Interdisciplinary Network on Teaching of Ethics for Neuroscientists

This project will create a network on the development of ethics teaching in neuroscience (study of the brain, mind and nervous system). The network will build understanding and insights through a series of workshops covering: the present state of ethics education in neuroscience; the ideal state of ethics education; what needs to be done to move from the present to the ideal state; and how this can be achieved in practical terms.

Scientific research on the brain and mind has a long history. Recent advances across a range of scientific fields have significantly advanced understanding in neuroscience, and many new applications and technologies are being developed based on this understanding. The interactions of these new technologies with our brains and minds and the broad implications of our increased knowledge of their processes are raising many questions and concerns in relation to their social and ethical effects. Some of these concerns may be exaggerated or misstated, but they are not without foundation and they are receiving increasing academic, professional, media and public attention. (This can be seen in the growing literature on neuroethics, including the recent Royal Society report Brainwaves Module 1: Neuroscience, Society and Policy and the soon to be published Oxford Handbook of Neuroethics, Judy Illes and Barbara Sahakian (eds.), Oxford University Press, June 2011.)

Scientists, while often aware of many of the implications of their work, are generally not trained to describe, analyse and communicate ethical and social dimensions of their research - especially when these go far beyond the remit of standard procedural ethics reviews. Network activities will provide information on the teaching and training currently available to neuroscientists in the UK and a range of other countries and will identify paths to improving the availability, content and delivery of such teaching.

The lead centres involved in this application - the Bradford Disarmament Research Centre (BDRC) and the Institute for Science, Ethics and Innovation (iSEI) - both have substantial experience undertaking scholarly work examining the ethical and social dimensions of scientific advances, including neuroscience, and in the practice of teaching of ethics for scientists. (Members of the two centres are contributing to the Royal Society's Brain Waves project; iSEI delivers ethics teaching to undergraduate life science students at the University of Manchester; and BDRC delivers innovative online teaching and train-the-trainers modules in dual-use bioethics.)

Participants in the network will combine expertise and understanding of how to approach issues around ethics teaching and training for scientists. They will report and reflect upon the current situation based, for example, on surveys of current practice. We believe that while the need for such education will be very similar in different countries, they are likely to be at different stages of development. The US for example, appears to be slightly ahead of the UK in the development of neuroethics (reflection and analysis on ethical dimensions and implications of neuroscience). The network will draw in international participants in order to explore these issues.

The workshops will provide realistic appreciation of the state of the science and its likely future course, of probable societal impacts and how ethical issues can be identified, understood and responded to - by individual researchers and research communities, from undergraduate teaching throughout careers. They will provide opportunities for participants to reflect on the practical steps needed to improve the current situation and to ensure that consideration of the ethical implications of research becomes an integral part of neuroscience courses.

The most significant impacts of the network are expected to come from the contribution it will make to the inclusion of appropriate ethics training in the education of all neuroscientists and to the promotion of a change in culture, so that ethics education becomes an integral part of the discipline. In addition, the network is intended to have substantive benefits for a range of individuals and groups beyond academia. For example by:

- Informing policy-makers and university managers about needs and possibilities for incorporating teaching and training in ethics for neuroscientists throughout their education and professional activities.
- Establishing and/or reinforcing extensive links between and among the science ethics and neuroscience and biosecurity research and practitioner communities. We intend to develop the capacity to maintain these links through further funding applications.
- Informing professional scientists about how to evaluate, respond to, and communicate about ethical issues arising in the course of their work.
- Promoting appropriate governance nationally and internationally. Raising scientists' awareness of and willingness to address ethical issues arising from their research should enable them to engage with and inform the governance of neuroscience. This will benefit government and regulatory bodies.
- Feeding into the work of national and international bodies interested in promoting good conduct in scientific research - for example the US National Academies, which regularly publishes On Being A Scientist to advise on responsible conduct throughout science careers. (A predicted output of the project will be recommendations on content and development of On Being A Neuroscientist.)
- Enhancing public trust in neuroscience through the promotion of open and informed discussion by neuroscientists of the ethical and social dimensions of their research.
- Disseminating information on network activities to contacts working in public engagement with science, for example in Nowgen, Beltane and the Manchester Beacon for Public Engagement.

Routes to providing these benefits to those outside of academia include: publicising our website among contacts in such groups and posting regular updates on our activities and outlines of our findings; inviting representatives from these groups to participate in the network; and encouraging all network participants to interact with non-academic audiences where they have opportunities.