IME 2026 Conference – Bookings now open
M-Shed, Bristol
IME 2026 NATIONAL CONFERENCE
‘Respectful Disagreement: Navigating Ethical Complexity’
25th & 26th June at M-Shed Bristol
Contemporary health and care requires practitioners, scholars, and students to navigate moral ambiguity and actively engage with deeply held, divergent, and often conflicting, viewpoints across practice, research, policy and education. Our conference will engage constructively with disagreement, respecting diverse perspectives, and ethical integrity in the face of complex and sometimes controversial issues.
The conference will feature two days of engaging content including keynote speakers, workshops, parallel sessions and poster presentations plus an evening social event all within a friendly and welcoming environment.
The venue, which boasts panoramic views of the Harbourside and city from the rooftop terrace, is within easy walking distance of several hotels, restaurants, bars, museums, shops and theatres.
Bookings Open Now- Book here.
Conference Fees:
Non Presenting Attendee 1 day £115 (Student £45)
Non Presenting Attendee Full Conference £200 (Student £70)
Presenting (Oral or Poster) Attendee 1 day £105 (Student £35)
Presenting Attendee (Oral or Poster) Full Conference £180 (Student £60)
IME Members:
Non Presenting IME Member Attendee 1 day £75
Non Presenting IME Member Attendee Full Conference £120
Presenting (Oral or Poster) IME Member Attendee 1 day £65
Presenting Attendee (Oral or Poster) IME Member Full Conference £110
Confirmed Speakers:
Prof Bobbie Farsides, Honorary Professor of Clinical and Biomedical Ethics
Dr Giles Birchley, Lecturer in Healthcare Law and Ethics
Dr Zuzana Deans, Associate Professor in Bioethics, University of Bristol
Dr Ed Horowicz, Senior Lecturer in healthcare law & bioethics, University of Liverpool
Prof Richard Huxtable, Professor of Medical Ethics and Law, University of Bristol
Rachael Pennington, Associate Chief Nurse for Surgery, Alder Hey Children’s Hospital
Dr Renee Liang 梁文蔚
Editors of Medical Humanities, JME Practical Bioethics and the Journal of Medical Ethics
Dr Sabina Dosani, Consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist, writer and expert witness
Dr Brian Earp, Associate Professor of Biomedical Ethics, National University of Singapore
Prof Lucy Frith, Professor of Bioethics & Health Research, University of Manchester
Draft Conference Programme
| Thursday 25th June | ||
|---|---|---|
| Registration & Coffee | ||
| 09.45 - 10.00 | Conference Opening & Welcome | |
| 10.00 - 11.15 | Plenary 1 Disagreeing ethically in medical ethics | University of Bristol Centre for Ethics in Medicine Richard Huxtable, Zuzana Dean, Giles Birchley |
| 11.15 - 11.35 | Coffee Break | |
| 11.35 - 12.35 | Parallel Session 1 | 3 speakers x 3 sessions |
| 12.35 - 13.30 | 'Meet the IME', Lunch & Poster Viewing | |
| 13.30 - 14.30 | Journal Editors' Panel Navigating Ethical Challenges in Academic Publishing | JME, Medical Humanities & Practical Bioethics Lucy Frith, Sabina Dosani, Brian Earp |
| 14.30 - 14.45 | Coffee Break | |
| 14.45 - 16.00 | Parallel Session 2 | 3 speakers x 3 sessions |
| 16.00 - 17.20 | Ted Shotter Keynote & Medal Presentation | Bobbie Farsides |
| Friday 26th June | ||
|---|---|---|
| Registration | ||
| 09.15 - 10.30 | Plenary 3 Reframing Disagreement and Conflict: Rethinking the Role of Clinical Paediatric Ethics | Alder Hey Children's Hospital Trust Clinical Ethics Service |
| 10.35 - 11.35 | Parallel Sessions | 3 speakers x 3 sessions |
| 11.35 - 11.50 | Coffee Break | |
| 11.50 - 13.05 | Plenary 4 | University of Bristol Centre for Ethics in Medicine |
| 13.05 - 13.55 | Lunch & Poster Viewing | |
