The Bioethics Bowl is an intercollegiate, academic competition among undergraduate students at accredited four-year institutions of higher education. It takes place each April on a college campus. Unlike the Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl, which debates cases across the curriculum from agricultural and engineering ethics to issues of grade inflation and communications, the Bioethics Bowl focuses exclusively on ethical issues in the health and biological sciences.
Format
In late January or early February, the competing teams, judges, and moderators receive 15 case studies which represent controversial bioethical issues. The goals for each team is both to do research on the cases and to formulate well-structured, logical analyses pertaining to 3 questions posed (in advance) about each case.
In each round, the first team gets one of the 12-15 cases randomly assigned plus one of the 3 questions from the moderator. The first team then has 10 minutes to present: (1) the central moral issues of the cases, and (2) alternative points of view. The responding team then comments for 5 minutes on the first team's analysis, and the first team then responds for 5 more minutes to these comments. Finally, a panel of 3 judges asks questions for 10 minutes to the presenting team. The judges then pause to evaluate the first teams' response and the second team's comments. The round then repeats this format with the second team receiving a question about a different case. A video about how the competition worked in 2026 is available.
History
It began in 2008 at Union College in Schenectady, New York in connection with the 11th National Undergraduate Bioethics Conference, (which consisted of outside speakers for students’ and poster presentations by students).
Michael Mathias, who coached Union's Ethics Bowl team from 2003 to 2007, organized the first Bioethics Bowl at Union College, with the help of Bob Baker. It had 11 cases and six teams. Bob Ladenson and Patrick Croskery, founders of the Ethics Bowl, enthusiastically supported this new Bowl.
The following year, Harvard University hosted in Cambridge, MA. Bioethicist Peter Singer then gave the keynote address and 12 teams participated.
By 2017, the burden of supporting NUBC as a conference organized by undergraduates grew too much, when the Bioethics Bowl also almost collapsed.
In 2017, to keep something going, Richard Greene and Rachel Robison-Greene of Weber State University in Ogden, UT, agreed to keep the Bioethics Bowl alone going. Fifteen teams participated that year. Ann Jeffrey of the University of South Alabama then stepped forward and kept the Bowl going for two more years there.
Since 2017, the Bioethics Bowl has existed on its own and is governed by a small executive committee. The executive committee runs its web site and chooses an institution each year to host its official national competition. In 2026, so many teams wanted to compete that a lottery was held to select 20 teams from a possible 36 teams. After 4 teams withdrew, 4 were added from the waitlist, but alas, 12 teams could not be accommodated, leading to a desire in the future to expand the scope of the Bowl.
History of Competitions YearHost cityHost SchoolChampionsRunners-upRef2008Schenectady, New YorkUnion CollegeNational Hispanic UniversityUniversity of Miami2009Cambridge, MassachusettsHarvard UniversityUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel HillUniversity of MiamiUniversity of Miami2010Tacoma, WashingtonUniversity of Puget SoundUniversity of Denver University of Miami2011Durham, North CarolinaDuke UniversityUniversity of Alabama at BirminghamGeorgetown University2012Denver, ColoradoUniversity of DenverDePauw UniversityGeorgetown University2013Washington, D.C.Georgetown UniversityGeorgetown UniversityUniversity of Denver2014Chicago, IllinoisLoyola University ChicagoLoyola University ChicagoGeorgetown University2015Tallahassee, FloridaFlorida State UniversityUniversity of Alabama at BirminghamSamford University2016Cleveland, OhioCase Western Reserve UniversityLoyola University ChicagoGeorgetown University2017Ogden, UtahWeber State UniversityUniversity of PortlandGeorgetown University2018Mobile, AlabamaUniversity of South AlabamaUniversity of PortlandDePauw University2019Mobile, AlabamaUniversity of South AlabamaUniversity of Alabama at BirminghamGeorgetown University2020Boston, MassachusettsNortheastern UniversityCanceled due to COVID-19 pandemic2021Held virtuallyOklahoma State UniversityMacalester CollegeSan Jose State University University of Alabama at Birmingham (tied) 2022Salt Lake City, UtahWestminster UniversityLoyola University ChicagoNortheastern University2023Boston, MassachusettsNortheastern UniversityGeorgetown UniversityUniversity of Maryland, Baltimore County2024Waco, TexasBaylor UniversityStanford UniversityGeorgetown University2025Salt Lake City, UtahWestminster UniversityGeorgetown UniversityUniversity of Portland2026Pittsburgh, PennsylvaniaUniversity of PittsburghStanford UniversityUniversity of Pittsburgh
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