Our public events explore current, controversial and challenging issues in our field. Most of the events take place in the evening, are free to attend, and are open to everyone.
Annual Conference
Our Annual Conference is a one-day event, held towards the end of each year, which explores issues surrounding assisted reproduction and genomics in greater depth. There is an attendance fee for the conference, with concessions offered to Friends of PET and to unwaged people (including students).
We also advertise other organisations' events. If you would like us to advertise your event, please contact us.
What others say about our events
Great enthusiasm on part of both the speakers and audience. Always amazed at how accessible and thought-provoking PET events are.
I liked the way the audience were given time to comment rather than just ask questions.
Amazing ethical debate, lots of views expressed very concisely and good interactions with crowd.
Balanced discussion, thought-provoking.
Moving stories that highlight the many ethical questions.
In 2020-2021:
- 96% of people attending a PET event said they were better informed as a result of attending.
- 98% of people attending a PET event rated the events as excellent/good.
- 89% of people attending a PET event said the chance to voice their opinion was excellent/good.
PET events help you stay ahead of the game
We have been responsible for starting the public discussion of a wide range of contentious and complex issues at our events.
- Our 2016 Annual Conference, 'Rethinking the Ethics of Embryo Research: Genome Editing, 14 Days and Beyond', was the first conference to include the general public which explored editing the genomes of human embryos and extending the 14-day limit on human embryo research.
- Our 2012 event 'Freeing Us from Our Cells: Avoiding Inherited Mitochondrial Disease' was the first public event to explore mitochondrial donation, three years before the UK became the first country in the world to legislate for mitochondrial donation.
- Our 2009 Annual Conference, 'Does Genetics Matter? Help, Hype and the New Horizon of Epigenetics', was the first conference open to the public that explored epigenetics.
- Our 2008 event 'Artificial Gametes: The What, Why and How of Creating Sperm and Eggs in the Laboratory' was the first public event to explore the technology now known as in vitro gametogenesis (IVG).