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.
News
Current developments of interest
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?
ABSA 1st Biosecurity Symposium Keynote
The American Biological Safety Association (ABSA) International is getting serious about biosecurity. Over the last several years, it has initiated the development of a biosecurity credential for biosafety professionals, and also started an annual Biosecurity Symposium. To initiate the 1st Biosecurity Symposium from April 21-22, 2021, they invited me to give the keynote on the topic of “Biosecurity governance, concerns, and future directions.” I took the opportunity to advance the… Read More »ABSA 1st Biosecurity Symposium Keynote
Embrace Experimentation in Biosecurity Governance
One of the biggest lessons we can learn from the current pandemic is the need to learn lessons without a pandemic. We can do that by taking a more experimental approach to biosecurity.
Review of Controls for Emerging Technology
The US Government is asking for advice on how to identify and define emerging technology of security concern. You have until 19 December 2018 to provide your comments.
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
Report out: Building STS Programs lunchtime workshop
There is a significant amount of largely invisible work that gets done within the STS community to keep it going and continuing building it. In an effort to make that work more visible, during the 4S 2017 Annual meeting in Boston, about 30 members of the STS community gathered for a lunchtime workshop about Building STS Programs. We gathered because we shared a belief that we do not yet have… Read More »Report out: Building STS Programs lunchtime workshop
Constructing New Security Concerns in the Life Sciences
The idea that there is a set truth of the world that scientists must identify, codify, and disseminate in full is literally set in stone at the National Academies. It may come as a surprise, then that the Academies have also spent decades trying to figure out how to restrict or otherwise prevent certain knowledge to do with security concerns from spreading. After my Fall 2016 article on Biosecurity Governance… Read More »Constructing New Security Concerns in the Life Sciences