Professor Ruud ter Meulen - Emeritus Professor of Ethics in Medicine
Ruud ter Meulen is Emeritus Professor of Ethics in Medicine at the University of Bristol. He worked previously at the Radboud University in Nijmegen, the Institute for Bioethics and Maastricht University in the Netherlands. He was trained in psychology of culture and religion and got his doctoral degree by a study on the reception of psychology and psychoanalysis among the Catholics in the Netherlands (1988). After his doctoral degree in social science, he moved to the field of medical ethics and bioethics. He has been working on a broad range of issues in this area, particularly issues of solidarity and justice in health care, ethical issues of health care reform and health policy, ethics of evidence-based medicine, ethical issues of long-term care and ethics of research and research ethics committees. He has directed several international projects and was Partner and Principal Investigator (PI) of a range of projects within the various Framework Programs of the European Commission. He was the PI of the SOLIDAR project on the role of solidarity in European health and social care, leader of the work package on ‘long-term care for the elderly and allocation of resources’ in the EBEPE project, PI of the ENHANCE project, dealing with the ethical, philosophical and social issues of enhancement technologies. He was also PI of the EPOCH project on the role of ethics in public policymaking on new biotechnologies, and of the SYBHEL project on the ethical, legal and social issues of synthetic biology as applied to human health. He was partner in the PRINTEGER project on research integrity sponsored by the European Commission and coordinated by Radboud University. He was member of the Consortium of the Assisted Living Project in Oslo funded by the Norwegian Research Council, investigating the role of artificial intelligence and digital technologies for monitoring and supporting older people. He was member of several local, national and international committees and expert groups, including the Nuffield Council on Bioethics Working Party on ‘Dementia: ethical issues’, the Medical Ethics Committee of the BMA, the Ethics of Research Committee of the University of Bristol, the ALSPAC Ethics Committee, the SPERE ethics and integrity group, the Bristol Dementia Research Governance Committee, and the NHS Rare Diseases Advisory Group. He was Visiting Professor at the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences of the University of the West of England and President of the European Association of Centres for Medical Ethics (EACME). Ruud has published about 180 articles, book chapters and edited volumes on a range of topics in bioethics and other areas. Though he retired in 2015, he is still active as a member of ethics and governance committees, review and funding committees, as well as editing committees and journal boards. Besides, he spends time on a wide range of hobbies, including playing and listening blues music, cooking, cycling, art drawing and painting, and vintage model trains.
Key publications:
Have, H ten, Meulen, RHJ ter, MC de Vries. B. ter Meulen, Leerboek Ethiek in de gezondheidszorg (Teaching Book Ethics in Health Care) Houten, BSL/Springer Press, 2020.
Meulen, RHJ ter Enhancement, hybris, and solidarity: a critical analysis of Sandel's The Case Against Perfection. Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy, 22(3), 2019, pp. 397-405
Meulen, RHJ ter, Solidarity and Justice in Health and Social Care. Cambridge University Press, 2017
Meulen, R ter, Mohammed, A. Hall, W. (eds) Rethinking cognitive enhancement, Oxford University Press, 2017.
Meulen, R, ter, Solidarity, justice, and recognition of the other, Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics, 37(6), 2017, pp. 517-529
Huxtable, R., Meulen, R. ter (eds.)The voices and rooms of European Bioethics, Biomedical Law and Ethics Library, Routledge, Abingdon, 2015.
Meulen, R ter, Solidarity and justice in health care. A critical analysis of their relationship. Diametros, 43, 2015, 1-20.
Savulescu, J., Meulen, R. ter, Kahane, G., (eds) Enhancing Human Capacities, Oxford, Wiley-Blackwell Publishers, 2011
Meulen, RHJ ter, N. Biller-Andorno, Ch. Lenk, R. Lie (eds.), Evidence-based practice in Medicine and Health Care. A Discussion of the Ethical Issues, Heidelberg, Springer Verlag, 2005
Meulen, RHJ ter,, Arts, W., Muffels (eds.), R. Solidarity in Health and Social Care in Europe. Dordrecht, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2001.
Meulen, RHJ ter, Callahan, D, Topinkova, E. (eds.), A World Growing Old. The Coming Health Care Challenges. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 1995.