Members and contact
The Nordic Committee on Bioethics is under the auspices of NordForsk since 1 January 2014. The Committee has two members from each Nordic country, as well as observers from The Faroe Islands and Åland Islands.
The Committee’s aim is to advance a multidisciplinary dialogue, thus its members represent, for instance, philosophy, medicine, sociology, biology, biotechnology, theology, and law.
Contact
Chair 2023
Tuija Takala
Research director at the Aalto university Department of Management Studies
E-mail: tuija-maija.takala@aalto.fi
NordForsk
Stensberggata 27, 0170 Oslo
Norway
Email: bethina.strandberg-jensen@nordforsk.org
Members of the committee

Janne Rothmar Herrman
Denmark
JUR Centre for Advanced Studies in Biomedical Innovation Law, University of Copenhagen
Appointed: 2020
About
Janne Rothmar Herrmann is Professor with special responsibilities in health law and technology at the Faculty of Law, University of Copenhagen. She is also governor of the World Association of Medical Law and member of the Danish Dataethics Council. Recent and ongoing work within the topics of reproductive rights, abortion, health data and assisted reproduction. Currently engaged in a research project on “Technologies of Death and Dying at the Beginning of Life” and a research project on “Reconceptualising Reproductive Rights”.

Tuija Takala
Finland
Aalto University
Appointed: 2021
About
Tuija-Maija Takala is currently working as a research director at the Aalto university Department of Management Studies. She is also an adjunct professor at the University of Helsinki at the Faculty of Social Sciences and supervisor for doctoral programme in Philosophy, Arts, and Society. Among other positions of trust, she has been the President of the European Society for Philosophy of Medicine and Health Care (2011-2013), a member of the Research Ethics Committee of Aalto University (2018-2021) and a Permanent Expert in Philosophical Bioethics Finnish Office for Health Technology Assessment / National Research and Development Center for Welfare and Health (2006-2016).

Riitta Salmelin
Finland
Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering, Aalto University
Appointed: 2018
About
She is a professor of imaging neuroscience at Aalto University, Finland. Her primary field is cognitive neuroscience, with original training up to PhD in physics. She currently serves as member of the Finnish National Board on Research Integrity (TENK). Her research focuses on determining how noninvasive functional neuroimaging methods can be used informatively to characterise neural and cognitive processing in humans, with a special emphasis on the neural organisation of language function.

Sigurður Kristinsson
Iceland
University of Akureyri
Appointed: 2017
About
He has a Ph.D. in philosophy, specialising in moral and political philosophy as well as applied ethics. Fields of interest include autonomy and informed consent in contexts of health care and research, professional ethics, reproductive ethics, nursing ethics, criminal justice ethics, and media ethics. Currently engaged in research on the democratic role and function of universities.

Guðrún Valdimarsdóttir
Iceland
University of Iceland
Appointed: 2019
About
Gudrun Valdimarsdóttir obtained her PhD degree in molecular biology from Uppsala University. She is associate professor at the faculty of medicine, University of Iceland. Her research focus lies within the field of human embryonic stem cells and cardiovascular development and disease, including tumour angiogenesis. Gudrun is a board member of the Biomedical Center, University of Iceland and a member of the International Society of Stem Cell Research (ISSCR).

Eirik Joakim Tranvåg
Norway
The Norwegian Biotechnology Advisory Board
Appointed: 2022
About
Eirik Joakim Tranvåg work as a senior advisor in the Norwegian Biotechnology Advisory Board. He is a medical doctor with a PhD in medical ethics and priority setting, where he investigated the relationship between personalized medicine and concepts of fairness. He has a special interest in regulation and priority setting of new treatments and technologies, like gene therapy, xenotransplantation and advanced reproductive technologies. Other fields of interests are global health and biotechnology, clinical ethics and genetic testing.
Kerstin Nilsson
Sweden
Örebro University
Appointed: 2022
About
Kerstin Nilsson is a senior professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Örebro University. She is chair of the board of the Swedish Agency for Health Technology Assessment and Assessment of Social Services (SBU), and a board member of the Swedish Society for Obstetrics and Gynecology. She has previously been a member of the Swedish Medical Society’s board and its chairman during 2014-2016. Her research has been clinical studies in the research fields of gynecological endocrinology and urogenital diseases.

Madeleine Hayenhjelm
Sweden
Department of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies, University of Umeå
Appointed: 2018
About
Madeleine Hayenhjelm has a PhD in philosophy and is a senior lecturer in practical philosophy at Umeå University. Fields of interests: ethical theory and ethical aspects of risk, public policy, and uncertain outcomes. Current topics include the moral dimensions of precaution, the human germline as a moral boundary, moral reparations, and reparability as a moral constraint. She is currently involved in a three-year research project on the ethical aspects of the gene-editing tool CRISPR/Cas9.

Bethina Strandberg-Jensen
Adviser
NordForsk