SBE-UKRI: Future Organisms: Synthetic Genomics and Responsible Research and Innovation in the UK, the USA and Japan
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Edinburgh
Department Name: Sch of Social and Political Science
Abstract
The aim of this project is two-fold: to carry out a social scientific investigation into synthetic genomics and to develop new approaches to responsible research and innovation through this investigation.
Synthetic genomics is an emerging scientific field that makes it possible for scientists to design and build larger stretches of DNA than ever before, at the scale of chromosomes and even whole genomes. It could potentially bring new types of organism into the world. Synthetic genomics is attracting funding and building momentum internationally. However, decisions about the direction of the field are being made by small groups of scientists and engineers. Although some are aware that these decisions deserve broader reflection and scrutiny, the field lacks mechanisms to ensure it incorporates diverse perspectives. We aim to address this problem by conducting the first social scientific analysis of synthetic genomics explicitly designed to open up discussion and debate about the field.
Responsible research and innovation (RRI) is an approach to governing new scientific and technological fields that has gained traction in recent years. However, RRI is currently not well equipped to engage with large-scale, international, collaborative scientific work such as that undertaken in synthetic genomics. When RRI is implemented it often involves an individual social scientist being tasked to 'deliver' RRI for a single scientific research project, limiting the extent to which they can engage with broader governance structures. In contrast, independent social scientific research conducted on emerging science and technology often remains detached from its object of study, offering little opportunity to shape its development. By developing an approach to synthetic genomics that is engaged but autonomous, our project will extend and enrich RRI by offering an alternative model for social scientific engagement with emerging scientific fields.
Our cross-national investigation of synthetic genomics will encompass the United Kingdom, the United States and Japan - three countries that are investing heavily in the field. We will analyse scientific literature and policy documents, and - taking advantage of our geographic distribution - conduct a multi-sited ethnography of the major sites in which synthetic genomics is being developed and interview key actors in our three countries.
Our research is organised into three workstreams: Countries, Creatures and Capacities. The Countries workstream examines national and international policy and funding strategies for synthetic genomics and the narratives and expectations embedded within them. The Creatures workstream explores the ways in which synthetic genomics alters human relationships with other organisms by positioning humans as designers of other species. The Capacities workstream explores the role of social scientists within the field.
We will build on our existing connections with scientists, engineers, policy makers, artists, designers, and other stakeholders to 'open-up' debate about the trajectories and futures of the field by convening a series of experimental workshops. Our final workshop will bring together social scientists from our three countries working in synthetic genomics and related fields to share our experiences, explore new approaches to RRI, and build connections for future work.
Synthetic genomics is an emerging scientific field that makes it possible for scientists to design and build larger stretches of DNA than ever before, at the scale of chromosomes and even whole genomes. It could potentially bring new types of organism into the world. Synthetic genomics is attracting funding and building momentum internationally. However, decisions about the direction of the field are being made by small groups of scientists and engineers. Although some are aware that these decisions deserve broader reflection and scrutiny, the field lacks mechanisms to ensure it incorporates diverse perspectives. We aim to address this problem by conducting the first social scientific analysis of synthetic genomics explicitly designed to open up discussion and debate about the field.
Responsible research and innovation (RRI) is an approach to governing new scientific and technological fields that has gained traction in recent years. However, RRI is currently not well equipped to engage with large-scale, international, collaborative scientific work such as that undertaken in synthetic genomics. When RRI is implemented it often involves an individual social scientist being tasked to 'deliver' RRI for a single scientific research project, limiting the extent to which they can engage with broader governance structures. In contrast, independent social scientific research conducted on emerging science and technology often remains detached from its object of study, offering little opportunity to shape its development. By developing an approach to synthetic genomics that is engaged but autonomous, our project will extend and enrich RRI by offering an alternative model for social scientific engagement with emerging scientific fields.
