The Society provides the Government and other policy-makers with authoritative, independent and evidence-based opinion on the full range of life sciences.
Election of Fellows is limited to senior scientists ‘who have made a prominent contribution to the advancement of the biological sciences.’
Ben was the founding Executive Director of the FEC (1998 – 2003), and continues as the longest-serving member. He was formerly Director of the Centre for Applied Bioethics at Nottingham University, and although he retired from the full-time staff in 1997 he continues to lecture in bioethics, as an honorary professor at both Nottingham and Lincoln Universities.
He also publishes extensively in this field, with one reviewer of his latest textbook ‘Bioethics’ (Oxford University Press) describing it as ‘very powerful’ and ‘a prominent landmark for the work of all educators in biology.’ He has served on several international committees, and was a member of the Government’s Biotechnology Commission.
Acknowledging the FSB as a personal achievement, Ben believes that it represents a significant and welcome development in mainstream scientists’ attitudes to bioethics, which was formerly often marginalised but is clearly now considered to be an integral part of biology.
He says “it is evident to all thoughtful people that the implications of scientific and technological advances for the future of life on the planet demand an urgent focus on bioethical concerns in a global context.”