Shape the future of healthcare and bioscience
Science, technology and healthcare are hugely powerful tools that bring ethical and legal challenges and opportunities.
Bioethics explores the current and future impacts of the biosciences and healthcare on people and society, animals and the environment. It determines the right way for us to respond to these as individuals, professionals and a society.
You will learn to identify and think through these complex bioethical issues from a range of perspectives, equipping you with the knowledge and skills to make a greater contribution to your community, workplace, and beyond.
With the great power of healthcare and science comes great responsibility. With Bioethics, you’ll gain the expertise to respond to the most pressing issues of our time.
Why study Bioethics?
- Is ending life part of medicine?
- When should personal freedom be limited in order to benefit others?
- How should gene editing be used and regulated?
- What do biological scientists owe to their research subjects and society?
- Should all reproductive decisions be the choice of the individual?
These are some of the ethical questions that arise within medicine and the life sciences. They need to be considered thoroughly and conclusions about them can change science and medicine. This is the domain of bioethics.
Bioethical reasoning is used to focus discussion; suggest new avenues for progress in healthcare, bioscience, law, and policy; and expose flawed thinking.
The ability to identify ethical issues and use reason to evaluate, discuss and argue about them is a valuable skill. If you are seeking a future in healthcare or the life sciences, these skills increase the value you can contribute to the profession.
The growing awareness that good practice in medicine and bioscience is informed by an understanding of its ethical implications means that studying bioethics strengthens any qualification. Bioethics graduates may use their knowledge to distinguish themselves among graduates in the sciences, medicine, and other disciplines.
Background required
Undergraduate Bioethics papers do not require specific prior learning. Students come from a range of backgrounds including law, philosophy, medicine, the life or health sciences, religious studies, social sciences, and psychology.
The transferability of many skills gained in Bioethics suits this breadth of students. It means that students may apply the skills learnt to their original field of study and enrich it further or take it in new directions.
Career opportunities
Bioethics graduates work in areas such as health governance, healthcare, science and environmental policy development, health advocacy, regulation and review of research, health, and environmental law.
There are many jobs and careers to which bioethics graduates are particularly suited. These include academic research in bioethics, teaching at all levels, and bioethics-related work in science, healthcare, and law.
Bioethics at Otago
Bioethics is available as a minor for a BCom, BA, MusB, BPA, BTheol, BSc, BAppSc, BHealSc, BACom, BASc or BComSc degree. It is the only one of its kind in New Zealand.
Completing five papers earns you a minor in Bioethics.
Students can look into all the main fields of Bioethics or focus on fields of particular interest. The wide choice of relevant humanities papers includes Anthropology; Bioethics; Christian Thought and History; Classical Studies; History; Indigenous Development | He Kura Matanui; Law; Media, Film and Communication; Philosophy; and Politics.
Several papers focus on mātauranga Māori in relation to research ethics, animal ethics and environmental philosophy. Other papers examine cross-cultural ethics in a global and local context.
Teaching style
The Bioethics Centre promotes a supportive and rigorous learning environment.
Papers are taught via lectures and tutorials where engagement and debate is welcome, along with independent study.
The Bioethics Centre hosts a biennial bioethics conference, and weekly seminars during the semester featuring local, national, and international speakers.
Bioethics research at Otago
The research at the Bioethics Centre aims to examine the conventional and novel moral dilemmas arising from medical research, clinical settings, and advances brought about by life sciences and biotechnologies.
Members of staff undertake research in a wide range of fields including:
- Animal ethics
- Clinical bioethics
- Cross-cultural bioethics
- Environmental ethics
- Genetics and ethics
- Neuroethics
- Paediatric ethics
- Psychiatric / mental health ethics
- Public health ethics
- Reproductive ethics
- Sports medicine ethics
Bioethics is multidisciplinary, so aligns well with other subject areas and interdisciplinary collaboration.
Postgraduate opportunities
There are many postgraduate degrees and diplomas offered, including a Certificate of Proficiency, Graduate and Postgraduate Diplomas, the Master of Health Sciences (endorsed in Bioethics), the Master of Bioethics and Health Law (MBHL), and the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Bioethics.
