Bryn Williams-Jones
@brynwj.bsky.social
Professor of Bioethics and Director of the Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health, Université de Montréal. Editor-in-chief Canadian Journal of Bioethics (https://cjb-rcb.ca); Substack (brynstorming.substack.com)
Rigid identity categories can fragment more than unite. Human identity is messy, evolving, and overlapping. Real inclusion means rejecting simplistic labels, fostering dialogue, and building structures where everyone belongs, so “safe spaces” become unnecessary.
Identity Politics and Difference / Politique identitaire et différence
Being different doesn’t mean being excluded / Être différent ne signifie pas être exclu
open.substack.com
November 4, 2025 at 11:57 AM
Rigid identity categories can fragment more than unite. Human identity is messy, evolving, and overlapping. Real inclusion means rejecting simplistic labels, fostering dialogue, and building structures where everyone belongs, so “safe spaces” become unnecessary.
The CJB/RCB (cjb-rcb.ca) has just published a special issue "MAiD in Canada: A Sober Second Look", edited by Daryl Pullman & Jennifer Flynn. It brings together leading voices in bioethics, law, philosophy, and healthcare to critically examine Canada’s evolving medical assistance in dying regime.
November 3, 2025 at 6:13 PM
The CJB/RCB (cjb-rcb.ca) has just published a special issue "MAiD in Canada: A Sober Second Look", edited by Daryl Pullman & Jennifer Flynn. It brings together leading voices in bioethics, law, philosophy, and healthcare to critically examine Canada’s evolving medical assistance in dying regime.
Welcome to the tangled thicket of academic writing, where clarity goes to die and jargon multiplies like gremlins after midnight. Fear not: armed with your vorpal pen, you can hack through the fluff, slay the Jabberwock, and rescue meaning from the clutches of sesquipedalian nonsense.
A Jabberwockian Guide to Bad Writing / Guide Jabberwockien pour une mauvaise écriture
Slashing through clichés, jargon, and footnote fog / Éliminer les clichés, le jargon et le brouillard des notes de bas de page
open.substack.com
October 28, 2025 at 10:42 AM
Welcome to the tangled thicket of academic writing, where clarity goes to die and jargon multiplies like gremlins after midnight. Fear not: armed with your vorpal pen, you can hack through the fluff, slay the Jabberwock, and rescue meaning from the clutches of sesquipedalian nonsense.
Students learn not only through formal instruction but by observing how their professors navigate academic life. Modelling ethical conduct, resilience in the face of failure, work-life balance, and intellectual curiosity plays a crucial role in shaping how students understand professionalism.
We Must be Role Models for our Students / Nous devons être des modèles pour nos étudiants
Show them how to find balance, pleasure and success / Montrez-leur comment trouver l'équilibre, le plaisir et la réussite
open.substack.com
October 21, 2025 at 10:39 AM
Students learn not only through formal instruction but by observing how their professors navigate academic life. Modelling ethical conduct, resilience in the face of failure, work-life balance, and intellectual curiosity plays a crucial role in shaping how students understand professionalism.
The Ministry of Language Refinement has issued an updated memorandum on lexical discipline, reaffirming the Party’s commitment to semantic clarity and identity standardization. Citizens are reminded: in Newspeak, there is no ambiguity, only alignment.
Newspeak Revisited / La novlangue revisitée
A satirical dispatch from the front lines of the language wars / Une dépêche satirique depuis le front des guerres linguistiques
open.substack.com
October 14, 2025 at 10:36 AM
The Ministry of Language Refinement has issued an updated memorandum on lexical discipline, reaffirming the Party’s commitment to semantic clarity and identity standardization. Citizens are reminded: in Newspeak, there is no ambiguity, only alignment.
Academic talks too often feel like PowerPoint purgatory — 80 slides in 20 minutes, lime-green text, and speakers who mumble while taping Morse code with a pen. The issue isn’t the research, it’s the delivery. Despite being in the business of ideas, academia treats communication like an afterthought.
