Themes & Conference Pillars

Theme: African Bioethics in Practice: Governance and Responsibility

This theme positions applied bioethics as governance of real-world decisions across health systems, research, innovation, policy, and community contexts.

Governance encompasses:

How decisions are made and justified
Who has authority and accountability
What processes guide ethical deliberation
How power and responsibility are distributed

Responsibility addresses:

Individual and collective ethical duties
Institutional and structural obligations
Care for people, communities, and environments
Accountability for decisions and their consequences

Five Intersecting Pillars

The conference is organized around five pillars that provide coherence while enabling interdisciplinary exchange:

Research Ethics & Governance

Research Ethics Committees, consent processes, regulatory frameworks, policy implementation, community engagement in research, data sharing and ownership

Example topics:

REC decision-making in complex cases
Community consent and engagement models
Data governance in collaborative research
Regulatory harmonization across countries
Ethics review capacity and quality

Health Systems & Clinical Ethics

Resource allocation, quality of care, health equity, end-of-life decision-making, informed consent in clinical settings, traditional medicine and biomedical interface, mental health ethics, pandemic response, community health worker ethics

Example topics:

Triage and resource allocation during scarcity
Traditional healing and biomedical integration
Patient autonomy in communitarian contexts
Quality of care and ethical responsibilities
Mental health treatment and dignity

Emerging Technologies & Science

Genomics, artificial intelligence in healthcare, reproductive technologies, data governance, digital health platforms, telemedicine ethics, biotechnology applications

Example topics:

AI governance in African health contexts
Genomic data sovereignty and benefit-sharing
Reproductive technology access and equity
Digital health ethics and data protection
Biotechnology regulation and oversight

Climate, Environment & Health Ethics

Environmental justice, planetary health, indigenous and local ecological knowledge, health impacts of climate change, one health approaches, extractive industries and community health, water and sanitation ethics

Example topics:

Climate adaptation and health justice
Extractive industries and community consent
Traditional ecological knowledge protection
One Health ethics in practice
Environmental health rights

Knowledge Production & Epistemic Justice

Publishing, peer review, authorship, research partnerships, open science, knowledge translation, community-based knowledge systems, decolonizing methodologies

Example topics:

Fair authorship and research partnerships
Open science and access in African contexts
Decolonizing research methodologies
Community knowledge validation
Publishing barriers and solutions

Submissions may address multiple pillars. What matters is demonstrating how ethical reasoning shapes real decisions, governance, or responsibilities within your practice context.

Africa Bioethics Network Annual Conference 2026

Foundational Edition

Nairobi, Kenya

01-03 November 2026

Theme: African Bioethics in Practice: Governance and Responsibility

Five Intersecting Pillars

Submissions may address multiple pillars. What matters is demonstrating how ethical reasoning shapes real decisions, governance, or responsibilities within your practice context.