Ethics in the Lab Final Report
Over the course of the last 4 years, I have developed a set of experimental goverannce processes for changing the practice, policy, and pedagogy of science and engineering to better attend to their social aspects.
Academic
Posts of interests to the academic community
What Is Biosecurity for the Twenty-First Century?
What do we need to change about biosecurity governance, and how should we do that? In a recent webinar hosted by Issues in Science and Technology and the Consortium for Science, Policy, & Outcomes, I sat down (well, virtually at least) with Melissa Haendel (University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus), David Gillum (Arizona State University), and Yong-Bee Lim (Council on Strategic Risks) discussed how to reimagine biosecurity and biosafety—and even the relationship between biological research… Read More »What Is Biosecurity for the Twenty-First Century?
Stakeholder Engagement Workshop on the Implementation of the United States Government Policy for Institutional Oversight of Life Sciences Dual Use Research of Concern: Workshop Report
This report documents the discussions of the 2017 Stakeholder Engagement Workshop on the Implementation of the United States Government Policy for Institutional Oversight of Life Sciences Dual Use Research of Concern. It is not an official record of the Stakeholder Engagement Workshop. It was compiled to assist the research and policy communities as they consider updating U.S. Government (USG) policies on Dual Use Research of Concern (DURC). Neither the National… Read More »Stakeholder Engagement Workshop on the Implementation of the United States Government Policy for Institutional Oversight of Life Sciences Dual Use Research of Concern: Workshop Report
The use and abuse of science and technology: rethinking dual-use
For over a decade now, I have be rolling around the concept of dual-use in my research, much like how a kitten plays with a fluff ball in the sunbeams of a room. What is the term? I’m mildly interested in it, though it might appear to some others that it’s all I focus on. I like rolling it around, batting it about to see how it will react. I… Read More »The use and abuse of science and technology: rethinking dual-use
This is not your father’s biosecurity: Experiments in novel security governance at the edge of innovation
I spent this week in Fukuoka, Japan at the World Social Science Forum, a gathering of national and international science academies and other research and professional bodies. At the invitation of the InterAcademy Partnership (IAP), I gave a talk on several experiments in biosecurity governance that are going on: the international Genetically Engineered Machines (iGEM) competition, the FBI’s Biological Countermeasures Unit, and various efforts around the governance of gene drives.… Read More »This is not your father’s biosecurity: Experiments in novel security governance at the edge of innovation
Course Syllabus:: Making Security: Science, Technology, and the Governance of Threats
This summer, I am a Guest Professor at the University of Vienna’s Department of Science, Technology, and Society. I’ll be teaching a course called, “Making Security: Science, Technology, and the Governance of Threats.” I am super excited about this course, as it is the first time I will actually be teaching students with prior STS training! Run over less than a month, I had to be very picky in the… Read More »Course Syllabus:: Making Security: Science, Technology, and the Governance of Threats
Building STS Programs
Society for the Social Studies of Science 2017 Annual Conference Friday 1 September 2017 / 12:45-1:45 / Sheraton Boston, 3, Beacon E Add this event to your 4S schedule Purpose STS Programs at universities around the world have a wide array of institutional backing. A few are woven into the fabric of the university, while others center around a single faculty member. Some have been going for decades, and others… Read More »Building STS Programs
Knowledge and Security
The new Handbook of Science and Technology Studies is now available, and I was lucky enough to work with a set of colleagues on a chapter about “Knowledge and Security”. This chapter discusses the STS contributions to security studies. The literature that comprises this chapter is grouped around four main themes and questions: 1. Imagining security: the scope, boundaries, and discourse of security; 2.Knowledge, non-knowledge, secrecy, and ignorance; 3.Knowing citizens:… Read More »Knowledge and Security
Words of Caution on Making Objects of Security Concern
As we continually develop new areas of technology, how do we think about how that technology might cause harm? In this talk, I draw out some lessons that can be learned from how Americans have built scientific cultures and governance mechanisms for constructing and governing security concerns in the life sciences. These cultures and mechanisms are built on a set of assumptions about the structure of knowledge and the relationship between… Read More »Words of Caution on Making Objects of Security Concern
Biosecurity Governance for the Real World
Current efforts to limit the dissemination of dual-use biological research results are rooted in simplistic understandings of how such knowledge becomes dangerous. I argue in an article appearing in the Fall 2016 Issues in Science and Technology that it’s time for a new approach. Read the full preprint. With little fanfare, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine set up a committee earlier this year on Dual Use Research of Concern: Options for… Read More »Biosecurity Governance for the Real World