Death by PowerPoint / Mort par PowerPoint
How academia learned to stop worrying and love the monotone / Comment le monde universitaire a appris à ne plus s'inquiéter et à apprécier la monotonie
open.substack.com
October 7, 2025 at 10:45 AM
Academic talks too often feel like PowerPoint purgatory — 80 slides in 20 minutes, lime-green text, and speakers who mumble while taping Morse code with a pen. The issue isn’t the research, it’s the delivery. Despite being in the business of ideas, academia treats communication like an afterthought.
Only a few days left to apply for an Assistant or Associate professor position in bioethics in the dynamic research and teaching environment that is the DMSP. Come join us in Montreal! #bioethics
The Department of Social and Preventive Medicine in the School of Public Health at the Université de Montréal is recruiting for a position at the rank of Assistant or Associate Professor in Bioethics.
Deadline: October 10, 2024
www.umontreal.ca/public/www/d...
Deadline: October 10, 2024
www.umontreal.ca/public/www/d...
October 6, 2025 at 4:27 PM
Only a few days left to apply for an Assistant or Associate professor position in bioethics in the dynamic research and teaching environment that is the DMSP. Come join us in Montreal! #bioethics
Academic life demands constant output, but our lives don’t always cooperate. Illness, caregiving and unexpected crises can derail even the best-laid plans. Real sustainability means learning to listen to our limits and adapting how and when we work.
When the Body Says Stop / Lorsque le corps dit « arrêt »
Rethinking productivity in academic life / Repenser la productivité dans la vie universitaire
open.substack.com
September 30, 2025 at 10:38 AM
Academic life demands constant output, but our lives don’t always cooperate. Illness, caregiving and unexpected crises can derail even the best-laid plans. Real sustainability means learning to listen to our limits and adapting how and when we work.
Pragmatic bioethics asks how justice, respect, and inclusion can be advanced in the real world — not just in theory. It’s about working within flawed systems, navigating complexity, and making progress without perfection. Less dogma, more dialogue. Less purity, more practice.
Pragmatic Bioethics / La bioéthique pragmatique
When "good enough" Is the best we can do / Quand « assez bien » est le mieux qu'on puisse faire
open.substack.com
September 23, 2025 at 10:35 AM
Pragmatic bioethics asks how justice, respect, and inclusion can be advanced in the real world — not just in theory. It’s about working within flawed systems, navigating complexity, and making progress without perfection. Less dogma, more dialogue. Less purity, more practice.
Sustaining an open access journal means balancing innovation, collaboration, and resourcefulness. Key challenges included securing stable funding and maintaining editorial quality with limited paid staff. Partnerships and community engagement were essential to our journal’s long-term viability.
Publish First, Finance Later / Publiez d'abord, financez ensuite
Building an open access journal on a shoestring budget / Créer une revue en libre accès avec un budget très limité
open.substack.com
September 16, 2025 at 10:46 AM
Sustaining an open access journal means balancing innovation, collaboration, and resourcefulness. Key challenges included securing stable funding and maintaining editorial quality with limited paid staff. Partnerships and community engagement were essential to our journal’s long-term viability.
The Department of Social and Preventive Medicine in the School of Public Health at the Université de Montréal is recruiting for a position at the rank of Assistant or Associate Professor in Bioethics.
Deadline: October 10, 2024
www.umontreal.ca/public/www/d...
Deadline: October 10, 2024
www.umontreal.ca/public/www/d...
September 12, 2025 at 3:11 PM
The Department of Social and Preventive Medicine in the School of Public Health at the Université de Montréal is recruiting for a position at the rank of Assistant or Associate Professor in Bioethics.
Deadline: October 10, 2024
www.umontreal.ca/public/www/d...
Deadline: October 10, 2024
www.umontreal.ca/public/www/d...
From chronic illness to caregiving, mental health to neurodivergence, people navigate hidden struggles. Real inclusion means listening without judgment, adapting with care, and building systems that accommodate and expect difference. Sometimes the most meaningful change isn’t structural, it’s human.
Hidden Differences / Des différences cachées
Our colleagues' differences or disabilities are not always evident / Les différences ou les handicaps de nos collègues ne sont pas toujours évidents
open.substack.com
September 9, 2025 at 10:42 AM
From chronic illness to caregiving, mental health to neurodivergence, people navigate hidden struggles. Real inclusion means listening without judgment, adapting with care, and building systems that accommodate and expect difference. Sometimes the most meaningful change isn’t structural, it’s human.
