Welcome to The Augustine Bioethics Network
An international community of volunteers seeking a deeper shared understanding of the dignity and vulnerability of every human person.
Resource libraryWho we are
We are an international network administered and overseen by a company limited by guarantee based in the United Kingdom. The network is supported by a committee of which Prof Neil Scolding is chair and Prof David Albert Jones is secretary, and by an advisory board which includes two theological advisors (Rev Dr John O’Connor OP and Sr Margaret Atkins). The network is endorsed and actively supported by the Catholic Medical Association UK who have an appointed representative on the advisory board (Dr Dominic Whitehouse) and a member on the Committee (Dr Mike Delany). Our patron is the great philosopher and theologian, Augustine of Hippo.
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Launch of new international bioethics network to promote the dignity and address the vulnerability of every human person
March 30, 2026
30th March 2026 – Today marks the launch of a new international bioethics network, the Augustine Bioethics Network (ABN). Endorsed and actively supported by the Catholic Medical Association UK, ABN exists to promote a vision of bioethics that encompasses both the dignity and the vulnerability of every human person. Established to meet the urgent need
NICE Guideline on Critical Care in Adults: An Ethical Analysis
ABN Papers
February 11, 2026
Introduction This paper takes as its focus a guideline produced by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), the national advisory body for rationing health and social care in England. It should be read together with the first COVID-19 Briefing Paper of the Anscombe Bioethics Centre, Resource allocation and ventilators: A statement of
Public Mental Health and the Ethics of COVID-19 Lockdowns
ABN Papers
February 11, 2026
Introduction Since the advent of the ongoing coronavirus crisis, mental health has emerged as a major talking point in the media. Pandemics are a time of heightened anxiety for the population at large, [1] and this anxiety is also fuelled partly by the relentlessness of media cycles, and exacerbated by the rapid spread of false, often alarming