Young researchers from Catholic universities around the world gathered on the Australian Catholic University (ACU)’s Rome campus earlier in April to present research showing the importance of placing vulnerability at the centre of healthcare and ethics.
Doctoral students from seven member universities of the Strategic Alliance of Catholic Research Universities (SACRU) joined leaders of Catholic institutions and healthcare for the roundtable seminar.
Led by Associate Professor David Kirchhoffer, director of the Queensland Bioethics Centre at ACU and chair of the SACRU Working Group on Vulnerability, the event coincided with the Jubilee for the Sick and the Healthcare Workers.
In 2024, the SACRU Working Group on Vulnerability engaged with doctoral students who are investigating various topics related to healthcare and ethics. This included ACU PhD candidates Lachlan Green, who is investigating social and ecological justice in residential aged care, and Geetanjali Rogers, who is researching the ethics of physician assisted suicide.
Honoured guests at the SACRU roundtable seminar included Ambassador Designate to the Holy See, The Honourable Keith Pitt, on his first visit to the ACU Rome Campus, and ACU Pro-Chancellor and Chair of the Board of Mercy Health Australia, Virginia Bourke, as well as SACRU members.
Professor Pier Sandro Cocconcelli, SACRU’s Secretary General, reaffirmed the alliance’s commitment to fostering dialogue and ethical leadership through academic collaboration. “In a global context marked by deep inequalities and growing mistrust in science,” he said, “this panel demonstrates how academic research can once again place human dignity at the centre and contribute concretely to the common good.”
Source: Vatican News