Translation. Region: Russian Federation –
Source: Novosibirsk State University –
An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
Scientists Institute of Philosophy and Law of NSU initiated the publication of Russia's first scientific research encyclopedic dictionary. Currently, 300 terms have been described. The publication's editorial board includes leading experts in biolaw and bioethics, representing scientific schools in Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk, Chelyabinsk, Yekaterinburg, Tomsk, and Moscow. Among the invited experts are professors and associate professors from the Institute of Philosophy and Law and Institute of Medicine and Medical Technologies of NSU, Institute of Philosophy and Law of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, O.E. Kutafin Moscow State Law University (MSAL), Higher School of Economics, Ural State Law University named after V.F. Yakovlev, Law Institute of Tomsk State University, MGIMO University of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, N.A. Semashko National Research Institute of Public Health, and Lomonosov Moscow State University.
The book is planned to be published in 2026 by one of the major Moscow publishing houses specializing in scientific publications on similar topics; both print and electronic versions will be available.
The research and publication of the dictionary was supported by the Russian Science Foundation grant No. 25-18-00338 “Anthropological bioconstitutionalism and the achievement of bioethical well-being in the system of ensuring humanitarian biosecurity: human dignity and new human rights in legal ontology and biosocial reproduction.”The grant is for three years and, in addition to the dictionary, includes thematic roundtable discussions, the publication of collective monographs, and proposals for changes to current Russian legislation.
There are publications on global and European bioethics worldwide, and this field is currently supported by UNESCO, with which Russia actively collaborates. However, in our country, no encyclopedias have yet been published that present legal bioethics as an interdisciplinary field.
"This is a study, not exactly a dictionary. In our country, physicians and philosophers publish bioethics textbooks, and, as a rule, they are aimed at different cultural environments. Philosophers publish bioethics textbooks primarily for use by philosophy students. And physicians create bioethics textbooks for use by medical students. Legal bioethics combines three areas: human rights in this area, biomedicine and the ethics of medical research, and the ethics of conduct for healthcare professionals. Thus, our publication is intended not only for the professional community—physicians—but also for lawyers, philosophers, and members of ethics committees," explained Igor Kravets, Doctor of Law, Professor, Head of the Department of Constitutional and Municipal Law, Chief Research Fellow at the Institute of Philosophy and Law at NSU, and project manager.
The dictionary's editorial board included approximately 20 researchers from four scientific schools—the Ural, Siberian, Krasnoyarsk, and Moscow. Among the participants were leading experts such as Andrey Medushevsky, Doctor of Philosophy and Professor at the Higher School of Economics (HSE), Mikhail Kotlovsky, Doctor of Medicine and Chief Researcher at the N.A. Sechenov National Research Institute of Public Health. Semashko" (Moscow), Valentina Komarova, Doctor of Law, Professor (MSAL), Olga Andreeva, Doctor of Law, Professor (Tomsk), Andrey Kondrashev, Doctor of Law, Professor (Krasnoyarsk), Irina Krylatova, Candidate of Law, Associate Professor (Ekaterinburg), Georgy Romanovsky, Doctor of Law, Professor (Saransk), Andrey Tulupov, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Novosibirsk), Elena Titova, Doctor of Law, Professor (Chelyabinsk), Alexandra Troitskaya, Doctor of Law, Professor (Moscow) and other experts.
The dictionary's structure has now been established, and a table of key terms has been compiled. These terms are divided into five major sections: theory and history of bioethics, relationship with human rights; biomedicine and branches of law; bioethics and law enforcement practice; bioethics and healthcare; neuroethics and human neurorights. The structure of each term has been developed. It includes a conceptual level, that is, a definition and information about the scientific discussion of the concept or theory underlying the term; a problematic level, that is, problems of implementation and use of the term; the relationship between ethical and legal aspects in the term; and its practical implementation—either at the level of terminology or the specific institution designated by the term at the international and Russian levels.
The total number of terms described currently exceeds 300. Among the concepts presented in the dictionary are legal bioethics, a term that is still emerging; bioethical rights; neurolaw; neuroethics; cognitive dignity; biocriminology; and others.
The dictionary is compiled using UNESCO materials, reports, the results of the work of bioethics committees and scientific research, in particular the journals Bioethics, Medical Bioethics, and journals at the intersection of life sciences, human rights and law.
During the three-year period of the grant supporting the dictionary's publication, various research projects are planned within the designated topic. This year, articles were published on biosecurity and state guarantees of human biorights. On December 5, 2025, a roundtable discussion was held at NSU, which also served as a pilot study for the research conducted in the field of legal bioethics in 2025. In the third year of implementation, a collective monograph on legal bioethics is planned to be published, involving all participants who worked on the encyclopedic dictionary.
Importantly, the project has a practical focus: based on its results, it is planned to prepare three sets of proposals for improving legislation in the field of biolaw and biomedicine. The first is a proposal for legislation on public health protection. The second set, arising from it, concerns legislation on compulsory health insurance. The third set is so-called related legislation on the legal status of individuals participating in various biomedical research, the practice of establishing ethics committees, and the exercise of rights in biomedicine. This set will address issues of legal modeling and the organization of healthcare governance, and will also include the preparation of model acts regulating the activities of bioethics committees and bioethics centers.
Another result of the project will be the creation of a Center for Bioneuroethics and Bioneurolaw at Novosibirsk State University.
"Our university possesses a rare quality: we have philosophical, legal, and medical education—specialists in each of these three fields. Therefore, it's possible to create a center that will conduct research in the field of bioneurolaw, provide expert opinions, and participate in state assignments to study these issues. This will be an interdisciplinary center, inviting experts from other educational and scientific centers in Russia," added Igor Kravets.
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