Dr. Mercury Shitindo

Mercury Shitindo is a bioethicist, research governance specialist and global science policy advisor working at the intersection of ethics, biotechnology and equitable development across Africa. She is the Executive Director of the Africa Bioethics Network (ABN), a pan-African platform spanning 42 countries and more than 1,300 members, and Editor-in-Chief of the African Journal of Bioethics.
She serves on the UNESCO International Bioethics Committee (2026–2029) and advises leading global scientific and health institutions on ethics and governance. Her current roles include Consultant to the WHO Ethics Review Committee Secretariat, Ethics Expert for the European Commission's Horizon Europe programme, Researcher-Director on the ORCID Board, and Member of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Standing Committee on Science. She also contributes to ethics and data governance initiatives in genomics and AI, including GEN-IMPACT, the Human Cell Atlas Ethics Working Group and the APHRC/Gates Foundation Ethics and Data Governance Advisory Committee.
Her scholarship develops African-led ethical frameworks for science and emerging technologies, including the concepts of "ethical quieting" and "design parity," which examine how local knowledge systems and implementation realities can be marginalised within global governance structures and how governance frameworks can instead be co-designed with the contexts in which they are applied. She led the development of a WHO-funded continental climate-health ethics framework validated across five African regions, and her work has contributed to guidance on genomics governance, research integrity and equitable research partnerships.

Mercury Shitindo is a bioethicist, research governance specialist and global science policy advisor working at the intersection of ethics, biotechnology and equitable development across Africa. She is the Executive Director of the Africa Bioethics Network (ABN), a pan-African platform spanning 42 countries and more than 1,300 members, and Editor-in-Chief of the African Journal of Bioethics.
She serves on the UNESCO International Bioethics Committee (2026–2029) and advises leading global scientific and health institutions on ethics and governance. Her current roles include Consultant to the WHO Ethics Review Committee Secretariat, Ethics Expert for the European Commission's Horizon Europe programme, Researcher-Director on the ORCID Board, and Member of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Standing Committee on Science. She also contributes to ethics and data governance initiatives in genomics and AI, including GEN-IMPACT, the Human Cell Atlas Ethics Working Group and the APHRC/Gates Foundation Ethics and Data Governance Advisory Committee.
Her scholarship develops African-led ethical frameworks for science and emerging technologies, including the concepts of "ethical quieting" and "design parity," which examine how local knowledge systems and implementation realities can be marginalised within global governance structures and how governance frameworks can instead be co-designed with the contexts in which they are applied. She led the development of a WHO-funded continental climate-health ethics framework validated across five African regions, and her work has contributed to guidance on genomics governance, research integrity and equitable research partnerships.