On behalf of the Grífols Foundation UVic-UCC Chair of Bioethics, it is our pleasure to invite you to the 2nd International Bioethics Conference to be held on 17 and 18 November 2022 in the city of Vic (near Barcelona), following on from the success of our first conference, held in January 2019.

The theme of this year's event is "Horizons of Bioethics", and it will provide an opportunity for shared reflection on some of the most pressing issues in bioethics, questions that affect us today and will continue to do so in the future. The conference will be organized around four themes, and any papers or presentations should relate to one of these:

• Impact of technologies: health and well-being: technology puts our fate in our own hands for the first time in the history of humanity, but this brings with it a requirement to reflect on how to manage our enormous power in a creative and responsible manner.
• Applied ethics in a society between pandemics: the COVID-19 health crisis has shaken the whole world. As a result, we have become more aware of the importance of ethics in our society, whether with regard to the exemplary work of all the professionals involved in dealing with the pandemic, the difficulty of taking decisions that restrict people's lives, and the question of how responsibility is shared between the authorities and ordinary people. We want to reflect on how to continue to value personal, social and professional ethics and the ethics of organizations, both in the context of major crises and in more normal settings.
• Challenges of teaching bioethics: learning how to act ethically in one's professional practice continues to be one of the main concerns of teachers, of members of ethics committees, and of health managers. That's why it's important to share progress in pedagogical innovation, whether in secondary schools, the university sector or health institutions.
• Discomfort with death: transhumanism vs. euthanasia: our society is uncomfortable in the face of death. Some, such as the transhumanists, seek to avoid it altogether, while others defend their right to decide when to put an end to their own lives, through euthanasia or assisted suicide. These two very different stances towards death create an interesting context for debate, even more so since it came into force in Spain and Organic Law 3/2021 regulating euthanasia is being applied.

The event will involve a combination of lectures and panel discussions, with the latter being structured around open debate between experts in which everyone is invited to participate. Guest speakers include Victoria Camps (philosopher and president of the Victor Grifols and Lucas Foundation) and Joseph Fins (physician and director of medical ethics at New York Presbyterian Hospital).

We hope you find the programme appealing and that you will submit short presentations for inclusion in this event.

Yours,

Núria Terribas, director