Category: Innovators and Initiatives

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Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening, Compliance Rockstars, Clinical Research Professionals, Ethics Enthusiasts, Legal Experts, and Investigators!

320+ subscribers and counting!

The quality time with my two little boys is indescribable.

It’s taken some adjustments for sure, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world!

I could go on about my boys all day. But…I think I’ll go ahead and switch gears here.

Bioethics Education International (BEI) is inviting individuals to attend Online Winter School on December 15-20, 2025.

You might remember the initial call for applications I wrote here: Bioethics Education International: Call for Online Winter 2025 School Applications

• The initial post provided preliminary details of the program.
• This is a call for applications for partial scholarship due November 1, 2025.
• Today’s post will go over the program in more detail; this is an event you don’t want to miss!

As a general reminder, these are my own interpretations. Any legal information discussed within this post should be discussed with your institution.

Table of Contents:

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BEI: Who, What, When, Where, and Why

BEI is a non-profit organization based in Manhattan, New York, focused on advancing policy and intercultural bioethics discussions globally. BEI advances policy and intercultural bioethics debates from the beginning to the end of life.They aim to provide stakeholders with resources to understand and find solutions in:

• Global health,
• Healthcare,
• New medical technologies, and
• Life sciences.

You can learn more about BEI’s mission and the individuals behind BEI’s mission by accessing their website. You can also follow their LinkedIn for immediate updates.

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Who is encouraged to apply?

The target audience for this program include:

• Students,
• Professionals,
• Policymakers, and the
• Public at large.

All participants must be fluent in English, as the program will be presented only in English. Participants do not need to have an educational background in bioethics. However, they should demonstrate an interest in the issues described in the program.

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What is the application process?

What materials must be included?

Your application must include:

• A resumé
• A brief statement of interest outlining why you are interested in attending the winter school
• A letter of recommendation from a professor, teacher, or an advisor
• Most recent transcript
• Optional: a published paper or an article
• A language proficiency certificate
• Scholarship essay

There is a non-refundable fee of $20 for the application process. You can read more about this here: Application Process

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Are there any deadlines applicants should be aware of?

The schedule can be reviewed below:

• Partial scholarship deadline: November 1, 2025
• Early registration: November 5, 2025
• Regular registration: December 1, 2025
• Rolling registration: December 14, 2025

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What is the cost of attending the program?

Costs of this program vary based on when registration occurs (early versus regular). Further, they vary based on if the individual is a student, professional, and/or from a low and middle-income country. You can read the cost breakdown as described here: Call for Applications – Under Registration.

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What can attendees expect to learn from this semester’s program?

Program participants can expect to engage in pressing issues such as:

• The role of AI in shaping global healthcare policies and access to medical technologies
• Ethical considerations surrounding AI-driven decision-making in healthcare and biomedicine
• The impact of AI on international relations and global governance, particularly in areas like health security and pandemics
• The potential for AI to exacerbate existing health disparities and inequalities, both within and between countries
• The need for global cooperation and regulation to ensure that AI is developed and used in ways that prioritize human well-being and dignity

The title “Bioethics, AI Politics, and a New World Order” suggests an exploration of the intersection between bioethics, AI in politics, and global governance or societal restructuring.

• Bioethics involves ethical considerations around biological and medical advancements
• AI Politics refers to the integration of AI in political decision-making, governance, or policy development
  • Which raises questions about accountability, transparency, and potential biases
• The phrase “New World Order” implies significant changes in global systems, potentially driven by technological advancements like AI and shifts in societal values

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What are the overall activities attendees will complete?

Program attendees can expect to participate in the following online activities:

• E-learning courses: engaging and interactive online courses on bioethics
• Webinars: timely discussions on topics like AI in medicine, bioethics, and policy
• Training sessions: Interdisciplinary and intercultural approaches to confronting ethical issues
• The Bioethics Hub: an online platform for collaborative learning, networking, and community debates

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Who are the program speakers and their lectures?

• You can read in detail the speakers’ biographies here: Keynote Speakers.
• Further, the full schedule can be viewed here: Lectures.

Only a brief introduction will be provided below along with their specific lecture in the section below.

Lecture: Absolutely Essential: Bioethics and the Rules-Based International Order:

• In his new book, Absolutely Essential, he explore the field of bioethics as both a creature and a key element of the post–World War II rules-based order.
• According to this order, international relations are to be organized according to principles of open markets, liberal democracy, and multilateral organizations.
• In the book he raises key questions about the future of bioethics in a changed world order, while also theorizing new ways to think about bioethics after the COVID-19 pandemic and the reordering of global alliances.

