Animal protection issues are being advanced increasingly by Non-Government Organisations, yet the views of their supporters are little understood. We surveyed attitudes towards animals and other social issues in 3,462 university students from over 103 universities in eleven European and Asian countries. The extent to which those respondents that supported animal protection organisations had more concern for animals than those who did not support such organisations was investigated, and whether this concern was generalised to other world social issues. Of the respondents, 36% sometimes and 6% very often supported animal protection organisations and 2% identified themselves as key members. Supporters and key members had increased scores on indices that measured their concerns for animal welfare (+ 6%), animals in experimentation (+ 7%), and other major social issues (+ 5%), compared with non-supporters. Supporters were also likely to have lived with pets for longer, suggesting that this was one of the drivers for their increased concern for animals. Key members of the organisations rated the sentience of humans lower (-9%) than other students rated them, and nearer to that of animals. The level of support for the organisations was directly related to avoidance of poultry, pork and beef meat. It is concluded that support for animal protection organisations is an indicator of attitudes towards animals and other social issues, and food consumption habits.

The coronavirus crisis is causing considerable disruption and anguish. However, the COVID-19 pandemic and consequent explosion of telehealth services also provide an unparalleled opportunity to consider ethical, legal, and social issues (ELSI) beyond immediate needs. Ethicists, informaticians, and others can learn from experience, and evaluate information technology practices and evidence on which to base policy and standards, identify significant values and issues, and revise ethical guidelines. This paper builds on professional organizations’ guidelines and ELSI scholarship to develop emerging concerns illuminated by current experience. Four ethical themes characterized previous literature: quality of care and the doctor–patient relationship, access, consent, and privacy. More attention is needed to these and to expanding the scope of ethical analysis to include health information technologies. An applied ethics approach to ELSI would addresses context-specific issues and the relationships between people and technologies, and facilitate effective and ethical institutionalization of telehealth and other health information technologies.

The agricultural community is currently involved in a debate with other members of society concerning many of the tools and tactics used to grow food. The discipline of weed science represents a microcosm of this larger societal debate, and thus is indicative of many other applied agricultural disciplines. Weed science comprises six fundamental disciplines, which have been arranged to depict its three major areas of research: weed technology, weed biology, and the ethics of weed control. Insight into those components of the debate that involve weed science is gained by examining each area. It seems unlikely that solutions to the “neckriddle” can be found through traditional research because of the integrative nature of agriculture, which involves environmental, economic, and social components. It is hoped that movement toward more holistic approaches to research will lead to resolution of the debate between society and the agricultural community.

In 1983 the Fourth Australian Family Therapy Conference had the theme ‘Merging the Streams — Integrating Trends in Family Therapy’. In his keynote address Brian Stagoll outlined concerns regarding the nature of family therapy as it was then developing in Australia. This article revisits some of these themes to see where we have come from, where we are heading and which topics continue to be ignored. Evidence is drawn from articles that stood out for me in the Australian Journal of Family Therapy (later the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy) and selected relevant papers from the 1983 conference itself. Finally, I speculate upon possible reasons for the absence of discussion on certain issues, most strikingly: systemic influences upon indigenous Australians, farm families, working with children in families, certain aspects of gender, the systemic implications of addiction; and environmental impacts on families now and for the future. The danger for family therapy is becoming stuck in a closed system that ignores the wider system.

Background: Since its inception, the field of health technology assessment (HTA) has stressed the need for consideration of ethical and social issues. However, few concepts or analytic tools have been developed, and because of the complexity of the endeavor and a lack of integration of work already produced, such concepts remain difficult to apply in HTA.

Objectives: Through a descriptive “map” of concepts, tools, and processes, we summarize the most tangible efforts on the part of HTA producers to address social and ethical issues.

Methods: A literature review and content analysis of HTA reports in the Centre for Reviews and Dissemination database enables a synthesis of the reflections on, initiatives around, and gaps in knowledge related to the integration of social and ethical issues in HTA.

Results: We examine: (i) the aim of integrating ethical and social issues in HTA, (ii) the theoretical approaches used, (iii) the methods and processes applied, and (iv) the implications for HTA producers. We highlight two levels at which social and ethical issues can be considered: throughout the production process of HTA reports and as part of the organizational structure of HTA agencies.

Conclusions: Given the profound societal changes that occur in relation to healthcare technology development, HTA producers have a responsibility to inform and enlighten technology-related public and policy debates. Fulfilling this role, though, requires that socioethical dimensions of technology and HTA are made explicit.