Bureaucracy is a sprawling labyrinth. Surviving isn’t just about filling out forms; it’s about learning the rules of a strange game where logic doesn’t always apply, allies are rare, and every decision sends you down a new path.
Dealing with Bureaucracy / Faire face à la bureaucratie
How to find a path through the labyrinth / Comment trouver son chemin dans un labyrinthe
open.substack.com
September 2, 2025 at 10:38 AM
Bureaucracy is a sprawling labyrinth. Surviving isn’t just about filling out forms; it’s about learning the rules of a strange game where logic doesn’t always apply, allies are rare, and every decision sends you down a new path.
Research doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Balancing ideals with pragmatism means knowing when to adapt, when to push back, and how to find space for meaningful work. The challenge is staying true to your questions while navigating the system that decides which ones get asked.
Follow the Money / Suivre l'argent
Idealistic, instrumental and pragmatic approaches to funding research / Approches idéalistes, instrumentales et pragmatiques du financement de la recherche
open.substack.com
August 26, 2025 at 10:39 AM
Research doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Balancing ideals with pragmatism means knowing when to adapt, when to push back, and how to find space for meaningful work. The challenge is staying true to your questions while navigating the system that decides which ones get asked.
“Where do you find the time?” is a frequent question from colleagues when they learn about this weekly blog. The answer is that this writing is done for fun, as a form of leisure. More fundamental though, writing (and talking) is a means of thinking “out loud”; to not write would be unfathomable.
Thinking Out Loud / Penser tout haut
Communication as a means to externalize ideas / La communication comme moyen d'exprimer ses idées
open.substack.com
June 24, 2025 at 11:15 AM
“Where do you find the time?” is a frequent question from colleagues when they learn about this weekly blog. The answer is that this writing is done for fun, as a form of leisure. More fundamental though, writing (and talking) is a means of thinking “out loud”; to not write would be unfathomable.
Public health researchers and professionals run the risk of falling into a missionary complex, being convinced that the people they want to help “need” this help. Mitigating this professional bias requires humility and a continual questioning of intentions, actions and outcomes.
Beware the Missionary Complex / Attention au complexe du missionnaire
You can help but you don't have to save / Vous pouvez aider, mais vous n'êtes pas obligé de sauver
open.substack.com
June 17, 2025 at 10:52 AM
Public health researchers and professionals run the risk of falling into a missionary complex, being convinced that the people they want to help “need” this help. Mitigating this professional bias requires humility and a continual questioning of intentions, actions and outcomes.
Wanting to help a colleague is a good thing. But if taken too far, this helping can impinge on that person’s autonomy, ignoring their agency and capacity to be responsible. We must give space to our colleagues to do their own work, to reap the rewards of their successes, and sometimes to fail.
Helping Too Much / Aider à outrance
It’s good to want to help, but within limits / Il est louable de vouloir aider, mais dans certaines limites
open.substack.com
June 10, 2025 at 4:28 PM
Wanting to help a colleague is a good thing. But if taken too far, this helping can impinge on that person’s autonomy, ignoring their agency and capacity to be responsible. We must give space to our colleagues to do their own work, to reap the rewards of their successes, and sometimes to fail.
Being responsible for our own actions and emotions, and not those of other people, is not always easy. “Own your own shit” is a humorous reminder to not take on another person’s issues. This allows us to identify that for which we’re responsible, and to let others assume their own responsibilities.
The Limits of Responsibility / Les limites de la responsabilité
Own your own shit and let others deal with theirs / Démerdez-vous avec vos propres affaires et laissez les autres s’occuper des leurs
open.substack.com
June 3, 2025 at 12:38 PM
Being responsible for our own actions and emotions, and not those of other people, is not always easy. “Own your own shit” is a humorous reminder to not take on another person’s issues. This allows us to identify that for which we’re responsible, and to let others assume their own responsibilities.