Lecture: Digital Health: Bioethical and Legal Challenges

• The use of artificial intelligence in health care creates many new challenges, therefore bioethics needs a more nuanced analysis in designing the normative framework for the regulation of health care applications of AI solutions.
• While artificial intelligence may enhance accuracy in medical diagnosis and therapies, one could reasonably foresee that the right to healthcare and the right to personalized care might be interpreted very differently in the future.
  • For example, effective healthcare could be provided with the assistance of technology, but it may also mean that Ai-based precision medicine will not necessarily offer personal services as before.
  • If patients are replaced by digital data in biomedical research, it will make it easier to handle huge medical databases.
    • However, small errors may be amplified and create complex liability cases.
• Communication, which is also a basic element of the classical patient–doctor relationship, will also be altered when a chatbot acts as an interface and laboratory tests are interpreted by artificial intelligence instead of humans.
  • This would presuppose much more autonomy and knowledge on the patient side, as well.
• Emerging technologies are often regarded as transformative technologies.
  • Nevertheless, the way advanced technologies transform our life is not predetermined by the invention itself, but by careful and sensitive implementation, which is a multidisciplinary work and requires the engagement of society.

Lecture: Recruitment by Algorithm: Bioethical Challenges of Generative AI in Clinical Trials

• The use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) in clinical trial recruitment is rapidly changing how participants are identified, engaged, and enrolled.
• While the technology promises efficiency and broader reach, it also raises urgent ethical concerns.
  • First, algorithmic bias in recruitment systems may reproduce or deepen health disparities, threatening efforts to build representative and inclusive clinical studies.
  • Second, reliance on AI-generated patient materials complicates informed consent and transparency, since tailored outputs can obscure critical risks, oversimplify complex medical information, or frame participation in ways that undermine trust.
  • Third, the integration of AI into recruitment workflows necessitates enhanced frameworks for accountability and responsible governance.
• Unlike traditional recruitment processes, generative AI involves layers of opacity, raising difficult questions about responsibility for errors, bias, and participant harm.
  • Without strong regulatory oversight, the rapid adoption of AI-driven tools risks undermining participant protections and public trust in clinical research.

Lecture: Ethical Issues in Reprogenetic Technologies

• Scientific and technological advances in the areas of reproduction and genetics give us new means to shape the lives of our offspring.
• We now have an unprecedented ability to control not just whether and when we have children but also to create different family arrangements and decide what children we want to have.
• These advances thus present us with a variety of important ethical concerns surrounding the creation and alteration of human life.
• In this session, we will offer an overview of reprogenetic technologies and examine some of the ethical questions these technologies raise.

Lecture: AI & Bias: Politics, Power, and the Ethics of Research Governance

• Artificial intelligence is often framed as a technical system plagued by “bias,” but the roots of bias run much deeper.
• They emerge not only from skewed datasets or flawed algorithms, but also from political choices about what knowledge counts, who is represented, and whose interests are served.
• This session explores the intersections of AI bias, politics, and research governance.
  • Drawing on cases from healthcare and beyond, it examines how institutional structures—ethics boards, funding bodies, and regulatory regimes—shape the way bias is recognized, ignored, or reproduced in AI systems.
• The session will argue that bias is less a computational glitch and more a reflection of entrenched power relations, making it a bioethical issue of urgent importance.
• Participants will be invited to rethink research governance for the AI era, considering transparency, contextual fairness, and participatory ethics as pillars for more trustworthy and equitable innovation.

Lecture: When We Cannot Cure: Thoughts on Ultimate Challenge to the Bond of Patient with Doctor

• The physicians of the Hippocratic era called medicine “The Art.”
• In the 21st Century, despite the exponential availability of new technologies, there exists a paradox that such technologies succeed only for some.
• Physicians have been granted by oath and by ethic the privilege to examine and treat, to counsel and advise our fellow human beings while using these technologies, but they must recognize and heal those ‘unspeakable’ losses evident when medicine and technology can longer treat and the physician can longer cure.
• This presentation and discussion will explore the challenges that folks in the health professions encounter daily and suggestions on how a patient-centric, humanistic approach to the care of all patients can promote healing when we cannot cure.

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What have others said about previous winter programs?

If you’re curious about what previous participants said about last year’s winter program, you can check it here: Testimonials.

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Where can interested prospective applicants learn more information?

Prospective applicants are encouraged to check the BEI website for frequent updates or to reach out to Dr. Ana Lita directly.

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I hope you sign up for this wonderful program and share your knowledge with others!