| 13.55 - 14.55 | Parallel Sessions | 3 speakers x 3 sessions |
| 14.55 - 15.10 | Coffee Break | |
| 15.10 - 16.10 | Workshop - Building houses, growing trees, navigating ethical conundrums using Māori, Pacific and Asian migrant models | Dr Renee Liang 梁文蔚 |
| 16.10 - 16.20 | Closing Remarks |
Parallel 1A – Thursday 11.35-12.35
Addressing Moral Resistance: The Case of Surgical Ethics
Kari Milch Agledahl (Consultant/Ass. professor, Finnmark Hospital Trust/UiT the Arctic university of Tromsoe)
Sacred Spaces and Places in Medical Practices
Anna Jarske-Fransas (Doctoral Researcher, University of Helsinki)
Disagreements in the care of critically ill children: an analysis of harm and best interests
Peta Coulson-Smith (Principal Teaching Fellow, Consultant Paediatrician, University of Southampton, Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust) & Emma Nottingham (Head of School of Law and Reader in Law, University of Winchester)
Parallel 1B – Thursday 11.35-12.35
Medical Ethics and Law Learning in the Information Age: Case-Based, Cross Speciality Learning to Develop Future Doctor’s Critical Thinking and Reasoning
Peta Coulson-Smith (Principal Teaching Fellow Medical Ethics and Law, Consultant Paediatrician, University of Southampton) & Ahmed Osman (Consultant Paediatric Intensivist, Honorary Senior Teaching Fellow Medical Ethics and Law, University of Southampton)
Beyond the blue lights: Simulation-based ethics education for paramedic students: a novel approach to teaching clinical ethics
Iain Campbell (Senior Lecturer, University of the West of England) & Jake Stanley (Senior Lecturer, University of the West of England)
Navigating Evidential Uncertainty in Clinical Ethics: A Teachable Framework for Body Integrity Dysphoria
Matthew Williams (Philosophy and Psychology PhD Candidate, University of Birmingham)
Parallel 1C – Thursday 11.35-12.35
Assessing ethics and law in medical schools: a suggested assessment modality to better integrate the assessment of clinical skills and ethical approach in senior MBBS students
Helen Cooke (Clinical Ethics Lead, Newcastle University), Peter Robinson (Training Fellow, Translational and Clinical Research, Newcastle University) & Andrew Stanton (Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer, Newcastle University)
Funding, Fairness and the Future NHS: Ethical Analyses from Medical Student Scholarship
Sabena Jameel (Professor of Medical Professionalism, University of Birmingham), Nimrah Kashif (Medical Student, University of Birmingham), Shreeya Srinivas (Medical Student, University of Birmingham) & Aliyyah Khan (Medical Student, University of Birmingham)
Asymmetrical learning: the ethical stakes of reverse mentoring
Chloe Mwebaze Chloe Odusola (Medical Student, King’s College London)
Parallel 2A – Thursday 14.45-16.00
Townsend: The Cause of a Tragedy and Navigating Away
Christopher Nobbs (Consultant in Palliative Medicine, Meadow House Hospice)
Who Should Decide? A Cross-sectional Study of Non-Patient Perspectives regarding Medical Decision-Making from Karachi, Pakistan
Farid bin Masood (Senior Lecturer, Centre of Biomedical Ethics & Culture, SIUT)
Decision-Making Capacity and a Narrative Offering
David Gibson (Assistant Professor, School of Human Development, Institute of Education, Dublin City University)
Parallel 2B – Thursday 14.45-16.00
Justice and access to healthcare in previously incarcerated patients: A normative ethical analysis
Fiona Kwan (Medical Student) & Hanna Vigy (Medical Student, University of Sheffield)
Moral Salience, Disclosure, and Trust in Animal-Derived Medical Products
Md Shaikh Farid (Professor, Dhaka University)
Could sexual services count as healthcare?
