I am an ethics strategist and writer, with a scientific research background, dedicated to the goal of a gentler, more compassionate world. My work focuses on preventing the suffering of sentient beings through better policies and decision-making mechanisms. I serve as the Executive Director of the Organisation for the Prevention of Intense Suffering (OPIS), a Swiss-based think-and-do tank I founded in 2016 to pursue this goal. Through this work I have become a trusted advocate for patients in severe pain, striving to improve access to morphine for cancer patients and psychedelics for patients with excruciating cluster headaches.

OPIS's work has expanded to address governance more broadly, and in 2025 we released a wide-ranging publication I authored, titled Compassionate Governance: A Strategic Guide to Preventing and Alleviating Global Suffering. I have engaged in convening peace activists from Israel-Palestine to present their ideas for achieving a lasting peace, and have also written about the moral blind spot of AI governance and its implications for suffering.

My first book, The Battle for Compassion: Ethics in an Apathetic Universe (2011), is a methodical exploration of the question "What matters?", and I also produced a short film based on this book that communicates some of its key messages. My second book The Tango of Ethics: Intuition, Rationality and the Prevention of Suffering (2023), goes further in proposing a rigorous reassessment of how we think about ethics.

Through writing, advocacy, public talks, workshops and films, I aim to spread compassion and ethical decision-making that aims to meet the needs of all and prevent the worst experiences from happening to humans and animals. My talks cover ethics, suffering, governance, anti-speciesism and my work with OPIS, and I collaborate with like-minded people and organisations.

"I always find that there are at least one or two gems that have emerged from every Campfire Conversation, and meeting Jonathan Leighton was certainly one of them. An inspired talk."
-Pete Lawrence, creator of The Big Chill festivals, founder of Campfire Convention

"What a masterpiece! Very moving and still rational. You somehow summarized exactly how I feel about and hope for our world." (re: The Battle for Compassion film)
-Thomas Hecquet, Co-Director of Animal Equality Germany

"This is absolutely beautiful and crystal-clear prose. An article that does not have to mention the proper noun ‘vegan’ to provide any obvious ethical response to the problem of factory farming. This is reality held up and eviscerated with words." (re: Thriving in the Age of Factory Farming)
-Beorn McCarthy, animal rights advocate

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