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Second Duquesne–Ƶ Conference on Global Bioethics

November 12–14, 2026  
Baron-Forness Library, Ƶ Edinboro Campus
Edinboro, Pennsylvania 
Venue Maps

The James F. Drane Bioethics Institute at Ƶ University, in collaboration with , will host the Second Duquesne–Ƶ Conference on Global Bioethics fdz November 12–14, 2026, in Edinboro, Pennsylvania. 

In today’s deeply interconnected world, many of the most pressing challenges—ranging from global pandemics and climate change to health inequities and misinformation—transcend disciplinary, national, and cultural boundaries. Addressing these complex issues requires ethical frameworks and global collaboration. As an interdisciplinary field rooted in medicine, philosophy, public health, law, and the social sciences, bioethics is uniquely positioned to help clarify these challenges and guide just, evidence-based, and humane responses. 

The Duquesne–Ƶ Conference on Global Bioethics provides an international forum for scholars, clinicians, policymakers, activists, institutional leaders, and students to exchange ideas, present research, build networks, and engage in meaningful dialogue about the ethical dimensions of global health and medicine. 

We welcome submissions and participation on a wide range of topics, including but not limited to: 

  • Ethical theories and principles in global bioethics 
  • Globalization and its impact on health 
  • Global Governance for Health and the role of international organizations 
  • Climate change and global health 
  • Pandemics, disease prevention, and international public health responses 
  • International research ethics and cross-border collaborations 
  • Health disparities, justice, and access to care 

Building on the success of the inaugural conference, the 2026 meeting will focus especially on the growing problem of health misinformation and the critical role of bioethics in confronting it. 

We invite participants from around the world to join us for three days of rich interdisciplinary exchange, critical reflection, and collaborative problem-solving.

Message from the President and Honorary Chair

President Jon AndersonOn behalf of Ƶ, I am honored to welcome scholars, students, and professionals to the Second Duquesne–Ƶ Conference on Global Bioethics, to be held November 12–14, 2026, at our Ƶ Edinboro campus.

Ƶ University is proud to host one of the oldest organizations dedicated to bioethics in the United States. The Bioethics Institute, founded in 1969 by Dr. James F. Drane, one of the pioneers and leaders of the field, is nearly as old as the discipline itself. For decades, the Institute has brought together scholars from Ƶ (then Edinboro University), across the United States and around the world to explore the ethical dimensions of medicine, science, and public policy.

Bioethics addresses some of the most urgent questions of our time. With rapid advances in biomedical science and emerging technologies, the ethical dimensions of healthcare and research are increasingly significant.

The James F. Drane Bioethics Institute of Ƶ University, in collaboration with Duquesne University’s Center for Global Health Ethics, launched this conference series to address global bioethical challenges. The inaugural conference in November 2024 at Duquesne University was a great success, featuring leading international scholars and outstanding student participation. We were especially proud of Ƶ students whose work earned the Dr. Russell B. Roth Prize.

We are pleased to host this year’s conference at the Baron-Forness Library on our Edinboro campus. The 2026 theme, bioethical aspects of health pseudoscience, comes at an important moment, given contemporary challenges in knowledge, technology, and the growing influence of generative AI.

I invite scholars to contribute their work and encourage Ƶ University faculty and students in particular to participate, share their research, and engage with colleagues from around the world.

I look forward to welcoming you to Ƶ during the beautiful Pennsylvania fall season.

Jon Anderson, Ph.D.
President, Ƶ
Honorary Chair, Second Duquesne–Ƶ Conference on Global Bioethics

Keynote Speakers

Gerard MagillProfessor Gerard Magill, PhD, holds the Vernon F. Gallagher Chair for the Integration of Science, Theology, Philosophy, and Law at Duquesne University (appointed in 2007), where he is a tenured Professor in the Center for Healthcare Ethics. In 1987, he graduated with his Ph.D. degree from Edinburgh University in Scotland. From 1987, he developed his scholarly career at Saint Louis University, where in 1996 he was appointed Department Chair of the Center for Healthcare Ethics. As Executive Director of that Center from 1999, he held multiple appointments including being a member of the Council of Deans for the University’s health sciences campus, a Division Director in the Department of Internal Medicine at the University Hospital, a member of the University’s Institutional Review Board, a member of the Hospital Ethics Committee, a Professor in the School of Medicine (secondary appointment), and a Professor in the School of Public Health (secondary appointment). He has authored, co-authored, or edited 17 books, including a recently co-authored book on Governance Ethics in Healthcare Organizations (Routledge 2020). He has published over 85 scholarly and professional articles and given over 250 scholarly presentations at conferences. He is a member of 17 Professional Associations. He has extensive experience on Institutional Review Boards, Hospital Ethics Committees, and Ethics Consultation Services. 