Joona Räsänen (Senior Research Fellow, University of Turku)
Parallel 2C – Thursday 14.45-16.00
Money talks, But should it? Ethical tensions in Medical Student finances
Sabena Jameel (Professor of Medical Professionalism, University of Birmingham), Yevan Malmuthuge (Medical Student, University of Birmingham), Sumaiya Khan (Medical Student, University of Birmingham) & Rayan Mahmood (Medical Student, University of Birmingham)
On-Demand Medical Ethics Education: An empirical study of medical students’ use of digital resources to support ethics and law learning
Jordan A. Parsons (Associate Professor in Health Law, Royal Holloway, University of London), Heather McNeilly (Associate Professor in Medical Education, University of Birmingham), Adam Parkes (Medical Student, University of Birmingham) & John Appleby (Lecturer in Medical Ethics, Lancaster University)
Bridging the Ethics Knowledge Gap for International Medical Graduates in the UK
James Kelly (Associate Clinical Professor, University College London), Rumaisa Shahid (Senior Research Assistant, Aga Khan University), Anita Allana (Assistant Professor, Aga Khan University) & Muhammad Shahid Shamim (Professor of Medical Education, Aga Khan University)
Parallel 3A – Friday 10.35-11.35
A ‘smoking ban’ on luxury emissions: an argument by analogy
Arianne Shahvisi (Associate Professor in Ethics, Brighton and Sussex Medical School)
Plural values to prevent preventable death and suffering: A framework for global bioethics
Coral Buckland (PhD Researcher, Brighton and Sussex Medical School)
Ethical Insights on Underserved Rural Healthcare in Flood-Affected Pakistan – Comforting, Disturbing or Both?
Nida Ilyas Shamsi (Consultant & Clinical Head, Family Medicine and Community Health; Clinical Head Sind and Balochistan, Primary Care Program; Member, Clinical Ethics Committee, Indus Hospital and Health Network, Indus Hospital & Health Network) & Sarosh Saleem (Assistant Professor & Head, Bioethics Department Co-Director, Diploma in Healthcare Ethics & Professionalism (DHEP) Chair, Hospital Ethics Committee-Shalamar Hospital, Head, Bioethics Unit, Int’l Chair in Bioethics/WMA Cooperation Center, Shalamar Medical & Dental College, Lahore, Pakistan)
Parallel 3B – Friday 10.35-11.35
Intensive Care Medicine, Frailty, and Ethical Deliberation: Navigating Admission Decisions in Complex Clinical Contexts
Monideep Ghosh (Foundation Doctor, Portsmouth Hospitals Trust), Yaameen Mohamed (Foundation Doctor, Diana, Princess of Wales Hospital) & Aniket Kochhar (Foundation Doctor, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust)
A Capacity-Sensitive Approach to Disagreement
Stacy Chen (PhD Candidate, University of Toronto) & Alyssa Izatt (PhD Candidate, University of British Columbia)
A qualitative investigation of factors that impact consent in a paediatric setting in India
Maya Robinson (Fy1 doctor, Oxford University), Megan Cole (Fy1 doctor, Oxford University), Pradnya Gadgil (Consultant paediatric neurologist, Narayana Health SRCC Children’s Hospital Mumbai) & Mehrunisha Suleman (Associate Professor and Director of Medical Ethics and Law Education, Oxford University, Ethox Centre)
Parallel 3C – Friday 10.35-11.35
Between Prognosis and Permissibility: Respectful Disagreement in Late-Term Pregnancy Termination
Amna Farooq (Senior Demonstrator, Bioethics, Shalamar Medical & Dental College, Lahore, Pakistan) & Sarosh Saleem (Assistant Professor, Bioethics, Shalamar Medical & Dental College, Lahore, Pakistan)
Developing a Contextualized Islamic Bioethical Framework for Prenatal Decision Making
Oumaima Kastit (PhD student, KU Leuven Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies) & Chaïma Ahaddour (Professor, KU Leuven Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies)
Parallel 4A – Friday 13.55-14.55
Respectful Disagreement in Medical Research Knowledge Sharing: Institutional Repositories as Ethical Mediators
Mary Kamuri (Student, Technical University of Kenya), Dr. Grace Kamau (Senior Lecturer, Technical University of Kenya) & Dr. Mbenge T. Ndiku, (Senior Lecturer, Technical University of Kenya)
Suffering and the Inaccessibility of the Good Life: Redefining the Conditions of Voluntary-Assisted Dying Services Beyond Autonomy (provisional)
Isaac Seeley (PhD Student, Durham University)
Harmonizing Without Homogenizing: Navigating Ethical Disagreement in the Development of Zambia’s National Health Research Regulations
