NSF Award Abstract - #9906244

AWSFL008-DS3

FLAD-NSF International Bioethics Institute

Abstract

Over the course of the last decades, hundreds of US life science faculty members have participated in fourteen bioethics institutes on university campuses throughout the country, and results from these workshops are being incorporated into life sciences curricula. This award provides support for 14 US participants to attend two international bioethics institutes to be held in Europe in 2000 and 2001. A private Portuguese foundation is hosting the first international institute, in Lisbon, and supporting the participation of European scientists. The US scientists will join European colleagues to examine ethical issues in the life sciences, emphasizing those associated with the marine sciences. Ocean issues are inherently global in nature and demand international cooperation and discussion. The institutes are week-long summer faculty development conferences that include pedagogical sessions on how to teach ethics to science students and lecture/discussion sessions on moral theory, ethics and science, ethics and religion, and public policy. The US participants will team with European scientists to work on a longer-term project: the production of international scholarly resources in marine science ethics, resources such as case studies, role-playing exercises, and bibliographies. Lisbon University, Iowa State University (ISU), and other campuses in the US and Europe will disseminate project information through their on-line discussion groups and newsletters. Project results provide pedagogical resources for classes; presentations and scenarios are published in the ISU newsletter, "The Ag Bioethics Forum." These materials may also form the basis for publications in several European languages. Recruitment for project participants will occur throughout the US and Europe; presentations about the project will occur at professional meetings in the US and Europe; selected papers may be submitted as research articles to refereed journals. Project evaluation includes a questionnaire for participants about the quality of the workshop sessions, a follow-up survey by an independent evaluator, and student evaluations of the ethics components the faculty participants use afterwards in their classes. These institutes can form the core for an ongoing, cumulative series of international workshops, that focus on other moral issues of global significance in future years.