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Bioethics Resources for Teachers and Students

• For Teachers
  • Curricula
  • Courses
  • Case Studies
• For Students
  • Career Path Advice
  • Online Education

For Teachers

Curricula

• The Kennedy Institute of Ethics at Georgetown University hosts the Syllabus Exchange Database, which has hundreds of syllabi in various areas of ethics, including research ethics. Select Bioethics Syllabi from the drop down menu.

Courses

• The Advanced Certificate Program in Research Ethics for Central and Eastern Europe, a collaboration of Union Graduate College (USA) and Vilnius University (Lithuania) has its course materials online for International Bioethics, International Research Ethics 1, and International Research Ethics 2. The course overview and weekly syllabi for International Bioethics and International Research Ethics 1 are available in Romanian-Moldovan.

Case Studies

• Public Health Ethics: Cases Spanning the Globe, an open access e-book from Springer International Publishing, 2016
• Iowa State University's  Case Studies for the Classroom include cases on biotechnology, clinical ethics, and research ethics.
• Moral Reasoning in Scientific Research is a book of materials for teaching ethics to science students from the Poynter Center for the Study of Ethics and American Institutions at Indiana University-Bloomington. The free pdf includes guidelines for teachers and 6 case studies in research ethics.
• The World Health Organization's Casebook on Ethical Issues in International Health Research contains 64 research ethics cases.
• Case Studies in the Ethics of Mental Health Research from The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease (Volume 200, Number 3, March 2012) presents six case studies in the ethics of mental health research. Each consists of a description of a research study that was proposed or carried out, and an in-depth analysis of the ethics of the study.
• Ethical Challenges in Short-Term Global Health Training course from the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics consists of a series of ten cases to introduce trainees and others involved in global health research and service to ethical issues that may arise during short-term training experiences abroad.
• Population and Public Health Ethics: Cases from Research, Policy, and Practice
  from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Institute of Population and Public Health (2012)

For Students

Career Path Advice

• Careers in Bioethics
  from the University of Virginia Undergraduate Bioethics Program
• Bioethics Jobs
  maintained by the American Journal of Bioethics
• Career Center and Job Board
  from the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities
• Publishing Without Perishing: A Handbook for Graduate and Professional Students on Publishing in Bioethics and the Medical Humanities
  from the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities

Online Education

U.S. Government Online Training Programs and Resources

• NIH Research Ethics Training: Introduction to the Responsible Conduct of Research focuses on professional ethics for medical researchers. This short training course is required for new NIH scientific staff members. People outside NIH can browse the course.
• NIH Office of Extramural Research: Protecting Human Research Participants is a three-hour online course available in English and Spanish. Anyone can register. Continuing Medical Education (CME) credit is available for successfully completing the course.
• Clinical Center Department of Bioethics at NIH: Offers bioethics courses, lectures and trainings, including the online course Ethical and Regulatory Aspects of Clinical Research.
• Ethics Grand Rounds from the Department of Bioethics at NIH.
• CDC and ATSDR Ethics Program Activity: An online resource center from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) containing ethics-related publications, frequently asked questions about research ethics, links to ethics regulations, and two versions of an ethics training course. The CDC website is also offered in Spanish.
• The Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP): Human Subject Assurance Training is an online training for Institutional Officials, Human Protections Administrators, and IRB Chairs for institutions applying for a Federal Wide Assurance (FWA).

International Online Programs

• Collaborative IRB Training Initiative (CITI) Program in the Protection of Human Research Subjects: Available in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese and Chinese
• Research Ethics Online Training: A course and resource package designed and produced by the World Health Organization (WHO) for use by internal staff, and adapted for general access by Global Health Trials, an online community of people interested in the conduct of health research trials.
• Research Ethics Training Curricula, second edition, from FHI360: A course reviewing human research ethics, including a pre- and post-test, evaluation form and certificate.
• Training and Resources in Research Ethics Evaluation for Africa: TRREE-for Africa offers online training, and regulatory and policy resources related to the ethics of research involving humans conducted in Africa. Available in English, French and German.

University Courses

• University of Minnesota Informed Consent Online Modules: This web-based instruction on informed consent is divided into modules covering the consent process, how to create a consent document, and how to proceed with research after approval.

Updated January 2024