Jennifer Camille DempsyProfessor. J. Camille Dempsey is the Director of the Ƶ Center for Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technologies and a Professor of Educational Technology at Ƶ University. She holds a doctorate in instructional technology and leadership from Duquesne University, a master’s degree from Teachers College, Columbia University, and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Dempsey has received numerous honors, including being named a Faculty Research Fellow in Artificial Intelligence by the International Society for Technology in Education and an EDSAFE AI Alliance Catalyst Fellow. She also serves as a Google/Technovation Women Techmakers Ambassador, an ISTE Community Leader, and a Pennsylvania Keystone Technology Integrator. Additional honors and work include being recognized as one of ISTE’s “20 to Watch” awardees in educational technology, and she received the Educational Technology Impact Award from the Pennsylvania Association for Educational Communications and Technology for her article, The Spirit of the Times: Virtuality Culture and Technology-Mediated Human Presence. Camille was also the recipient of the Ero W. Davidson State Award for Outstanding Accomplishments in Technology and Communications from PAECT. Most recently, Dr. Dempsey was invited to serve on the Pennsylvania Joint State Government Commission AI Advisory Committee and contributed to the state report on AI ethics, safety, workforce development, and education. Most recently, she completed a professional development series in Morocco, delivering seven workshops to support university faculty in integrating ethical and responsible AI practices into teaching and learning.  

Cornelius EwusoDr. Ewuoso holds a PhD in Applied Ethics and is a Senior Lecturer at the Steve Biko Center for Bioethics at the University of the Witwatersrand (WITS), Johannesburg, South Africa. He is the recipient of a Wellcome Trust Research Fellowship in Humanities and Social Science (WT RFHSS) for a project focusing on decolonizing global health and infectious disease research in Africa by conceptualizing and contrasting transformational and transactional inclusion.  

Federico GermaniProf. Dr. Federico Germani is the co-director of the ITE Lab at the Institute of Biomedical Ethics and History of Medicine, University of Zurich, Switzerland, and Associate Professor at the Institute for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, Boğaziçi University, Türkiye. He previously served as rapporteur for the World Health Organization expert group on the ethics of infodemic management and social listening. He builds evidence and tools to manage misinformation, focusing on how AI-driven information ecosystems shape beliefs and how ethical, evidence-based interventions can strengthen trust and public discourse.

Giovanni SpitaleDr. Giovanni Spitale is a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute of Biomedical Ethics and History of Medicine (IBME), University of Zurich, and since 2025, co-director of ITE Lab. He has served as a rapporteur for the World Health Organization panel on ethical considerations in social listening and infodemic management. His research sits at the intersection of empirical ethics, public health ethics, and the ethics of emerging technologies, with a particular focus on disinformation, infodemic management, and AI. In terms of methods, he likes to dip into multiple bowls, combining natural language processing, computational linguistics, qualitative research, statistics, and philosophical analysis into mixed-methods approaches. AI can fit both in the themes and in the methods box. His recent empirical work on AI-generated disinformation and large language model bias has been published in Science Advances. 

He has published in journals including Nature, Science Advances, NEJM Catalyst, The American Journal of Bioethics, and JMIR. His work has been featured in The Times, The Verge, Wired, MIT Technology Review, El País, Süddeutsche Zeitung, and SwissInfo. He has been a TEDx speaker. 

Call for Abstracts

ճ𳾱: The Problem of Health Misinformation and the Role of Bioethics 
Dates: November 12–14, 2026 
Location: Baron-Forness Library, Ƶ Edinboro Campus, Edinboro, Pennsylvania, USA 

The James F. Drane Bioethics Institute at Ƶ University and the Center for Global Health Ethics at Duquesne University invite submissions for the Second Duquesne–Ƶ Conference on Global Bioethics, to be held from November 12 to 14, 2026, at the Baron-Forness Library on the Edinboro Campus of Ƶ University in Edinboro, Pennsylvania. 

Conference Theme 

The theme of this year’s conference is “The Problem of Health Misinformation and the Role of Bioethics.” We welcome abstracts that critically explore the bioethical dimensions of health misinformation and related topics, including but not limited to: 

  • Health pseudoscience and anti-science movements, 
  • The demarcation problem and the boundaries separating science from pseudoscience, 
  • The role of social media and AI in creating, amplifying, and combating health misinformation, 
  • Biopolitics and its relation to health misinformation and disinformation, 
  • Social, psychological, cultural, and political reasons behind the popularity of pseudoscience, 
  • The “infodemic” and its consequences for global and public health, 
  • The role and responsibilities of bioethics in addressing these challenges. 

Scope Beyond the Theme

While the central theme focuses on health misinformation, we also welcome abstracts on any topic related to global bioethics. This includes work in clinical ethics, public health ethics, research ethics, environmental bioethics, human rights, global health justice, and related areas, looked at from the perspective of global bioethics. 

We invite scholars, students, healthcare professionals, and all those interested in global bioethics to submit their work.

Abstract Submission Guidelines 

Abstracts should: 

  • Be submitted in Microsoft Word format (.doc or .docx) 
  • Include a title 
  • Include the full name, institutional affiliation, and contact information (email address) of the author(s) 
  • Clearly indicate the presenting author if there are multiple authors 

Please keep abstracts concise and clearly focused, with a maximum length of 300 words.  

Important Dates 

  • Abstract submission deadline: September 30, 2026 
  • Rolling review: Abstracts will be reviewed on a rolling basis upon submission. 
    • If you submit your abstract before the deadline, we will notify you of the decision as soon as possible so that you can plan your travel and accommodation accordingly. 

Submission and Contact 

Please submit your abstract as a Microsoft Word attachment via email to: 

Dr. Kiarash Aramesh 
Email:karamesh@pennwest.edu 

All questions regarding the conference or the abstract submission process may also be directed to karamesh@pennwest.edu 

We look forward to receiving your submissions and to welcoming you to Edinboro for a stimulating and timely discussion on global bioethics and the problem of health misinformation.