Independent Researcher & Public Ethicist
Based in Istanbul, he explores public ethics, bioethics, conscience, and institutional responsibility, with particular attention to human dignity, vulnerability, and dialogue across religious and cultural traditions.
Writings
Research Focus
Death determination, organ donation, the Dead Donor Rule, moral certainty, and institutional responsibility.
Classical kalām, taḥrīf discourse, Muslim reception of St Paul, and frameworks for honest theological disagreement.
Augustine, Aquinas, John Chrysostom, synodality, pastoral authority, and the renewal of ecclesial life.
Bioethics Research
This research asks how Catholic moral theology can speak truthfully about death, bodily integrity, institutional trust, and the ethics of organ donation in an age of rapidly changing procurement protocols.
The moral and theological foundations of the Dead Donor Rule, and the challenges posed by emerging organ procurement protocols in light of Catholic teaching.
A critical examination of brain death criteria in Catholic moral theology, with attention to epistemic responsibility and the principle of caution.
Ethical analysis of NRP protocols and their compatibility with Catholic teaching on the determination of death and the integrity of organ donation.
Peer-Reviewed Publications in Bioethics
Profile
Languages
Of publication
Working
About
Ersun Augustinus Kayra is an independent researcher, public ethicist, and essayist based in Istanbul. His work explores the relationship between ideas, institutions, and the lives of the people they affect. He is interested in how we exercise authority, respond to vulnerability, and take responsibility for one another.
His research and writing bring ethics, philosophy, religious thought, history, and everyday experience into conversation. His interests include bioethics, conscience, dignity, belonging, and dialogue across religious and cultural differences. Across these subjects, he asks how convictions can guide action while remaining open to careful inquiry and an accurate understanding of others.
Through essays, research, and video and podcast projects, he seeks to make difficult questions accessible to a wider public. His approach combines close reading, historical context, and attention to the practical consequences of ideas. At the centre of his work is a simple commitment: to look carefully, speak truthfully, and treat people justly, especially where institutional decisions meet human vulnerability.
Media
Ersun Augustinus Kayra — Theological Moral Bioethics Enquiry
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Video essays and reflections on faith, bioethics, and attention.
Speaking
Ersun welcomes invitations from universities, cultural institutions, media organisations, and religious communities for talks on ethics, bioethics, conscience, and dialogue across traditions. Talks are available in English, Turkish, German, or French. Please use the contact form below for enquiries.
Death determination, organ donation, and moral certainty in Catholic teaching, drawn from peer-reviewed research in Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics and SOTER.
Classical kalām, taḥrīf discourse, and frameworks for theological disagreement that remain doctrinally clear and genuinely charitable.
On acedia, the attention economy, and small daily disciplines for prayer in a hyper-connected age, drawing on his essay for The Southern Cross.
Augustine, Aquinas, and John Chrysostom retrieved for the renewal of pastoral authority and ecclesial life today.
Ongoing Research
A study of St Paul, taḥrīf discourse, and the ethics of Christian–Muslim disagreement, examining how polemical traditions can be read with doctrinal clarity, historical seriousness, and intellectual charity.
An exploration of convergences and divergences between Islamic environmental ethics grounded in tawḥīd and Catholic ecological theology in the tradition of Laudato Si’.
Academic Journal (TBD)
Service & Public Engagement
Led home visits, accompaniment, and material-assistance initiatives serving 600+ families annually in Türkiye. Founded and directed two aid associations over twelve years.
Member of the National Writers Union (NWU), the independent trade union representing freelance writers, journalists, authors, and media workers. Committed to fair practice, editorial integrity, and the advocacy of writers' rights globally.
Editorial collaboration and public writing on bioethics, moral theology, and ecclesial life for Catholic and ecumenical media.
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