RSS del Observatori de Bioètica i Dret UB

• Publication date: May 2026
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On October 7, 2026, the Bioethics and Law Observatory - UNESCO Chair in Bioethics and the Master in Bioethics and Law of the University of Barcelona organize the conference “Why justice is not enough: Solidarity and technology in a fragmented world” by Dr. Barbara Prainsack.

This event will serve as the opening session for the 2026-2027 academic year of the Master in Bioethics and Law; this is its 29th edition; since 1995, it has been training its students in the analysis of the ethical, legal and social implications of biotechnology and biomedicine.

Attendance is free (pre-registration is required). Registration forms will be available soon.

The conference will be held in English and in a hybrid format, both in person and virtually.

Summary:

While many societies engage in debates about justice and fair institutions, they have often failed to create the conditions for social and planetary flourishing. A key reason, I will contend, is the neglect of solidarity: the horizontal ties that bind people together beyond kinship, love, or friendship.

Without this ‘social glue’, societies struggle with declining trust, eroded democratic legitimacy, and increasing social and political fragmentation.

I will explore the concept of solidarity and its entanglement with justice, trust, and care, and then explore what a solidarity-based perspective brings to a specific development, namely the rise of artificial intelligence. A solidarity-based perspective reshapes the questions we ask and opens up new possibilities for action.

Speaker:

Dr. Barbara Prainsack is a professor for Comparative Policy Analysis at the University of Vienna, chair of the European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies (EGE), and director of the Centre for the Study of Contemporary Solidarity (CeSCoS).

Her work explores how social, regulatory, and ethical factors shape science, technology and medicine. In recent years, she has focused on issues related to data governance and data solidarity, the role of solidarity in healthcare and medicine, and the ways in which digital practices affect democracy and justice.

In all these projects, Dr. Prainsack is interested in how institutions and policies can address people's needs better, foster resilience, and strengthen the democratic values.

• Date and time: Wednesday, October 7, 2026, at 5:00 p.m. (Peninsular Spanish time, CEST, UTC +2)

• Hybrid format:

  • In-person: Aula Magna, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Clínic Campus, University of Barcelona (Casanova 143, 08036 Barcelona)
  • Online: Live stream on YouTube

• Open to everyone. Registration forms will be available soon

• The conference will be held in English

On February 3, 2026, UNESCO, after the corresponding evaluation process, renewed the UNESCO Chair in Bioethics at the University of Barcelona (UB), appointing Dr. Itziar de Lecuona, Doctor of Law, professor at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, and director of the Bioethics and Law Observatory (OBD) at the UB, as the new Chairholder.

The Chair in Bioethics at the UB was awarded by UNESCO in 2007 to Dr. María Casado, who has held the position until today, in recognition of her pioneering work in the field of bioethics.

There are only 11 UNESCO Chairs in Bioethics in the world, which makes the OBD and the UB international benchmarks. The creation of the Chair received invaluable support from Federico Mayor Zaragoza and the UNESCO's Spanish Commission, as well as the full institutional backing from the University of Barcelona.

Since its inception, the Chair's activities have been aligned with the objectives of the UNESCO networks in Catalonia, the UNESCO's Spanish Commission, and the various strategic areas of UNESCO. Among its activities, the Chair promotes a program of visiting professors and researchers, which has enabled the creation and international projection of teaching and research networks in bioethics, especially with Latin American countries.

It has also been possible to create a large knowledge community with the support of the Master in Bioethics and Law at the University of Barcelona, which, since 1994, has been offering training in bioethics within the framework of the internationally recognized human rights, with a secular and global approach.

The Chair organizes an annual international seminar —in a hybrid format and open to everyone— dedicated to the analysis and dissemination of the UNESCO Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights.

Likewise, the Journal of Bioethics and Law of the University of Barcelona (seal of quality FECYT) will publish a special issue dedicated to the Declaration on the occasion of its twentieth anniversary. The Chair has also promoted the UNESCO Bioethics Collection, available in open access and published by renowned publishers such as Civitas, Aranzadi, Edicions de la Universitat de Barcelona, and La Ley. Both the Journal and the Collection have been awarded the Seal of Quality by the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT) and the National Agency for Quality Assessment and Accreditation (ANECA).

