What’s on the horizon?

We select topics to examine through our horizon scanning programme, which aims to identify developments relevant to biological and medical research.

We carry out our horizon scanning programme by holding workshops, engaging with a wide range of organisations and individuals, and by monitoring literature and news, across a wide geographical area and different fields of interest and expertise. The Council’s Horizon Scanning Advisory Group oversees the programme. We have identified a wide range of developments that could be on the horizon for bioethics.

We created our first 'What's on the horizon?' interactive infographic in 2019, and because of the positive reception, we now publish one annually. See below for our 2022 infographic. A text-only version of the infographic is available (also available as a word document).

Infographics from previous years

Horizon scanning advisory group

The role of the Horizon Scanning Advisory Group is to lead the Council's horizon scanning programme, which aims to identify developments in biological and medical research in order to inform how the Council prioritises and carries out its work. The Group is comprised of Council members, who each serve a two-year term on the Group.

Chair: Susan Tansey

Consultant Pharmaceutical Physician

Muhammed Afolabi

Clinical Assistant Professor and UKRI Fellow at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

David Archard

Chair of the Council, Professor of Philosophy at Queen’s University Belfast

Carol Brayne

Professor of Public Health Medicine and Co-Director of the Cambridge Public Health Interdisciplinary Research Centre

Melanie Challenger

Writer and researcher, across environmental history and philosophy

John Coggon

Professor of Law in the Centre for Health, Law, and Society, at the University of Bristol Law School

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