TECHNIS is pleased to invite you to a free webinar. TECHNIS webinars focus on recent legal, economic, managerial, ethical and policy issues related to technological innovation. Our approach is interdisciplinary and presentations are given by experts in different fields such as economics, law, management, STS, sociology, anthropology and philosophy. Webinar presentations last for 20min and are followed by a 40min discussion.

Please join us for a webinar on Tuesday the 21st of April 2026 at 11:00 London time i.e. 12:00 Brussels time, 13:00 Athens time. The speaker is Matthias Braun, University of Bonn. The title of the talk is "Represent me: please! Towards an ethics of digital twins in medicine". The paper can be found at

https://jme.bmj.com/content/47/6/394

This webinar is free and open to all. The moderator is Dr. Andreas Panagopoulos. 

Join Zoom Meeting: https://uoc-gr.zoom.us/j/84642993639?pwd=4mpCWh3kXwL7TeODcCa7UZ9cKEbbYU.1

Meeting ID: 846 4299 3639
Passcode: 532636 

Abstract: Simulations are used in very different contexts and for very different purposes. An emerging development is the possibility of using simulations to obtain a more or less representative reproduction of organs or even entire persons. Such simulations are framed and discussed using the term ‘digital twin’. This paper unpacks and scrutinises the current use of such digital twins in medicine and the ideas embedded in this practice. First, the paper maps the different types of digital twins. A special focus is put on the concrete challenges inherent in the interactions between persons and their digital twin. Second, the paper addresses the questions of how far a digital twin can represent a person and what the consequences of this may be. Against the background of these two analytical steps, the paper defines first conditions for digital twins to take on an ethically justifiable form of representation.

Short Bio: Matthias Braun is Professor of Ethics and Director of the department of Social Ethics at University of Bonn. Further he is a Research Associate at the University of Oxford. Formerly he has conducted research at the Universities of Bergen (Norway), Maastricht (Netherlands) and Erlangen (Germany). Matthias Braun's research focuses on questions of political ethics, ethical and governance-related challenges of new technologies, as well as questions of justice and solidarity. 

Matthias work has been published in high-impact scientific journals and he has been invited to give numerous national and international lectures and talks. His work has been published in prestigious journals in the humanities and social sciences (American Journal of Bioethics, Journal of Medical Ethics, Science and Engineering Ethics, Big Data and Society) as well as in the life sciences (Cell, Science, Nature, Nature Digital Medicine). The overarching theme is how sameness and commonality in societies are conceived and understood, and what role new technologies such as artificial intelligence, digital twins and genome editing play in this context. The fundamental normative point is the vulnerability of human life forms and their need for recognition, especially in negotiation processes concerning the use of new technologies.

In 2022 he has been awarded with an ERC Starting Grant and in 2023 with a Falling Walls Award (Social Science and Humanities). In 2024 the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation awarded him as a Henriette Herz Scout. He is further Principal Investigator in the Collaborative Research Center 1483 "EmpkinS", funded by the German Research Foundation, as well as PI in the Horizon Europe Project GEMINI. He further serves as a senator at the university of Bonn as well as in several international commissions, consortia and think tanks.