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Hastings Center News

Hastings Center Launches Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) Global Bioethics Program Pilot

The Hastings Center is launching the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) Global Bioethics Program, a two-year pilot initiative connecting Hastings Center Fellows as mentors with early-career bioethicists from low-resource regions around the world. The program, which will begin in early 2025, is supported by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) as part of its Global Health Initiative (GHI).

“Bioethical challenges are present worldwide, but aspiring bioethicists in some regions have little access to resources, guidance, and networks,” said Hastings Center President Vardit Ravitsky. “It is of the utmost importance to encourage careers in bioethics in regions where the field is less established. Mentorship and capacity building, when done well, can be a deciding factor in the success of such careers. And local bioethics expertise is critically important in allowing the field to thrive globally.”

Now numbering more than 300, Hastings Center Fellows are individuals of outstanding accomplishment, whose work has informed scholarship and public understanding of complex ethical issues in health, health care, science, and technology. A committee of Fellows will co-lead the effort to competitively select both the early-career bioethicists and their prospective mentors.

To ensure that mentors embrace their roles with cultural humility and care and recognize opportunities to learn from mentees, Hastings research scholars and Fellows with extensive expertise in mentorship will develop and deliver customized mentorship training to the competitively selected mentors. “Being a successful academic does not automatically translate into being an optimal mentor,” said Ravitsky. “It is not enough to try and ‘replicate’ one’s own career. One must adapt and tailor mentorship to the needs and lived reality of the mentee and approach the experience as one of mutual exchange.”

A long-term goal of the program is to refine the customized mentorship training curriculum into a “gold standard” to be shared broadly in the bioethics community, filling a global gap in the field.

Each year will begin with an in-person mentorship training workshop, followed by two days of mentor-mentee collaborative activities focused on identifying a year-long project, such as a grant proposal, an academic article, a podcast, or another creative effort. Over the course of the following year, mentor-mentee pairs will partner remotely to pursue their agreed-upon goals. At the end of each year, the pairs will present the results of their collaboration.

The SNF Global Bioethics Program will leverage Hastings’ platforms and trusted reputation to elevate bioethics both globally and domestically. The Hastings Center has gained significant experience in recruiting and competitively selecting program participants through its two pathway programs for students underrepresented in bioethics in the United States: the Summer Bioethics Program for Underrepresented Undergraduates and the Sadler Scholars for doctoral students. It also builds on Hastings’ historical efforts to enhance bioethics work internationally, including helping to launch and establish academic bioethics programs in Hong Kong and Singapore.

The call for applications will be announced in mid-February. Keep an eye out for the announcement in our newsletter and on social media.