Our cross-national investigation of synthetic genomics will encompass the United Kingdom, the United States and Japan - three countries that are investing heavily in the field. We will analyse scientific literature and policy documents, and - taking advantage of our geographic distribution - conduct a multi-sited ethnography of the major sites in which synthetic genomics is being developed and interview key actors in our three countries.
Our research is organised into three workstreams: Countries, Creatures and Capacities. The Countries workstream examines national and international policy and funding strategies for synthetic genomics and the narratives and expectations embedded within them. The Creatures workstream explores the ways in which synthetic genomics alters human relationships with other organisms by positioning humans as designers of other species. The Capacities workstream explores the role of social scientists within the field.
We will build on our existing connections with scientists, engineers, policy makers, artists, designers, and other stakeholders to 'open-up' debate about the trajectories and futures of the field by convening a series of experimental workshops. Our final workshop will bring together social scientists from our three countries working in synthetic genomics and related fields to share our experiences, explore new approaches to RRI, and build connections for future work.
Publications
Szymanski E
(2024)
Beyond Control
Hey M
(2023)
Catalysts of Open Education in Colorado: A Qualitative Study of Enabling Forces in OE Momentum
in Journal of Open Educational Resources in Higher Education
Hey, M
(2023)
Communicating With the Microbial Other: Reorienting humans and microbes in polylogue
in Global Media Journal - Canadian Edition
Szymanski E
(2023)
Conversations with Other-than-Human Creatures: Unpacking the Ambiguity of "with" for Multispecies Rhetorics
in Rhetoric Society Quarterly
Taitingfong RI
(2023)
Exploring the value of a global gene drive project registry.
in Nature biotechnology
Hey M
(2022)
Following the organism to map synthetic genomics.
in Biotechnology notes (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
Szymanski
(2023)
From Terrain to Brain: Forays into the Many Sciences of Wine
Smith RD
(2024)
Governing beyond the project: Refocusing innovation governance in emerging science and technology funding.
in Social studies of science
Szymanski EA
(2022)
Reconfiguring the Challenge of Biological Complexity as a Resource for Biodesign.
in mSphere
| Title | Beveragising the Spirit of Asilomar |
| Description | A collaborative STS/creative-gastronomy intervention in the form of a social hour at the Spirit of Asilomar and the Future of Biotechnology Summit, Asilomar, California, USA, 23rd-26th February 2025, which considered what elements of academic gatherings shape and are essential to the work that happens at them but that don't tend to be remembered or credited as part of the event. We addressed this through 'beveragising' the Spirit of Asilomar, manifesting the ghosts that haunt Asilomar as beverages that also responded to the question: what do the Spirits of Asilomar taste like? |
| Type Of Art | Artistic/Creative Exhibition |
| Year Produced | 2025 |
| Impact | The development of this creative product enabled deepening a collaborative relationship between Erika Szymanski and the Future Organisms team and the Sustainable Food Innovation Group at the Danish Technical University, in ways that are likely to lead to further collaborative projects. |
| Title | BioStories: Re-envisioning Relationships with Nature |
| Description | Creative document produced by Faber Futures and World Economic Forum's Global Future Council on Synthetic Biology, including commentary by Jane Calvert. |
| Type Of Art | Artefact (including digital) |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Impact | n/a |
| URL | https://faberfutures.com/projects/bio-stories-2/bio-stories-report-download/ |
| Title | Scents of Asilomar |
| Description | An artistic exhibition at on the 'Scents of Asilomar' at the Spirit of Asilomar and the Future of Biotechnology Summit, Asilomar, California, USA, 23rd-26th February 2025, which asked: what does the Spirit of Asilomar and the future of biotech smell like? It involved the collection and blending of odours from diverse biotechnological environments and organisms to imagine, synthesise and co-create multi-species scents, spirits and futures. |
| Type Of Art | Artistic/Creative Exhibition |
| Year Produced | 2025 |
| Impact | None yet |
| URL | https://www.spiritofasilomar.org/participation/on-site-updates |
| Title | The Spirit of Asilomar: Alternatives and Ambivalences |
| Description | Jane Calvert and Rob Smith, with choreographer Gabrielle Lamb and her company Pigeonwing Dance organised a performance 'The Spirit of Asilomar: Alternatives and Ambivalences' at the Spirit of Asilomar and the Future of Biotechnology Summit, Asilomar, California, USA, 23rd-26th February 2025 |