The OBD and the Chair also offer, in open access, diverse Opinion Documents that aim to contribute to the informed social debate on bioethics, in constant interaction with scientific societies and the media, as well as to influence the development or modification of policies and regulations.

The new director of the UNESCO Chair in Bioethics at the UB, Dr. Itziar de Lecuona, has extensive scientific experience, which includes analyzing the practical significance of UNESCO's contributions through the study of its regulatory instruments, and other actions in bioethics for decision-making by researchers, ethics committees, biomedical and health research and innovation institutions, and public health policymakers. She has also collaborated with UNESCO in analyzing the gender perspective and developing specific training programs for judges and the media on bioethics. As the current director of the Master in Bioethics and Law at the UB, she participates in bioethics training from a secular and global perspective.

In recent years —and particularly intensively during the COVID-19 pandemic—, she has consolidated a line of research, which began with her doctoral thesis, on the role of ethics committees and the use of personal data in health research and innovation, and their impact on fundamental rights and freedoms. Another focus of her research has been the critical analysis of the growing commodification of the human body, its parts, and the associated personal data, emphasizing the need to reverse these dynamics and providing recommendations in this regard.

The convergence of technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, and other related technologies has also been the focus of her studies, which aim to identify unresolved issues and provide guidelines for analyzing the dilemmas and problems that arise in the biomedical and biotechnological fields. She is currently the principal investigator (PI) of the project “Unsolved bioethical issues in the review of healthcare research and innovation based on artificial intelligence, genetic technologies and personal data (BIOEVAINNOLAW)”, funded by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities.

Dr. Itziar de Lecuona will continue the legacy of Dr. María Casado to keep promoting internationally the research, teaching, and knowledge transfer in bioethics, from a multidisciplinary and secular perspective.

The UNESCO Chair in Bioethics at the UB will continue to work to contribute to achieving UNESCO's objectives through the UNITWIN Programme, to strengthen bioethics committed to human rights, which can guide the governance of science and technology, as well as promote critical training and consolidate spaces for public deliberation that allow the strengthening of people's autonomy and free and informed decision-making.

Theme:

This year marks the twentieth anniversary of UNESCO's Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights, adopted by acclamation on 19th October 2005. The Declaration consolidated for the first time a global framework of shared principles to guide public policy, legislation and professional practice at the intersections between medicine, life sciences and related technologies, recognizing their entangled link with internationally recognized human rights. 

Since the creation of the UNESCO Chair in Bioethics at the University of Barcelona in 2007, aimed to project the work of the Bioethics and Law Observatory as an interdisciplinary center established in 1995, we have held the annual “International Seminar of the UNESCO Chair in Bioethics at the University of Barcelona”, which for 19 consecutive years has analyzed the articles of the Declaration and their impact on the regulation and practices of biomedicine and biotechnology.

Our center has also published reference works that analyze the link between bioethics and human rights from different perspectives, written by renowned academics and professionals. We highlight three books that are freely available: “Sobre la dignidad y los principios. Análisis de la Declaración Universal sobre Bioética y Derechos Humanos de la UNESCO” (2009), “De la solidaridad al mercado: el cuerpo humano y el comercio biotecnológico” (2017) and “El Convenio de Oviedo cumple veinte años: propuestas para su modificación” (2021), coordinated by the editors responsible for this call for papers. 

Thus, two decades after the Declaration was proclaimed, it is essential to revisit its impact, validity and limitations. Because its universality and normative guidance make this Declaration a benchmark in healthcare, research and innovation processes.

