What is the human being – and who is the human being? With this existential question, the 3rd International Conference Ethics of Engineering Life (ICEEL) invites a global audience to an exceptional two-day dialogue on 23–24 March 2026, hosted in Vatican City and accessible worldwide through free online participation.
ICEEL addresses the ethical challenges arising from rapid advances in biomedicine, including gene- and cell-based therapies, tissue engineering, and regenerative medicine. While these technologies open new possibilities for restoring bodily functions and treating previously incurable diseases, they also raise profound questions about human dignity, identity, responsibility, and the limits of intervention in life itself.
The conference title—Quid est homo? Quis est homo?—articulates a central distinction: What is the human being in biological and technological terms, and who is the human being as a person endowed with dignity, meaning, and moral responsibility. This distinction shapes the entire conference program.
On Ethics of Engineering Life
ICEEL brings together internationally renowned speakers from science, medicine, ethics, religion, philosophy, communication, and the arts. Two keynote lectures frame the central inquiry, while the conference as a whole adopts an exceptional format: instead of traditional lectures, ICEEL is structured almost entirely around moderated panel discussions, fostering direct interdisciplinary exchange rather than monologue.
Beyond the academic debate, ICEEL features distinctive transdisciplinary program elements, including the classical concert When Sound Becomes Dialogue with pianist Alexey Botvinov (Ukraine) and percussionist and actor Burhan Öçal (Turkey), and the public talk Human Body and Cinema with internationally acclaimed filmmaker David Cronenberg (Canada), whose work has profoundly shaped contemporary reflections on the body and technology.
The conference is jointly organized by the NCCR Molecular Systems Engineering (University of Basel & ETH Zurich), the Pontifical Academy for Life (Vatican City), and Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital (Rome).
Registration
Participation in ICEEL 2026 is only possible online. To register for free online participation, please complete the registration form.