Northern Bioethics Network: Linking institutions to build bioethics capacity in the UK north (360G-Wellcome-210612_Z_18_Z)

We aim to create an inter-institutional Northern Bioethics Network of academics in bioethics across the UK North. The objective of the Network is to enable bioethics researchers, who may be few in number within their own institutions, to form a connected regional research community that can promote capacity-building; career development; collaboration; and innovation in scholarship and engagement in bioethics. The formation of a geographically-linked Network is particularly important because while institutions in the southern UK enjoy relative proximity and are thus able to benefit more easily from local inter-institutional research strengths, harnessing the more widely-dispersed capacity for inter-institutional synergy in the north requires additional support to facilitate networking and collaboration, in order to promote inclusion of diverse regional perspectives. An important component of building and maintaining such a Network is the opportunity for in-person interactions, to build professional relationships across time and between researchers at different career stages. The funding requested in this Small Grant will allow us to hold three in what is intended to be an ongoing series of bi-annual meetings rotating amongst host institutions. These first few meetings will provide an initial impetus to help establish the Network, creating momentum to enable us to build longer-term sustainability.