Dignity and human rights (Art. 3); benefits and harms (Art. 4); autonomy, individual responsibility and consent (Arts. 5, 6 and 7); vulnerability and integrity (Art. 8); privacy and confidentiality (Art. 9); justice, equity and equality (Art. 10); non-discrimination (Art. 11); respect for cultural diversity, pluralism, solidarity and cooperation (Arts. 12 and 13); social responsibility and health (Art. 14); sharing of benefits (Art. 15); protection of future generations (Art. 16); protection of the environment, the biosphere and biodiversity (Art. 17); decision-making and handling of bioethical issues (Art. 18); ethics committees (Art. 19); risk assessment and management (Art. 20); transnational practices (Art. 21); the role of states in promoting the declaration (Art. 22); education, training and information in bioethics (Art. 23); international cooperation (Art. 24); UNESCO follow-up activities (Art. 25); interrelation, complementarity and limitations of the application of the principles (Arts. 26 and 27); reservations in their interpretation, especially acts that violate human rights, fundamental freedoms and human dignity (Art. 28).

These are particularly complex elements of analysis at present, in light of rapid technological transformations such as digitalization, artificial intelligence, biobanks, genetic editing, personalized medicine, climate change and its eco-social crises, health inequalities, transnational research, and new models of governance. 

The Revista de Bioética y Derecho asks for contributions that examine developments, tensions and opportunities in the implementation of the Declaration, its articulation with other frameworks and its capacity to guide emerging challenges, and serve as a reference point for addressing and resolving problems and dilemmas raised by practice.

Original works offering theoretical analyses, empirical and/or comparative studies, normative and institutional impact assessments, case studies, methodological proposals, and experiences in bioethics education and training informed by the Declaration will be accepted.

We particularly welcome interdisciplinary and critical approaches that explore:

• the application of principles in health research and innovation in the face of the impact of technologies such as AI and other emerging technologies such as neurotechnologies and genetic technologies;
• the development of the principle of social responsibility and health;
• equity and non-discrimination in data and AI policies;
• the protection of the environment and future generations in terms of planetary health;
• the challenges of consent and confidentiality in transnational practices;
• the trend towards the commodification of the human body, its parts and personal data, or the influence of commercial criteria in areas such as biomedicine, biotechnology and health;
• the contributions of the Declaration to ensure non-profit status and the protection of individuals over the interests of science and society.

We invite you to establish a dialogue between the key instruments in bioethics, such as the Declaration and the Oviedo Convention. With this issue, we aim to assess the legacy of the Declaration and to outline a bioethics and human rights agenda for the coming years.

Guidelines for submitting articles:

The journal will accept only original papers written in Spanish, Catalan, French, English, Portuguese or Italian, with a maximum length of 6,000 words (excluding abstract, keywords, notes, references, bibliography, funding).

The file must be sent in MS Word format, font Cambria or Arial 12, 1.5 spaced, thoroughly following the guidelines for authors. Original articles must be sent through this link to the “Monographic Dossier” section. The articles will be peer-reviewed and those that pass the selection process will be accepted for publication.

The use of large language model software tools, such as Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, DeepSeek, and others, does not make such models co-authors of the papers for which they were used. However, the use of such software tools must be documented and explicitly stated in a methodology/methods section of the manuscript and may not extend to the final draft of the article or a large portion of it. The editorial board reserves the right to use tools to detect the use of such software and to take appropriate action upon detection of their use in the absence of an explicit statement.

The Revista de Bioética y Derecho is a quarterly publication by the Bioethics and Law Observatory - UNESCO Chair of Bioethics at the University of Barcelona, aimed to professionals and academics interested in bioethics applied to health and new technologies, respecting the internationally recognized Human Rights with a plural, secular and interdisciplinary methodological focus.

Our journal has been awarded the Quality Seal for Scientific Journals by the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT). It is indexed in SciELO, SCOPUS, Erih Plus, IBECS, Carhus+, Latindex Catálogo, DOAJ, among other high quality repositories internationally recognized.

• Deadline for article submission: April 20, 2026 (13 h, CET)

• More information about the call for papers

• Access to all issues of the Revista de Bioética y Derecho

On February 6, 2025, the Bioethics and Law Observatory - UNESCO Chair in Bioethics and the Master in Bioethics and Law of the University of Barcelona will held the 19th International Seminar of the UNESCO Chair in Bioethics: “30 years of the Bioethics and Law Observatory”.

