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Contact Details

Phone
+64 3 471 6129
Email
jing-bao.nie@otago.ac.nz

University Links

Position
Professor
Department
Bioethics Centre
Qualifications
BMed MMed(Hunan) MA(Queen’s) PhD(Texas)
Research summary
Global and Transcultural Bioethics, Medical Ethics in China and Asia, Confucianism and Bioethics, Medical Humanities
Teaching
  • BITC 301 Bioethics
  • BITC 401 Theories of Biomedical Ethics
  • Teaching bioethics ethics to medical students
  • Supervising PhD and masters' students
Memberships
  • Member of the Editorial/Advisory Boards of journals including Bioethics, Kennedy Institute of Ethics J, Asian Bioethics Review, Asian J Medical Humanities, Indian J Medical Ethics, Chinese J Medical Ethics, Medicine and Society, and Medicine and Philosophy; and the Springer Book Series on Research Ethics
  • Member of the Board of Directors, the International Association of Bioethics (2005-09); Co-chair, The 6th International Congress of Feminist Bioethics (2008)
  • Furong Visiting Professor, Hunan Normal University (2009-12); Adjunct Professor, Peking University Health Science Center (2009-18) and Wuhan University (2003-present), China
  • Associate, Harvard University Asia Center, USA (2015-17)
  • Fellow, The Hastings Center, USA (2011-present)
  • Fellow, University of Durham Institute of Advanced Study, UK (2019)
  • Member, WHO Working Group for International Guidelines on Clinical Ethics (2023-24)

Research

After growing up in a remote village in southern China, Professor Jing-Bao Nie was initially trained as a physician in Chinese medicine. He then studied sociology in Canada and the medical humanities and bioethics in the USA. His pioneering research on a range of bioethical issues in China and East Asia has resulted in not only original findings on those topics but also a distinctive theoretical and methodological approach called 'ethical transculturalism.' His current research explores Confucianism on aging and eldercare, and Confucian ethics for global biosafety and health security.

Among his over 150 peer-reviewed publications are the authored books Medical Ethics in China (Routledge) and Behind the Silence: Chinese Voices on Abortion (Rowman & Littlefield). He co-edited Japan's Wartime Medical Atrocities (Routledge) and Thematic Issues for Bioethics, Developing World Bioethics, and Kennedy Institute Ethics J. He contributed to such reference books as Cambridge World History of Medical Ethics (three chapters), Encyclopedia of Global Bioethics, Routledge Handbook of Feminist Bioethics, and Global Health: Ethical Challenges. His journal articles appeared in periodicals, including American J Bioethics, Cambridge Quarterly Healthcare Ethics, Nursing Ethics, J Clinical Ethics, Asian Bioethics Review, The Lancet, and Nature.

Professor Nie's research received grants from the Marsden Fund of the Royal Society of New Zealand (twice) and the Harvard China Fund. He has been an advisor and collaborator for one UK Wellcome Trust and two US National Institute of Health research projects.

Professor Nie has delivered nearly 100 keynote and other invited addresses at international conferences such as those organized by the International Association of Bioethics and the Australasian Association of Bioethics and Health Law, as well as universities in Asia, Australasia, Europe, and North America. His books have been positively reviewed by dozens of scholars in various countries and several academic disciplines as 'a landmark contribution' (The Lancet), 'truly pioneering' and 'no less than astounding' (China Review Intl), with 'relevance far beyond its specific subject' (China Journal), 'essential reading' (Asian Bioethics Review), and 'embodying a style of bioethics radically different from [the mainstream]' (American J Bioethics).

Professor Nie has been cited or featured in media outlets which include Nanfang Zhoumo (China), South China Morning Post (HK), Weekendvisen (Denmark), Artze Zeitung (Germany), Radio France, Stuff (NZ), NZ Herald, Sydney Morning Herald, Australian National Radio, The Guardian, Stat, CNN Health, Nature news, Science news, Foreign Policy, and The New York Times.

Additional details

Jing-Bao welcomes proposals for postgraduate studies, especially PhD, of prospective students from NZ, Asia-Pacific, and other parts of the world in his areas of expertise.

Jing-Bao’s hobbies include, in recent years, running weekly cross-country half-marathons in the awe-inspiring landscapes of Aotearoa NZ.

Publications

Nie, J.-B. (2024). Nursing and morality in China: The necessity and possibility of a Confucian ethics of care. In M. Lipscomb (Ed.), Routledge handbook of philosophy and nursing. (pp. 86-93). Abingdon, UK: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781003427407-12 Chapter in Book - Research

Doan, H., Nie, J.-B., & Fenton, E. (2024). The precautionary principle in public health emergency regime: Ethical and legal examinations of Vietnamese and global response to COVID-19. Bioethics, 38(1), 11-23. doi: 10.1111/bioe.13236 Journal - Research Article

Zou, X., & Nie, J.-B. (2023). The vulnerability of rural migrants under COVID-19 quarantine in China and its global implications: A socio-ethical analysis. Journal of Bioethical Inquiry, 20, 197-206. doi: 10.1007/s11673-023-10238-7 Journal - Research Article

Chung, D. W. K., Nie, J.-B., Hall, K. H., & Jaye, C. (2023). It's a family affair: Confucian familist philosophy's potential to improve mental health care for ethnic Chinese in Aotearoa New Zealand. New Zealand Medical Journal/Te ara tika o te hauora hapori, 136(1579), 96-103. Retrieved from https://journal.nzma.org.nz/ Journal - Research Other

Nie, J-B. (November, 2023). Counteracting inhumanity with humanity: A perspective of Confucian Global Ethics about The Lancet Report on Nazi medicine. A Keynote address at the Lancet Commission on Medicine, Nazism, and the Holocaust Launch Event and Symposium, Vienna, Austria. Retrieved from https://www.meduniwien.ac.at/web/en/ueber-uns/events/2023/lancet-report/ Other Research Output

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