About Us

The Anscombe Bioethics Centre is an Oxford-based research institute serving the Catholic Church in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Established in 1977, the Centre promotes the study of Catholic bioethics in service of the common good.

We engage with the moral questions arising from clinical practice and biomedical research, and publish academic books and articles on such topics.

We are a leading platform in the global conversation on bioethics, fostering dialogue among established and emerging scholars from different religious and philosophical traditions.

Our bioethicists regularly comment on breaking news stories in the media, and contribute to ongoing public policy debates.

Through regular talks, seminar series, and educational programmes, we equip people with the tools necessary for addressing the challenges of bioethics in the 21st Century.

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Our People

Meet our team of bioethicists and professional staff. Information about our Visiting Research Fellows, Board of Governors, and our independent Academic Review Panel can also be found here.

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Our History

Founded in 1977, we are the oldest national research institute in bioethics in the British and Irish Isles, and one of the oldest in the world. Formerly known as the Linacre Centre for Healthcare Ethics, we moved to Oxford from London in 2010 and became the Anscombe Bioethics Centre.

About Elizabeth Anscombe

The Centre’s name honours Elizabeth Anscombe (1919–2001), the great Catholic philosopher who taught in Oxford and Cambridge, debated with C.S. Lewis, and studied with Wittgenstein. She was well-known for her defence of human life and for sparking the contemporary revival of virtue ethics.

Support Us

The Anscombe Bioethics Centre is supported by the Catholic Church in England and Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, but has also always relied on donations from generous individuals, friends and benefactors.

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