Topic:

This edition will commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Bioethics and Law Observatory through a roundtable named “30 years of history: Bioethics and Law Observatory's contributions to contemporary bioethics (1995-2025)”, where researchers and prominent members will review the research center's impact on diverse bioethical issues throughout these three decades: assisted reproduction and surrogacy, genetics, relationships in healthcare and neuroethics, end of life and euthanasia, and intensive care medicine.

Juana María Gil Ruiz, professor of Philosophy of Law at the University of Granada, will give a lecture on “Bioethics, Law and Gender”.

A second round table will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Journal of Bioethics and Law through a debate on “The ethics of scientific publications in the era of artificial intelligence”.

The full program is available here.

This seminar is held within the framework of the R&D&I project “Cuestiones bioéticas no resueltas en la evaluación de la investigación e innovación en salud basada en inteligencia artificial, tecnologías genéticas y datos personales (BIOEVAINNOLAW)” (PID2022-138615OB-I00), funded by MICIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and FEDER/UE. Principal researcher: Itziar de Lecuona.

• Date and time: Thursday, February 6, 2025, at 4 p.m. (Spanish mainland time, CET, UTC +1).

• Hybrid format:

  • In-person: Aula Magna, Faculty of Law, University of Barcelona, Main Building (Avenida Diagonal, 684, 08034 Barcelona).

  • Online: live stream on YouTube.

• See full program

Theme:

Scientific validity, social relevance and protection of research participants are reviewed by research ethics committees at universities and other public research organizations. However, this area is not governed by clearly defined and well-organized regulations, unlike clinical trials with medicines and medical devices, which must be evaluated by specifically accredited ethics committees. Since the 1990s, ethics committees have been created within universities and public research centers. Their mission is to review and monitor research projects, but they do so primarily in a reactive manner, in order to comply with funding call requirements. Such review and monitoring is not an easy task. It requires dedication but also expertise, especially when dealing with the multiple challenges presented by the development of artificial intelligence (AI), the use of big data, neurotechnologies and genetic technologies.

In this special issue, authors are invited to discuss classical topics such as the membership, operation and independence of research ethics committees, but also good practices, in academic and public research institutions. These areas remain unexplored and warrant further interdisciplinary analyses, particularly in light of emerging research trends; in addition, some project types lack clear regulatory guidelines from the bodies that regulate and control research with human subjects and non-human animals.

The special dossier will be published within the framework of research project BIOEVAINNOLAW (Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities), aiming to respond to “unresolved bioethical challenges in the review of health research and innovation projects based on AI, genetic technologies and personal data”. We will welcome articles proposing novel and timely analyses to help identify and provide solutions to the challenges of our time. We encourage authors to analyze the social, political and economic context in which research is conducted, as research efforts respond to data-driven political moves and are key to international competitiveness. For these reasons, research is not tension-free, but is affected by conflicts of interest, commodification of personal data and platform capitalism, which impact people’s privacy and freedom, among other valuable assets for society. We now live in a time of unprecedented ethical and legal hyper-regulation, yet longstanding problems in ethical review persist, compounded by the new challenges linked to scientific and technological advances.

Research ethics committees were established originally to review biomedical research projects, but ethical issues also arise in fields such as the social sciences, humanities, and engineering. So far, ethics committee review has not been mandated in these fields, even though they, too, entail risks to participants that need to be identified and evaluated. For example, the intensive use of personal data, the collection of biological samples, and the profiling of individuals to develop behavioral patterns have become standard research practices at universities and other public research organizations.

