Rate My Professor Jonathan Ives

Professor Jonathan Ives is Professor of Empirical Bioethics and Head of Population Health Sciences in Bristol Medical School (Population Health Sciences) at the University of Bristol. He earned his BA and MPhil in philosophy from the University of Birmingham between 2000 and 2004, followed by a Wellcome Trust-funded PhD in biomedical ethics from the same institution. Additionally, he holds a PGCert LTHE. Ives joined the University of Bristol's Centre for Ethics in Medicine in 2016 as a senior lecturer, advancing to Reader in Empirical Bioethics and then Professor. He serves as Deputy Director of the Centre for Ethics in Medicine, working across clinical and research ethics. His expertise centers on empirical bioethics methodology, with research interests encompassing AI in health, best interests decision-making, moral distress, reproductive ethics, research ethics, and innovation in healthcare.

Ives has significantly influenced empirical bioethics through pioneering publications, including 'A method of reflexive balancing in a pragmatic, interdisciplinary and reflexive bioethics' (Bioethics, 2014), which has been widely cited for integrating normative and empirical approaches. Other key works include 'What is 'moral distress'? A narrative synthesis of the literature' (Nursing Ethics, 2019, with Georgina Morley et al.), 'Standards of practice in empirical bioethics research' (BMC Medical Ethics, 2018, with Michael Dunn et al.), and 'Moral Distress and Austerity: An Avoidable Ethical Challenge in Healthcare' (2020). He co-edited the influential volume Empirical Bioethics: Theoretical and Practical Perspectives (Cambridge University Press, 2017). Ives leads Workstream 3 of the BABEL project on Best Interests and Empirical Bioethics, focusing on methodology, impact, and public engagement. In 2023, he received an appointment to the NICE Highly Specialised Technology Evaluation Committee. He organises the annual Empirical Bioethics Summer School, delivered his inaugural lecture in 2024, and has contributed to public discourse through BBC interviews and Daily Mail quotes on AI ethics in healthcare.