Most masters’ students complete a dissertation or thesis, and coursework.
Postgraduate students may be yet to start their careers, or can come from a range of professional backgrounds and include healthcare professionals, law graduates, and those with policy roles.
Qualifications
Explore your study options further. Refer to enrolment information found on the following qualification pages:
- Master of Bioethics and Health Law (MBHL)
- Master of Health Sciences (MHealSc)
- Postgraduate Diploma in Health Sciences (PGDipHealSc)
- Postgraduate Diploma in Bioethics and Health Law (PGDipBHL)
- Graduate Diploma in Bioethics and Health Law (GDipBHL)
- Postgraduate Certificate in Health Science Endorsed in Clinical Ethics (PGCertHealSc)
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Programme requirements
Postgraduate Diploma in Health Sciences (PGDipHealSc) endorsed in Bioethics
| Papers |
|---|
A candidate, with the approval of the Board of Graduate Studies in Health Sciences, may substitute alternative papers to the value of 30 points. The Postgraduate Diploma in Health Sciences (PGDipHealSc) endorsed in Bioethics is available through Distance Learning. |
Master of Health Sciences (MHealSc) endorsed in Bioethics
| Papers |
|---|
Note: A candidate, with the approval of the Bioethics Board of Studies, may substitute alternative papers to the value of 30 points. |
Minor subject requirements
Bioethics as a minor subject for a BA, MusB, BPA, BTheol, BSc, BAppSc, BCom, BEntr, BHealSc, BACom, BASc or BComSc degree
Available as a minor subject for a Bachelor of Arts (BA), Bachelor of Music (MusB), Bachelor of Performing Arts (BPA), Bachelor of Theology (BTheol), Bachelor of Science (BSc), Bachelor of Applied Science (BAppSc), Bachelor of Commerce (BCom), Bachelor of Entrepreneurship (BEntr), Bachelor of Health Science (BHealSc), Bachelor of Arts and Commerce (BACom), Bachelor of Arts and Science (BASc) or Bachelor of Commerce and Science (BComSc) degree
| Level | Papers | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 100-level | One of: | 18 |
| 200-level | BITC 201 Bioethics and the Life Sciences | 18 |
| 300-level | BITC 301 Bioethics A student may substitute one of the required papers above 100-level with a paper at the same level as the substituted paper or above from the following list: ANTH 322, ANTH 323, CLAS 340, CHTH 323, HIST 229, INDV 301, MFCO 222, PHIL 338, POLS 207. | 18 |
Total | 90 |
Papers
| Paper code | Year | Title | Points | Teaching period |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BITC201 | 2023 | Bioethics and the Life Sciences | 18 points | Semester 1 |
| BITC202 | 2023 | Animal Ethics | 18 points | Semester 1 |
| BITC210 | 2023 | Special Topic | 18 points | Not offered in 2023 |
| BITC301 | 2023 | Bioethics | 18 points | Semester 1 |
| BITC401 | 2023 | Theories of Biomedical Ethics | 30 points | Semester 1 |
| BITC403 | 2023 | Issues in Law, Ethics and Medicine | 15 points | Semester 1 |
| BITC404 | 2023 | Ethics and Health Care | 30 points | Semester 2 |
| BITC405 | 2023 | Bioethics in Clinical Practice | 30 points | Semester 2 |
| BITC406 | 2023 | Health Research Ethics | 15 points | Semester 1 |
| BITC407 | 2023 | Advanced Health Research Ethics | 15 points | Semester 2 |
| BITC412 | 2023 | Special Topic | 15 points | Not offered in 2023 |
| BITC790 | 2023 | MHealSc Dissertation | 60 points | Semester 1, Semester 2, Full Year, 1st Non standard period |
| BITC890 | 2023 | MBHL Dissertation | 60 points | Semester 1, Semester 2, Full Year, 1st Non standard period, 2nd Non standard period |
Key information for future students
Contact us
Bioethics Centre
Otago Medical School
Email bioethics@otago.ac.nz
Website otago.ac.nz/bioethics