The topics covered by this special issue will include, but not be limited to, the following:

• Challenges of research ethics committees in academia and other public research organizations: membership, roles and procedures; particular emphasis on continued monitoring of research projects.
• Training in bioethics and research ethics for ethics committee members: experience sharing.
• Review of research projects involving personal data and/or biological samples: profiling of research subjects.
• Ethical review of research projects involving qualitative instruments: semi-structured interviews, in-depth interviews, participant and non-participant observation.
• Use and development of AI, big data and other emerging technologies, including neurotechnology and genetic technology; research with organoids. Guidelines for review.
• Review of innovation projects. Who takes responsibility?
• Regulation and accreditation of ethics committees at universities and other public research institutions.
• Regulation of research ethics and its implementation in the review of research projects in academia.
• Gender perspective: underrepresentation of women in research, biases, etc.
• Data management in research; review by research ethics committees.
• Ethics of research and scientific integrity versus scientific fraud and other questionable practices. Roles of research ethics committees and scientific integrity committees.
• ChatGPT in research and the response by research ethics committees. Impact and management of generative AI applications.
• Conflicts of interest; identification by research ethics committees. Commodification trends in research (data, samples, etc.).
• New forms of exploitation in research: digital workers.
• Participation through networks to share insights, problems and good practices: utility and future prospects.
• Research ethics committees and animal welfare committees.

Submission guidelines:

We will welcome original manuscripts in Spanish, Catalan, French, English, Portuguese or Italian. The main text should be no longer than 6,000 words (not including abstracts, keywords, notes, references and funding statements). Submit files in MS Word format only, using Cambria or Arial font, letter size 12, spacing 1.5. Please adhere to the journal’s guidelines for authors and follow this link to submit your manuscript. Only papers accepted for publication following our peer-review process will be included in the special dossier.

The use of large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT or Gemini, among others, does not justify authorship. Authorship involves not only the creation of but also the responsibility over the contents of the manuscript. In any case, in order to safeguard scientific integrity, the use of LLMs must be disclosed explicitly in the methods section of the article. The journal’s editorial board reserves the right to implement tools to identify the use of LLMs and will proceed accordingly if there is a positive finding in the absence of explicit disclosure.

• Deadline for submission: 20 December 2024 (13:00 h CET)

• Access the Journal of Bioethics and Law's website

On June 11, 2024, at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences of the University of Barcelona, the seminar “Research with Organoids” took place as part of the project “Unsolved boethical issues in the review of healthcare research and innovation based on artificial intelligence, genetic technologies and personal data (BIOEVAINNOLAW)” (PID2022-138615OB-I00), funded by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities of the Government of Spain, with Dr. Itziar de Lecuona as the principal investigator.

The invited researchers Daniel Tornero (professor in the Department of Biomedicine and researcher at the Institute of Neurosciences at the University of Barcelona) and Sandra Acosta (professor of Human Embryology at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences and director of the Functional Neurogenomics Laboratory at the University of Barcelona/IDIBELL) presented their advances in neuroorganoids. Furthermore, Pau Sancho-Bru (researcher at the August Pi i Sunyer Biomedical Research Institute - IDIBAPS) spoke about liver organoid research.

The convergence of technologies such as artificial intelligence was discussed, a situation that we are also interested in analyzing to determine the methodological, ethical, legal, and social aspects that can be affected, with the aim of contributing to research and future applications for personalized medicine. Likewise, the limitations that could arise from the bioethical concerns associated with the use of these biological structures were also discussed.

During the last part of the seminar, a dialogue was initiated between the speakers and various researchers and academics collaborating with the Bioethics and Law Observatory of the University of Barcelona, which allowed for a sharing of views and an interesting debate on the unresolved issues pertaining to research with organoids in the biomedical and health fields. These issues include the imperfect regulation of the use of embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells, the use of human-origin tissues, the impossibility of anonymizing certain samples for various reasons, either due to the objective pursued or the peculiarities of rare diseases and the dilemmas they pose to researchers regarding the creation of organoids.

There was also a noteworthy debate about neuroorganoids and their potential emerging properties in the context of creating neural networks. Regarding animal research, the possibility of reducing its use in light of new developments was discussed. Organoid biobanks and their ethical and legal framework also occupied part of the seminar.

In conclusion, the seminar on organoid research and its multidisciplinary approach has made it possible to identify the specificities that must be considered for the proper evaluation of research projects that develop and use human-derived organoids, and in which other technologies such as artificial intelligence and genetic technologies also converge.

The Opinion Group of the Bioethics and Law Observatory at the University of Barcelona has published the document “Bioethics and polygenic risk scoring of human embryos”.

