The new Chair will offer academic degrees in bioethics and human rights, and will promote research on questions related to biomedicine and biolaw.

March 23, 2010. Rome, Italy. Following a signed agreement with UNESCO, the Pontifical Regina Apostolorum College and the European University of Rome have now established a UNESCO Chair of Bioethics and Human Rights.

According to the Regina Apostolorum web site, the goal of the UNESCO Chair is to use integral education, research, and information to “contribute toward the recognition and promotion of a global and integral vision of bioethics, bringing to light universal values and principles as well as social and legal implications in relation to human rights.”

Directed by Professor Alberto García and supported by academics and university professors, the new Chair will offer “academic degrees in bioethics and human rights, promote and conduct interdisciplinary research projects on new questions related to biomedicine and bio-law by becoming a

	Dr. Alberto García, the new director of the Chair of Bioethics and Human Rights.

forum of reflection, dialogue, and debate.”

The specific areas of interest will include:
• Neurobioethics
• Bioethics, Multiculturalism, and Religions
• Bioethics and Mass Media
• Bioethics Global Art
• Dignity and Equality in Women’s Health Issues
• The Ethics of Nanotechnologies
• Bioethics and Human Ecology
• Observatory of Bioethics

The new Chair was presented on March 22 at a conference held in the main auditorium of the Regina Apostolorum and the European University of Rome.

Speakers at the event included Professor Henk Ten Have, the director of the Ethics of Science and Technology division of UNESCO; Professor Alberto García, the new director of the UNESCO Chair of Bioethics and Human Rights; Fr Friedrich Bechina, F.S.O., an official of the Congregation for Catholic Education; and Professor Enrico Garaci, president of the Italian Institute of Health.

The meeting was opened by Ambassador Lucio Alberto Savoia, the Secretary General of the National Italian Commision for UNESCO; Fr Pedro Barrajón, LC, rector of the Regina Apostolorum; and Fr Paolo Scarafoni, LC, rector of the European University of Rome.