| Type Of Art | Performance (Music, Dance, Drama, etc) |
| Year Produced | 2025 |
| Impact | Approximately 75 people attended the performance, which was on the opening night of the Summit. It encouraged the audience to reflect on the past and future of biotechnology. |
| Description | A key objective of the award is to advance the theory of RRI through a study of synthetic genomics. We have addressed this by rethinking RRI in terms of: 1) spaces, 2) multispecies studies, and 3) interdisciplinary collaboration. 1) Spaces. We have found it productive to think of RRI in terms of spaces. Our Countries workshop (London, Sept 2023) involved scientists, engineers, social scientists and policy makers who were actively trying to build spaces for responsible innovation in funding policy, research projects and training programmes. We received additional funding for this workshop through an Edinburgh-Rice Collaboration Award, which allowed us to bring in discussion of the history of spaces for the governance of biotechnology, particularly the Asilomar meeting in 1975. In February 2025, the co-Is were all invited to attend the Spirit of Asilomar 50th anniversary meeting. We contributed to three days of conversations with academics, policy officials and civil society representatives on the future of biotechnology. 2) Multispecies studies. We have investigated the ways in which multispecies studies and RRI can inform each other. In our Creatures workshop (Fort Collins, May 2023), artists, designers, synthetic biologists and social scientists experimented with creative ways to consider their response-abilities to other organisms in their research, beyond attempting to control them (see Szymanski et al. 2024). We are also developing work into more-than-human science policy. Smith co-convened panels on this topic at the Nordic STS Conference (Oslo, June 2023) and 4S/EASST (Amsterdam, July 2024). Additional funding from the BBSRC allowed us to organise an international workshop on multispecies encounters in Edinburgh in 2024, which led to further creative outputs (see Narrative Impact). Our multispecies work is interconnected with our objective to investigate the place of the organism being engineered in synthetic genomics. The US team has developed a tagging system based on the role the organism performs in synthetic genomics (Hey and Szymanski 2022). The Japanese team is studying the place of Bacillus subtilis in the development of synthetic genomics in Japan. The UK team has been exploring the significance of the organism in synthetic genomics when the organism is a deeply politicised one: the human. 3) Interdisciplinary collaboration. We are developing methods for understanding and doing RRI through interdisciplinary collaboration that involve conducting studies with scientists and engineers, rather than studies of or for them. We held an open panel 'Studying with: building infrastructures for collaborative work' at the 4S Annual Meeting (Honolulu, Nov 2023). We are developing an edited monograph on the topic and we held three chapter development workshops with contributors in Edinburgh in 2024. This work has contributed directly to our objective to build international capacity for social scientific engagement with emerging technological fields. Overall, we have benefited greatly from being able to conduct a sustained piece of social scientific research together across our three countries. The different contexts in which we have applied our thinking on synthetic genomics and RRI have been extremely valuable in allowing us to develop insights into both. |
| Exploitation Route | Our research outcomes are directly relevant to social scientists, policy makers, natural scientists and engineers who are attempting to integrate RRI into their work in ways that extend beyond individual research projects. One of the routes by which we have spread knowledge of our work is by giving talks to diverse academic and non-academic groups (e.g. at conferences and workshops in London, York, Athens, Milan, Vienna, Bonn, New York, Houston and Sydney). Our workshops and events have also enabled us to build and strengthen relationships with synthetic genomics researchers, social scientists and policy makers in and beyond our three countries. These relationships will enable us to work together in expanding the breadth and reach of our research outcomes. The project team shared some of our findings at an International Symposium on 'Alternative Approaches to Science? Responding to the call to be open and responsible', organised by Koichi Mikami (Tokyo, March 2024), which was attended by academics, undergraduates, high school students and government officers. |
| Sectors | Agriculture Food and Drink Education Healthcare Government Democracy and Justice Manufacturing including Industrial Biotechology Pharmaceuticals and Medical Biotechnology |
