - 7, 2027 | In-person at Wyndham Grand Pittsburgh Downtown (600 Commonwealth Place, Pittsburgh, PA, 15222)
36th Annual Conference of the Association of Practical and Professional Ethics
This APPE conference invites participants from all fields of applied, practical, and professional ethics. Session formats include plenary keynote talks, paper presentations, panels, case study discussions, pedagogical demonstrations, and author meets critics sessions. This year’s theme, Examining Ethics and Power, invites critical reflection on the ethical dimensions of power across professional, institutional, and global contexts. We encourage proposals that explore how power dynamics shape ethical decision‑making; how power manifests in professional practices; how institutions perpetuate or prevent harm; and how ethical frameworks can clarify what is at stake as well as expose, challenge, and transform unjust power relations.
The deadline for submissions is October 5. The call for proposals is here. Monetary prizes are offered for the best paper by an early career scholar, graduate student, and undergraduate.
Several conference events are co-sponsored by the University of Pittsburgh Research, Ethics, and Society Initiative and by the Master of Arts Program in Bioethics.
Sponsored by Pitt Research, this virtual exhibition demonstrates Pitt’s creativity and leadership in public communication of science and technology. With a Pitt Seed grant and science & technology studies scholar Hannah Starr Rogers, curator and science communication expert Elizabeth Pitts (Department of English) created the exhibit of ten artists/artist groups to inquire: What do we want from biotechnologies? Who is biotechnology for? Who decides?
In 2020, Pitt’s Center for Bioethics & Health Law mounted a virtual exhibition of work by Norman Klenicki. A self-taught artist and son of Auschwitz survivors, Klenicki uses his canvases to memorialize Holocaust victims and to channel the energy and emotions he experiences as a person with bipolar disorder. The exhibition is employed in history and Jewish studies courses, as well as the health humanities. With City of Asylum, the Center hosted events exploring connections between music and mental health, and between Klenicki’s visual art and the work of jazz musicians Thelonious Monk and Charles Mingus. Historian and exhibit curator Bridget Keown (Gender, Sexuality , and Women’s Studies Program) leads a virtual gallery tour.
