Bioethics Bowl

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.

UAB Bioethics Bowl Team at Duke University in 2011

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.

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 Robinson 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. In 2019, the Prindle Institute for Ethics in Greencastle, IN became an official sponsor of the Bioethics Bowl, hosting its web site, registration and other administrative details.

History of Competitions

Year	Host City	Host School	Champions	Runners-up	Ref
2008	Schenectady, New York	Union College	National Hispanic University	University of Miami
2009	Cambridge, Massachusetts	Harvard University	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	University of Miami
2010	Tacoma, Washington	University of Puget Sound	University of Denver	University of Miami
2011	Durham, North Carolina	Duke University	University of Alabama at Birmingham	Georgetown University
2012	Denver, Colorado	University of Denver	DePauw University	Georgetown University
2013	Washington, D.C.	Georgetown University	Georgetown University	University of Denver
2014	Chicago, Illinois	Loyola University Chicago	Loyola University Chicago	Georgetown University
2015	Tallahassee, Florida	Florida State University	University of Alabama at Birmingham	Samford University
2016	Cleveland, Ohio	Case Western Reserve University	Loyola University Chicago	Georgetown University
2017	Ogden, Utah	Weber State University	University of Portland	Georgetown University
2018	Mobile, Alabama	University of South Alabama	University of Portland	DePauw University
2019	Mobile, Alabama	University of South Alabama	University of Alabama at Birmingham	Georgetown University
2020	Boston, Massachusetts	Northeastern University	Canceled due to COVID-19 Pandemic
2021	Held virtually	Oklahoma State University	Macalester College	San Jose State University University of Alabama at Birmingham (tied)
2022	Salt Lake City, Utah	Westminster University	Loyola University Chicago	Northeastern University
2023	Boston, Massachusetts	Northeastern University	Georgetown University	University of Maryland, Baltimore County
2024	Waco, Texas	Baylor University	Stanford University	Georgetown University
2025	Salt Lake City, Utah	Westminster University