Since 2000, the Group has published several reports discussing the ethical, legal and social implications of assisted human reproduction. These reports have had a remarkable regulatory impact, as seen in the Spanish Assisted Reproduction Act (14/2006) and Biomedical Research Act (14/2007), which include several of the Group’s recommendations.

The objective of all these documents, available in open access, is to promote the dialogue between academia and society with the goal of empowering individuals to make free and informed decisions.

For this reason, the Group has developed this new report, with the purpose of revisiting this topic in light of current advances in genetic diagnosis of complex polygenic diseases.

Modern genome sequencing techniques allow scientists to obtain more information than ever on the genetic makeup of cells and organisms, including people, something that can be (and already is) exploited in a context of commodification of the human body and its parts.

All of that raises many bioethical questions, which are discussed in the document.

Abstract:

Currently, some assisted reproduction and genetic clinics offer parents the possibility to select their embryos according to a polygenic risk score.

The selection is based on the probability that their offspring may develop certain diseases or undesirable characteristics in adulthood (examples include type 2 diabetes or cardiovascular problems, but also short stature or level of intelligence).

The calculation of a polygenic risk score is not comparable to the genetic diagnosis of Mendelian (i.e. monogenic) disorders, which does have a high level of certainty when the causative gene or genes are known.

Conversely, the etiology of these diseases is polygenic and multifactorial, involving genetic variants in multiple genes. Not all the genes influencing these characteristics, or their respective proportions, are known. In addition, the contribution of the environment —often pivotal— is frequently underappreciated.

Currently, numerous in vitro fertilization (IVF) clinics in the United States provide polygenic risk score tests to predict cognitive abilities, often in addition to pre-implantation genetic testing of Mendelian disorders, within the same package. Diagnostic tests with clinical value are thus conflated, deceptively, with tests for the genetic selection of embryos possessing certain “guaranteed” characteristics which are unrelated to any actual disease.

This situation highlights relevant scientific gaps and raises bioethical questions, as it manifestly falls within the domain of “genetic improvement”.

The document analyzes the state of the art and includes a series of conclusions and recommendations to address the problem.

Authors and collaborators:

The report gathers the contributions and knowledge of various members and collaborators of the Bioethics and Law Observatory, and of lecturers of the Master in Bioethics and Law at the University of Barcelona.

It has been written and coordinated by Dr. Gemma Marfany, Full Professor of Genetics at the Faculty of Biology at the University of Barcelona; and Dr. Itziar de Lecuona, Associate Professor at the Department of Medicine and director of the Bioethics and Law Observatory at the University of Barcelona.

Significant contributions were made by: Dr. Manuel Jesús López Baroni, Associate Professor of Philosophy of Law at the Pablo de Olavide University; Dr. Josep Santaló, Full Professor of Cellular Biology at the Autonomous University of Barcelona and specialist in reproduction; Dr. María Casado, Full Professor of Philosophy of Law, Moral and Political Philosophy and UNESCO Chair in Bioethics at the University of Barcelona; and Dr. Anna Veiga, biologist, expert in human reproduction and director of the Stem Cell Bank of Barcelona at the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL).

• Read and download the document

You can read the previous reports published by the Bioethics and Law Observatory about the ethical, legal and social implications of assisted human reproduction in the following links:

• Document on bioethics and gene editing in humans (2016)
• Document on genetic tests of filiation (2006)
• Declaration on gender selection (2003)
• Document on oocyte criopreservation for human reproduction (2002)
• Declaration on embryonic stem cells (2001)
• Document on oocyte donation (2001)
• Declaration on embryo research (2000)

This publication is part of the results of the R&D&I project “Cuestiones bioéticas no resueltas en la evaluación de la investigación e innovación en salud basada en inteligencia artificial, tecnologías genéticas y datos personales (BIOEVAINNOLAW)” (PID2022-138615OB-I00), funded by MICIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and FEDER/UE. Principal researcher: Itziar de Lecuona.

• Authors: Gemma Marfany and Itziar de Lecuona
• Publication date: March 2024
• Document [PDF]
• More information