Mabuchi Banda (Senior Research Promotions Officer, National health Research Authority)
Parallel 4B – Friday 13.55-14.55
Respectful Disagreement from the Inside: Autoethnographic Reflections on Consent, Coercion, and Blood Refusal among Jehovah’s Witnesses
Paul Dale (Senior Lecturer in Ethics and Law, University of Worcester)
Moral experiences related to the practice of covert administration of medication in long-term care homes: A participatory hermeneutic ethnography
Vincent Thériault (PhD student, Université de Montréal), Anne Bourbonnais (Professor, Université de Montréal) & Bryn Williams-Jones (Professor, Université de Montréal)
Understanding and Supporting Personal Autonomy in Persons Living With Dementia: A Case Study in Integrative Empirical Bioethics
Andrew Stumpf (Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, St. Jerome’s University in the University of Waterloo) & Avery Beavers (Graduate Research Assistant, St. Jerome’s University in the University of Waterloo)
Parallel 4C – Friday 13.55-14.55
Navigating tense conversations in health education: How can educators centre compassion and nuance in a polarised world
Rini Paul (Senior Lecturer in Medical Education, King’s College London) & Jo Hartland (Associate Professor in Health Justice Education, Bristol Medical School)
Junior Ethical Doctors Initiative (JEDI): An Insight into Ethics Education and Practice Among Pakistani Doctors
Anita Anis Allana (Assistant Professor, The Aga Khan University), Rumaisa Shahid (Senior Research Assistant, The Aga Khan University), James Kelly (Clinical Associate Professor, University College London), Ahmed Rashid (Professor and Pro-Director (Education), London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, UK) & Muhammad Shahid Shamim (Professor & Associate Dean (Graduate Studies), The Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan)
Emily Ottley LSE Fellow (Medical Law), LSE
Abortion as a Topic of Debate
Dexu Huang PhD Researcher,, Queen Mary University of London
Autonomy and Relational Autonomy: Decision-Making Processes in Preimplantation Genetic Testing Choices
Nida Shamsi Consultant & Clinical Head, Indus Hospital & Health Network
Balancing Conflicts and Obligations in a Physician-Patient Relationship: A Professional Responsibility.
Naima Rasool Chairperson IRB, Consultant Pediatric surgeon, Fazaia Ruth Pfau Medical College and Pakistan Airfoece Hospital, Karachi
Challenges Encountered by Faculty in Establishing a New Institutional Review Board (IRB) at Fazaia Ruth Pfau Medical College (FRPMC): A Qualitative Study
Peter Robinson Foundation Doctor, Newcastle University & Helen Cooke, Newcastle University
Development of a contemporary ethics reading list for undergraduate medical students
Sally Barker Internal Medical Trainee, St George’s Hospital
Implementing prognosis as a gatekeeper to assisted dying
Natalie Michaux Honorary Research Associate, University of Bristol
Inevitability, Foucauld and disagreements in paediatrics: a framework for reflection
Andrew Stumpf Associate Professor, St. Jerome’s University in the University of Waterloo & Avery Beavers Research Assistant St. Jerome’s University in the University of Waterloo
Palliative Care and Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) in Canada: A Case Study in Integrative Empirical Bioethics
Thomas Donaldson Consultant Anaesthetist, University of Manchester
The Euthyphro dilemma, assisted dying, and a virtue ethics approach to autonomy.
Anne O’Connor Leadership Development Consultant, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust
The Gift of Conflict
Holly Davenport Medical Student, The University of Manchester
The Mental Health Act, an Ethical Dilemma: Involuntary Admission, Identity and Autonomy
Lily Gryspeerdt Medical Student, University of Manchester
What about hope? An elective looking at the ethics of hope in palliative care, paediatric oncology, and rehabilitation medicine
Ellen Martin Medical Student, Kings College London
Why the current state of the UK Assisted Dying bill is ethically impermissible; Inadequate regard given to vulnerable groups and safeguarding leaves room for premature assisted deaths
Gracie Heaynes PhD Student, University of Liverpool
Reassessing the Role of Autonomy in the Assisted Dying Debate: A Feminist Ethics of Care Approach