Bioethics Centre - Te Pokapū Matatika Koiora

Come and find us at the OUSA x UoO postgraduate Expo between 12 and 3 pm tomorrow! Happy to chat about all the options for postgraduate study in Bioethics 👋

Programme - 2024 Postgrad recruitment event - Main Common Room Hear from students and academics of all disciplines about what postgraduate study at Otago means for them, and what it could look like for you.

🎉The Bioethics Seminar Series is officially wrapped up for 2023!

🥳 Thank you to everyone who presented, attended, asked questions, and made the events full of life and curiosity. We're honoured to have hosted so many incredible presenters. If you missed any, you can catch up on all our 2023 seminars here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5kgf_2XMDM&list=PLvlPnq9sm0xBDjiCtP9xKwSMcdD68P5PL

🗓 Remember that application deadlines are approaching! You can see them all here:
https://www.otago.ac.nz/study/academic-key-dates

And always feel free to get in touch at [email protected] with any questions. 😁

Academic key dates, Faculty of Law | University of Otago Academic key dates at the University of Otago

The last Bioethics Seminar of 2023 will be presented by Tristan Katz, PhD candidate at the University of Fribourg. 🦩 His seminar will touch on animal-friendly approaches to conservation and the problem of suffering. Please get in touch at [email protected] with any question. 🗓️Oct 9, 11:00am - see you there!

We're proud to announce that Bioethics staff member Professor John McMillan is an invited speaker at three upcoming events: the 2023 NZASM, the 2024 PSANZ Congress, and the 2023
Te Whatu Ora - Health New Zealand Southern ECMO course.

Congratulations, John!

PSANZ Congress: https://perinatalsociety.org.nz/event/psanz-2024-congress/
Southern ECMO: https://southernecmo.icu/thursday%2C-nov-9th-2023
NZASM: https://www.nzanaesthesia.com/

Aotearoa NZ Anaesthesia ASM 2023 You are warmly invited to attend the 2023 combined Aotearoa NZ Anaesthesia ASM and NZATS conference to be held Ōtepoti Dunedin.

💻📅Mark your diaries for October 3, 8pm NZDT! 👩‍⚕️WONCA World Organization of Family Doctors presents this Zoom webinar, facilitated by Dimity Pond and our own Bioethics staff member Tania Moerenhout.

📝Register here: https://otago.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_csxwW0gVR0W3pxyT8kZEdQ

We'll be there! 😁

Kia ora koutou katoa! We’re pleased to host our colleague Assoc. Prof. Neil Pickering (Bioethics Centre) at our next research seminar (Weds 13 September, 11am-12.30pm in Mellor 2.15). Neil will be speaking on ‘Why we should be sceptical about internalism’, and his abstract follows:

• Why we should be sceptical about internalism •
"Internalism is – on most accounts – the view that only the processes of decision-making are relevant when it comes to questions of decision-making competence. This view is opposed to an alternative approach which is called externalism, which claims that we should expect higher decision-making standards of someone who is proposing to make a harmful choice.
Now, in fact, internalists typically make two claims: (1) That to assess someone’s decision-making competence we should attend only to their decision-making processes (and not at all to the outcomes of their decisions): let’s call this the process claim. And (2) that externalism is unacceptably paternalist by using values other than those of the decider to decide what is harmful: let’s call this the values alignment claim.
Internalists regularly parade these two claims as if the first provided a basis for making competence assessments, and as if they were consistent with one another. We will seek to make the case that it doesn’t, and they aren’t.
The process claim doesn’t provide a basis for assessment of decision-making competence because it fails to provide any standards by which competence can be judged.
And the process and the values alignment claims aren’t consistent with one another because the focus on the processes of decision making alone (claim 1) rules out any attention to values alignment (claim 2); and the values alignment claim, particularly if it is taken to provide a basis for competence assessment itself (which internalists do) rules out the need to look at decision-making processes."

Our research seminars run most Wednesdays of the teaching semester, from 11am – 12.30pm, in Mellor 2.15, and all are welcome. Information about past and future seminars can be found at https://www.otago.ac.nz/philosophy/events/seminar.html

Tune in at 6am 14 Sep NZT to see Josephine Johnston in this exciting webinar!