| Description | From the beginning of the award, we have aimed to have an impact on policy. Our Countries workshop on spaces for RRI (Sept 2023) was hosted by the Nuffield Council on Bioethics in London (an independent policy and research centre). Holding it at this location meant that key policy players based in or near London could attend, including representatives from the UK Department of Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), the Royal Society of Biology (a learned society and professional association), the Wellcome Sanger Institute (a non-profit research institute) as well as the Nuffield Council on Bioethics. This workshop demonstrated that there is a clear desire and need among these groups to think through the implementation of RRI in synthetic genomics/biology, as well as some dissatisfaction with existing infrastructures that can make it difficult to build capacity in RRI. Based on the encouragement of the policy participants at the workshop, the UK project team wrote a coordinated response to the DSIT's Call for Evidence on Engineering Biology. This contribution was quoted in the final report 'National Vision for Engineering Biology' (December 2023), which accompanied the announcement of a £2 billion investment in engineering biology. The report noted how RRI approaches are key to this developing field. In 2024, the UK-based researchers submitted evidence on RRI to a House of Lords consultation on Engineering Biology, which emphasised the importance of broader approaches to RRI, beyond biosafety and biosecurity risks. This evidence was cited in the final report 'Don't Fail to Scale' (January 2025). Another consequence of our engagement with DSIT was that Rob Smith was invited as a Delegate to the UK Government Engineering Biology Mission to Japan (March 2024) on the basis of his expertise in RRI. This involved a bilateral workshop and panel to explore potential collaborations in the area. Smith was also invited as a Delegate to the UK Government Engineering Biology Mission to the USA (Atlanta, May 2024), which resulted in an international award on 'Reliable and Scalable Biofoundries for Biomanufacturing and Global Bioeconomy', which has a strong social science component, and also involves Mikami and advisory board member Frow. On the basis of our work between the UK and Japan, Calvert and Stone were invited to lead a workshop on 'Interdisciplinary collaborations in engineering biology between the UK and Japan' at the DSIT offices in London (October 2024). We have also engaged with Japanese policy makers at the Research Institute of Science and Technology for Society (RISTEX), which is part of the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), and supports a wide range of R&D projects. Koichi Mikami is a member of the JST RISTEX Genome Ethics Working Group and organised a workshop with them involving the Future Organisms project team (March 2024), which explored the opportunities and challenges of integrating RRI into emerging fields. In the USA, our work has engaged with the private sector and we are in ongoing discussions with companies working in synthetic genomics who are keen to build capacity in RRI. Another area of impact is our creative outputs. Growing from our Creatures workstream (see Key Findings), we have produced three creative outputs, in collaboration with artists, designers, food researchers and choreographers, centred around the interdisciplinary international meeting 'The Spirit of Asilomar and the Future of Biotechnology' (Asilomar, California, February 2025). The first was the 'Scents of Asilomar', with artist Tarsh Bates (Umea) and designer Devon Ward (Auburn), which involved the collection and blending of odours from diverse biotechnological environments and organisms to co-create multi-species scents. The second was 'Beveragizing the Spirit of Asilomar' an STS/creative-gastronomy intervention in collaboration with the Sustainable Food Innovation Group at the Danish Technical University, which drew attention to the nonhuman agencies in play at the conference. Third, the 'The Spirit of Asilomar: Alternatives and Ambivalences', with Pigeonwing Dance, was a performance on the beach at the opening night of the Summit that encouraged the audience to reflect on the past and future of biotechnology. Most of the conference's 300 attendees participated in at least one of these site-based interventions, which connect back to the project's emphasis on the importance of creating spaces for RRI (see Key Findings). Finally, our academic work on studying with scientists and engineers in interdisciplinary collaborations has significant momentum, resonating with STS researchers globally. We have also seen other academic groups pick up on our suggestion that RRI can be productively rethought in conversation with multispecies studies, expanding on multispecies RRI theory-development in other scientific fields. We are building on both these areas in our forthcoming outputs, which could lead to new research trajectories within STS. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2023 |
