Welcome to the Institute for Biomedical Ethics

The Institute for Biomedical Ethics at the University of Basel (IBMB) is a vibrant centre for research on and teaching about ethical issues in medicine and the biosciences. The Institute was founded in 2011 and is affiliated with both the Science and Medical Faculties at the University of Basel – a unique situation for an ethics institute in Switzerland.

The IBMB has over a dozen PhD students and a team of senior researchers and post-docs working on a wide variety of projects in biomedical ethics. The IBMB’s researchers are committed to an interdisciplinary endeavour aimed at finding ethical solutions to dilemmas raised by both new and traditional practices in biomedical ethics, including cutting-edge technologies, organ donation, palliative care, and research in developing countries, to name only a few. Our research combines empirical fieldwork, including interviews with stakeholders and members of the public, and normative, theoretical analysis. IBMB researchers have won several grants from the SNF, SAMW and other major funders and frequently publish in major bioethics, medical and science journals.

IBMB members are also highly involved in teaching, providing ethics courses for undergraduate students and postgraduate scientists and doctors. A variety of courses are open to the public, including the twice-yearly “Contemporary Issues in Bioethics” lecture series that integrates a lively dialogue with visiting speakers.

If you are interested in collaborating with us, are looking for a PhD student or post-doc job, need ethical input on your own project, or would like us to provide ethics related courses/workshops for your students or research team, please get in touch with us!

Special Issue: TB and Ethics in the International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease

Professor Bernice Elger contributed to the special issue TB and Ethics in the International Journal of Tubercolosis and Lung Disease with an article entitled: Ethical issues in tuberculosis screening and the use of new drugs for prisoners

New article: Working Through Ethics Review of Big Data Research Projects: An Investigation into the Experiences of Swiss and American Researchers, by Maddalena Favaretto, Dr. Eva De Clercq, Prof. Matthias Briel and Prof. Bernice Elger

The employment of Big Data as an increasingly used research method has introduced novel challenges to ethical research practices and to ethics committees (ECs) globally. The aim of this study is to explore the experiences of scholars with…

New article: Acute and transitional care or rehabilitation? Retrospective analysis of discharge planning from a municipal hospital in Switzerland, by L. Kollbrunner, M. Rost, I. Koné, B. Zimmermann, Y. Padrutt, T. Wangmo & B. Elger

Due to rising health care costs, in 2012 Switzerland introduced SwissDRG, a reimbursement system for hospitals based on lump sum per case. To circumvent possible negative consequences like reduction in length of stay, acute and transitional…

New article: Rejected Online Feedback From a Swiss Physician Rating Website Between 2008 and 2017: Analysis of 2352 Ratings, by Dr. Stuart Mc Lennan

Previous research internationally has only analyzed publicly available feedback on physician rating websites (PRWs). However, it appears that many PRWs are not publishing all the feedback they receive. Analysis of this rejected feedback…

Current controversy: Withholding conflicts of interest: the many flaws of the new ICMJE disclosure form. By Dr. David Shaw

In this article, I describe and analyse the proposed new International Committee of Medical Journal Editors form for disclosing conflicts of interest and conclude that it has many flaws. The form does not mention ‘conflicts of interest’…

Paul Schotsmans Prize 2019 goes to Georg Starke

Paul Schotsmans Prize 2019, European Association of Centres of Medical Ethics (EACME). Awarded during the annual EACME conference in Oxford to Georg Starke.

Vortrag: Die Begrenztheit der menschlichen Existenz: Überlegungen aus philosophischer und medizinischer Sicht

Vortrag mit der Philosophin Dr. phil. Isabelle Wienand (IBMB)

PhD Job Opportunity at IBMB

Position Available starting: April and May 2020

Congratulations to Dr. David Shaw and Dr. Michael Rost from IBMB for receiving the SNF Spark grant for "unconventional ideas"

This new SNF grant funds original ideas and is intended for projects that show unconventional thinking and introduce a unique approach. Over 700 ideas were submitted, 38% were supportet with a total of 27 million CHF. Two researchers…

Award: 2019 Paul Wainwright Postgraduate Nursing Ethics Student Essay Prize goes to Christopher Poppe

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Contact and Address of the
Institute for Biomedical Ethics
Bernoullistrasse 28 - 2nd Floor
4056 Basel
Switzerland

Tel: +41 61 207 17 86