The Canadian Bioethics Society accepts nominations for two awards in recognition of those who have made significant contributions to bioethics in Canada. cbs-scb.ca/awards/
May 29, 2025 at 5:27 PM
The Canadian Bioethics Society accepts nominations for two awards in recognition of those who have made significant contributions to bioethics in Canada. cbs-scb.ca/awards/
Betrayal can be painful, long-lasting, and affect relationships. It’s not just about the betrayer; it’s about the betrayed person’s experience and self-perception. While some argue for second chances, repeat offenders may remain untrustworthy in both their personal and professional lives.
The Betrayal / La trahison
Dealing with a broken trust is hard / Il est difficile de faire face à un bris de confiance
open.substack.com
May 27, 2025 at 12:38 PM
Betrayal can be painful, long-lasting, and affect relationships. It’s not just about the betrayer; it’s about the betrayed person’s experience and self-perception. While some argue for second chances, repeat offenders may remain untrustworthy in both their personal and professional lives.
Bioethics needs interesting problems so that it can help find meaningful solutions. Doing interdisciplinary collaborative or “embedded” research is an effective way to identify problems, build rewarding relationships and contribute to making a difference in how science is conducted.
Embedded Bioethics / La bioéthique intégrée
Doing ethics from the inside, with or within teams / Faire de l'éthique de l'intérieur, avec ou au sein des équipes
open.substack.com
May 20, 2025 at 10:52 AM
Bioethics needs interesting problems so that it can help find meaningful solutions. Doing interdisciplinary collaborative or “embedded” research is an effective way to identify problems, build rewarding relationships and contribute to making a difference in how science is conducted.
- Call for Contributions / Appel à contributions: lnkd.in/em3UsFNw
- Register for the Bioethics Community Forum / Inscrire au forum communautaire de bioéthique : lnkd.in/ecTfGKSW
- Register for the Bioethics Community Forum / Inscrire au forum communautaire de bioéthique : lnkd.in/ecTfGKSW
May 13, 2025 at 12:57 PM
- Call for Contributions / Appel à contributions: lnkd.in/em3UsFNw
- Register for the Bioethics Community Forum / Inscrire au forum communautaire de bioéthique : lnkd.in/ecTfGKSW
- Register for the Bioethics Community Forum / Inscrire au forum communautaire de bioéthique : lnkd.in/ecTfGKSW
Investing time and energy to learn a skill or develop a projet is important, but despite our best efforts, not all projects will come to fruition. Sometimes giving up is the rational thing to do — this is not a failure but the step toward future success.
Knowing When to Give Up / Savoir quand abandonner
Cutting your losses is not a failure, it can be the rational thing to do / Réduire ses pertes n’est pas un échec, c’est parfois la chose rationnelle à faire
open.substack.com
May 13, 2025 at 12:25 PM
Investing time and energy to learn a skill or develop a projet is important, but despite our best efforts, not all projects will come to fruition. Sometimes giving up is the rational thing to do — this is not a failure but the step toward future success.
We've just published a double issue of the Canadian Journal of Bioethics, with an Open issue of texts on research ethics, MAID, clinical ethics, reproductive ethics, genetic testing, and more; and a small Special issue on the lessons for bioethics from the COVID-19 pandemic. 2025;8(1-2). cjb-rcb.ca
May 9, 2025 at 10:40 AM
We've just published a double issue of the Canadian Journal of Bioethics, with an Open issue of texts on research ethics, MAID, clinical ethics, reproductive ethics, genetic testing, and more; and a small Special issue on the lessons for bioethics from the COVID-19 pandemic. 2025;8(1-2). cjb-rcb.ca
The line between the personal and the professional may not always be clear. Sometimes this blurring is healthy and a driver of excellence, but other times it can lead to unprofessional behaviour. Managing these tensions requires reflexivity, humility, and a willingness to redraw the line.
Academic or Activist? / Académique ou activiste?
Separating the personal from the professional is not always easy / Séparer le personnel du professionnel n'est pas toujours facile
open.substack.com
May 6, 2025 at 10:45 AM
The line between the personal and the professional may not always be clear. Sometimes this blurring is healthy and a driver of excellence, but other times it can lead to unprofessional behaviour. Managing these tensions requires reflexivity, humility, and a willingness to redraw the line.