| Sector | Education,Government, Democracy and Justice |
| Impact Types | Societal Policy & public services |
| Description | Contribution of evidence to House of Lords report |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
| URL | https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld5901/ldselect/ldsctech/55/55.pdf |
| Description | Contribution to DSIT UK Government Consultation on Engineering Biology |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
| URL | https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-vision-for-engineering-biology/national-vision-f... |
| Description | ERA Health funding programme |
| Geographic Reach | Europe |
| Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
| Description | Interdisciplinary collaborations in engineering biology between the UK and Japan |
| Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Description | Operationalising Responsible Research & Innovation in ERA4Health |
| Geographic Reach | Europe |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Impact | As a result of this policy workshop, science administrators at the Norwegian Research Council, Agency of Health Research in the Netherlands (ZonMW) and several other national funding agencies now have better knowledge about how to operationalise RRI in their practice. |
| URL | https://era4health.eu/responsible-research-and-innovation-rri/ |
| Description | Operationalising Responsible Research and Innovation in European ERA-NET Funding |
| Geographic Reach | Europe |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Impact | As a result of this work, science administrators have significantly enhanced their ability to operationalise governance of research and innovation in their programmes. |
| URL | https://www.m-era.net/other-joint-activities/responsible-research-and-innovation |
| Description | Science Communication Training Program |
| Geographic Reach | Local/Municipal/Regional |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Description | BBSRC International Workshops Spring 2024 |
| Amount | £16,875 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 04/2024 |
| End | 06/2024 |
| Description | BBSRC Transition Award Flexible Funding: Exploring methods of RRI that intervene in places and spaces of scientific practice |
| Amount | £10,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | University of Edinburgh |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 02/2023 |
| End | 05/2023 |
| Description | BBSRC Transition Award Flexible Funding: Time pressures in academic-industry collaborations in mammalian engineering biology |
| Amount | £9,918 (GBP) |
| Organisation | University of Edinburgh |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 08/2023 |
| End | 01/2024 |
| Description | Building Responsible Research Eco-System for Engineering Biology |
| Amount | £187,000 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | JPMJRS24J3 |
| Organisation | Japan Science And Technology Agency |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | Japan |
| Start | 09/2024 |
| End | 03/2028 |
| Description | Engineered Genetic Control Systems for Advanced Therapeutics |
| Amount | £12,667,418 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | BB/Y008545/1 |
| Organisation | Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 02/2024 |
| End | 03/2029 |
| Description | Pollinator Pathmaker |
| Amount | £909,382 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | MR/Z505110/1 |
| Organisation | United Kingdom Research and Innovation |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 07/2024 |
| End | 08/2026 |
| Description | Reliable and scalable biofoundries for biomanufacturing and global bioeconomy |
| Amount | £2,022,500 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | JPMJAP24A2 |
| Organisation | Japan Science And Technology Agency |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | Japan |
| Start | 11/2024 |
| End | 03/2030 |
| Description | Responsible Innovation with Conscience and Agility Program of Research Institute of Science and Technology for Society (RISTEX) |
| Amount | ï¿¥5,000,000 (JPY) |
| Organisation | Japan Science And Technology Agency |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | Japan |
| Start | 09/2021 |
| End | 03/2025 |
| Description | Collaboration with BBSRC Environmental Biotechnology Network (EBNet) |
| Organisation | University of Southampton |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Jane Calvert and Robert Smith were academic advisors to the project 'Exploring Environmental Biotechnology as a Field', led by Adrian Ely (University of Sussex) and funded by BBSRC Environmental Biotechnology Network (EBNet) through Sonia Heaven at the University of Southampton. Calvert and Smith both contributed to the final report. Rob Smith (with Adrian Ely) leads the EBNET working group 'Social Dimensions of Environmental Biotechnology'. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Adrian Ely led the research, which was funded by the BBSRC Environmental Biotechnology Network (EBNet). |
