Who are we?

The European Institute of Bioethics is a research center focused on biomedical ethics. Founded in 2001 as a non-profit association, it is based in Brussels.

Its experts collaborate with academic institutions and healthcare professionals.

Independent of any institutional structure, the IEB seeks to inform, train, and raise awareness among citizens, healthcare professionals, and policymakers about bioethical issues, with a focus on an ethic based on the promotion of the human person and their dignity.

This mission is urgent in a societal context where a utilitarian culture tends to obscure human interdependence and the vital need for connection with others.

The European Institute of Bioethics (IEB) is a private initiative by a group of citizens (doctors, lawyers, scientists...) attentive to the significant advances in medicine and biology, which grant humans unprecedented control over human life. Sensitive to the hopes and promises, but also to the risks of drift inherent in current biomedical discoveries and practices, they sought to create a structure to provide reliable information and foster the broadest possible reflection on their scope and stakes.

The IEB aims to contribute to the development of a bioethics based on respect and promotion of the human person, from conception to natural death.

Exercise Critical Vigilance

The IEB supports progress but opposes a certain 'ideology of progress' that tends to accept faits accomplis or seductive prospects. It seeks to exercise critical vigilance regarding advances in science and technology—particularly in biomedicine—and the accompanying legislation.

The IEB is independent of any political or religious party or group. It is non-denominational and adheres to the principle of state secularism, while respecting and listening to religious traditions.

The IEB aims to conduct and express its reflections within the realm of common rationality, cultivating the art of substantiating its positions to foster reasoned public dialogue.

Raise Awareness Among Citizens and Policymakers

The IEB seeks to inform, raise awareness, and enlighten the general public and policymakers about bioethical issues and related societal questions (particularly education and family). It achieves its goals through regular study sessions (conferences, seminars, debates, and ongoing training), publications (books, brochures, reports, statements), or actions (press conferences, lobbying).

Foster Collaborations

The IEB also aims to promote exchanges and synergies between institutions, centers, and individuals sharing its approach to bioethical issues.

The European Institute of Bioethics was founded in Brussels in November 2001 as a non-profit association (A.S.B.L.).

In addition to its honorary committee, the IEB can rely on the expertise of the scientific committee, whose members come from various Belgian and international universities.