Can AI Improve Healthcare for Everyone? REGISTER NOW Fast-moving developments in artificial intelligence have far-reaching implications for caregivers, patients, and the entire healthcare

📱👩‍⚕️Next week, a great selection of panelists (including Bioethics staff member Tania Moerenhout) will be speaking at NZ Telehealth's webinar, 'AI and Telehealth.' 🏥Register here: https://mobilehealth.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_r-jYYgXrQli1LwKg0R9AuQ #/registration

🍕🎬 A night of AI intrigue awaits! 🍿🤖 Last evening, our Bioethics Centre hosted our annual pizza/movie night for BITC405 students.🎉 Engaging discussions on clinical ethics...and pizza! 📚🎥 🍕🍿🤖

Kudos to Dr. Simon Walker from our Bioethics Centre for his thoughtful contribution to “How Shane Reti’s ambulance ride-alongs ‘likely breached patient rights” in ‘The Post.’ The piece raises vital concerns about patient privacy & consent in healthcare settings. Important dialogue! 🎉📚

Find it here:

The Post

Professor John McMillan's recent opinion piece in Stuff!
🧠👩‍⚕️🥼

Fairness and the lack of transparency about elective surgery OPINION: The heated discussion over who gets priority healthcare has been fuelled by our losing sight of the importance of accountability and transparency.

Upcoming Bioethics Seminar:
Monday, 22 August 2022 at 1:00pm-1:50pm (NZT)

'Regulatory Governance of AI in Medicine in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area in China'

Speaker: Dr Calvin Ho, University of Hong Kong

ABSTRACT: "The main aim of this paper is to examine how a participatory and collaborative approach to the regulatory governance of medical devices based on artificial intelligence (AI) or machine learning (ML) is being developed and implemented in Hong Kong SAR, as part of the Guangdong – Hong Kong – Macau Greater Bay Area (GBA). In this connection, it also seeks to explicate what it means to be “participatory” and “collaborative”; these being regulatory principles that have been put forward by the International Medical Device Regulators Forum (IMDRF), and implicit in the “Guangdong-Hong Kong- Macau Greater Bay Area Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Regulatory Innovation and Development Work Plan” (GBA Medical Device Work Plan). The emerging regulatory governance is expected to support the development and uptake of AI/ML-based medical devices in a manner that is consistent with ethical and social values that sustain professional trustworthiness and public trust; and facilitate regulatory convergence within the GBA, thereby also promoting access to novel medical devices for residents in the GBA. Where applicable, comparative analysis is applied to contrast regulatory governance in the constituent jurisdictions of the GBA with those in the United States of America and the European Union."

BIOGRAPHY: Dr Calvin Ho is Associate Professor with the Faculty of Law, and Co-Director of the Centre for Medical Ethics, at the University of Hong Kong. His research is primarily on the governance of health and biomedical technologies, including human genome editing, human pluripotent stem cell research, and health technologies based on Artificial Intelligence and data analytics. He is an Ethics Board member of Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders), and a member of the COVID-19 Ethics & Governance Working Group of the World Health Organization.

Online attendance:
For those who cannot attend in person, you are welcome to join remotely via the Zoom link below:
Meeting ID: https://otago.zoom.us/j/922351556 | Password: 595584

(To those joining online, we ask that you please mute yourselves upon arrival to avoid any accidental interruptions).

In-person attendance:
Bioethics Seminar Room (Room 119), Level 1, 71 Frederick Street, Dunedin 9016. At the top of the stairs, take a left down the corridor until you come to Room 119.

(Those attending in person are required to please wear a mask, and to please not attend the seminar if you are experiencing any Covid-19 or flu-like symptoms).



ABOUT: Our Bioethics Seminars occur weekly on Mondays at 1:00pm (NZT) at the Bioethics Centre throughout the university year. Seminars are presented through a hybrid format, which enables both in-person and online attendance. Our speakers come from a variety of institutions and interdisciplinary backgrounds, including healthcare, ethics, medical law, philosophy, and others.

Please contact the administrator at [email protected] for further information.