| Impact | The report 'Exploring Environmental Biotechnology as a Field' was published in February 2025, online at: https://ebnet.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/343/2025/03/EBNet-EBSS-WG-Exploring-EB-Final-Report-3-February-2025.pdf |
| Start Year | 2024 |
| Description | Collaboration with the Biodiverse Anthropocenes group at the University of Oulu |
| Organisation | University of Oulu |
| Country | Finland |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Erika Szymanski and Rob Smith are developing collaborative research projects with the Biodiverse Anthropocene group at the University of Oulu via Anna Krzywoszynska, a sociologist of soil who helps to lead this group. Szymanski visited Oulu once in 2023 and Szymanski and Smith visited Oulu together in 2024. Szymanski and Krzywoszynska have been co-investigators on one successful small networking grant and we are developing plans for follow-on funding. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Anna Krzywoszynska led the networking grant with Szymanski, which was based at Oulu due to Finnish funding requirements, and hosted Szymanski and Smith for research visits. |
| Impact | Finnish-American Research Innovation Accelerator award (see Further Funding) |
| Start Year | 2023 |
| Description | Creatures Workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Erika Szymanski at Colorado State University organised a two-day workshop involving synthetic biologists, social science and humanities researchers, artists, and relevant practitioners to discuss and develop the concept of response-able research. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Delegate of UK DSIT Engineering Biology Mission to Japan |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | A UK Government Mission to Japan to explore and develop collaborations on the topic of engineering biology. Smith participated as an expert in responsible research and innovation. A bilateral workshop and panel was held to explore potential collaborations in the area. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | International Symposium 'Alternative Approaches to Science? Responding to the call to be open and responsible' |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Koichi Mikami organized an international symposium to explore how the concepts of 'responsible research and innovation' and 'open science' could be bridged. Jane Calvert, Erika Szymanski and Rob Smith all talked at the symposium along with other experts. About 60 local scientists, social scientists and government officers as well as high school and undergraduate students attended. Koichi Mikami received several emails from the attendees after the event saying they would consider how these concepts could influence their future work. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | JST RISTEX Genome Ethics Working Group Workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Workshop held at JST RISTEX in collaboration with members of their Genome Ethics Working Group. Participants shared respective experiences of conducting Science & Technology Studies research in the field of synthetic genomics / synthetic biology, policy challenges and implications and discussed possible collaborations for the future. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | NC State Genetic Engineering & Society seminar |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Erika Szymanski was invited to deliver a seminar for the NC State Genetic Engineering & Society Center on interdisciplinary experiments in responsible research and innovation. In addition to an in-person audience of roughly 30 people (including students, faculty, and professional researchers at NC State and elsewhere, who subscribe to the Center's events announcements), the seminar was recorded and shared as a video and a podcast. Anecdotally, we know that the latter has reached and been useful to at least several people in the international RRI researcher/practitioner community. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://ncsu.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=a4fb34d6-e7a8-49b1-9597-b1cb00a8542a |
| Description | Workshop on Spaces for Responsible Innovation in Synthetic Biology |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Rob Smith and Jane Calvert organised a Workshop on 'Spaces for Responsible Innovation in Synthetic Biology' in London, hosted by the Nuffield Council on Bioethics. Attendees included representatives of the UK Department of Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), the Royal Society of Biology, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the Wellcome Sanger Institute, the Nuffield Council on Bioethics as well as academics from the UK, the USA and Japan. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |