About IEPI

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About IEPI Learn More

At IEPI, we identify and address ethical challenges, ethics-related risks, and policy gaps that have the potential to undermine the impact of life-saving technologies and interventions in global health.

We collaborate with the global health research community, partners, funders, and other stakeholders to navigate the ethical, social, and cultural challenges that arise from scientific and technological advancement — so that, ultimately, innovative health solutions reach those who need them most.

With support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other funders, we deliver a trusted ethics consultation service, along with a robust research program across four pillars. We also offer interdisciplinary education and training opportunities in applied ethics and global health research.

From navigating the ethical questions of emerging technologies, such as gene drives, to charting the potential risks and benefits of new drugs, diagnostics and vaccines, IEPI delivers impact at the intersection of science and ethics:

Analyzing and resolving ethics issues
We provide timely, evidence-based, ethical and policy expertise in support of large-scale global health research programs.

Advocating for progress in global health research
We support global health advocacy efforts in addressing urgent ethical questions such as whether to launch — or continue — a global disease eradication program, for example.

Reducing risk for global health stakeholders
We conduct ethical, social, and cultural analysis that identifies risks associated with sensitive research, with a focus on building trust with affected communities, garnering good will in the general public, and protecting stakeholder reputation.

Advancing global health policy
IEPI is a key contributor to global guidance in human subjects, emerging technology, and data governance research. IEPI contributed to the development of the “WHO Guidance on the Ethical Conduct of Controlled Human Infection Studies” published in 2022; the World Health Organization’s “Guidance Framework for Testing of Genetically Modified Mosquitoes” published in 2021; and “Key criteria for the ethical acceptability of COVID-19 human challenge studies: Report of a WHO Working Group”, published in 2020.

We collaborate with governments, academic institutions, philanthropies, civil society organizations, and the private sector. Our global partners include the World Health Organization (WHO), the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and <insert> (AUDA-NEPAD), among many others.

IEPI is a member of the Global Nexus for Pandemics and Biological Threats, an international initiative that McMaster launched in September 2020.

IEPI is based in the Department of Philosophy in the Faculty of Humanities. We build on McMaster’s renowned collaborative, interdisciplinary approach and its critical mass of scholarship as a world-leading medical-doctoral research university.

Our Mission Learn More

Our Mission

Our mission is to overcome ethics barriers and promote enablers so that potential life-saving innovations have a greater chance of impact where they are needed most.

We serve as trusted advisors who engage in a thoughtful, inclusive manner to anticipate, understand, and address ethical and policy issues that may affect the discovery, development, delivery, and adoption of innovations in global health.

We work to promote equity, diversity, and social justice, in alignment with McMaster University’s commitment to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.

Our Goals & Objectives Learn More

Our Goals & Objectives

IEPI works to identify and address ethical challenges, ethics-related risks, and policy gaps along the ‘‘critical path’’ of the scientific process — from discovery science to the development of novel products and technologies to their effective delivery to end users, including patients, consumers, communities, and public health authorities. We strive to:

Discover sources of ethical value for our stakeholders
Provide in-depth evaluations to mitigate ethical and reputational risk
Engage directly with affected individuals and communities to ensure local needs and concerns are addressed
Enhance quality and efficiency, while supporting projects along their critical path
Realize positive outcomes for the public good

As a world-leading research and training institute in global health ethics, IEPI’s core objectives are four-fold:

Research: Deliver a robust ethics research program that supports global health innovation and fosters local and international collaboration
Educate: Offer outstanding opportunities for undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate training in applied ethics research, with exposure to real-world problems and case studies
Advise: Provide expert advice grounded in rigorous scholarship to policymakers and other stakeholders in global health
Influence: Engage with and transfer knowledge between relevant stakeholders and affected communities, including academia, government, industry, not-for-profits, funders, and international organizations

Message from our Director, Dr. Claudia Emerson

Because the problems we deal with are multi-faceted, they require an interdisciplinary research approach. Our team includes scholars from diverse backgrounds and areas of expertise – from philosophy and law to the social and public health sciences. What brings us together is a shared understanding that ethical reflection is critical to achieve global initiatives like the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and to create a healthier, more equitable world. At IEPI we view ethics as a tool to enable science, technology, and innovation for the public good.

With support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other funders, we work with international partners to identify and address ethical challenges, risks, and policy gaps, so that potentially life-saving innovations have a greater chance of impact where they are most needed. In fact, we have a front-row seat to some of today’s most exciting innovations on the global health landscape.

As Bill Gates penned in the Wall Street Journal in 2010, “Science can simplify the job, but the human piece is the ultimate test”. We have seen this play out repeatedly – most recently during the COVID-19 pandemic – which is why our characteristic approach to problem solving is ethical, social, and cultural (ESC) thinking.

As ESC thinkers, we acknowledge that no matter how elegant or effective a global health intervention is, there is no guarantee it will reach those who need it, so long as other concerns are not addressed – whether they be ethical, regulatory, or sociocultural in nature. Achieving the SDGs will require mobilization around the human pieces of the puzzle, and we view ESC Thinking as an essential tool in this endeavour.

IEPI is based in the Department of Philosophy at McMaster University, one of Canada’s top universities and a world-leading medical-doctoral research institution. McMaster is recognized worldwide for our collaborative, interdisciplinary approach to advancing human and societal health and well-being. In April 2021, McMaster was ranked first in Canada — and fourth in the world — for our commitment to SDG #3, Good Health and Well-Being. Our workspace is located at L.R. Wilson Hall Liberal Arts Building, a new, state-of-the-art facility for collaborative learning and research.

I hope you enjoy our newly redesigned website. We’re excited to tell our IEPI story, as we work with our many colleagues around the world to create a more equitable, sustainable, and ethical future.

Dr. Claudia I. Emerson

Founding Director, Institute on Ethics & Policy in Innovation (IEPI)

Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy

Associate Member, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences

Message from our Director, Dr. Claudia Emerson

Welcome, and thank you for your interest in the Institute on Ethics & Policy for Innovation (IEPI).

The global health landscape is complicated, and addressing the most pressing challenges requires us to navigate complex ethics issues. For example, how do we balance the search for innovation with the need to avoid harmful health and environmental outcomes? Should we create technology that will wipe out a species — if that leads to the eradication of a deadly disease? What ethical challenges must we consider when conducting research during a global pandemic? These are a few of the urgent questions we examine at IEPI.