How to Integrate Ethics into the Design of Disruptive Technologies

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Eva Buchinger – TechEthos coordinator, AIT

Bioengineering, virtual reality, autonomous systems and many other technologies enter into society and our daily lives with the potential to radically transform our work, health, environment, and even our privacy and personal interactions. To reconcile the needs of research and innovation and the concerns and aspirations of society, ethical and societal considerations should be grafted onto the thinking of research and development practices.

TechEthos is an EU-funded project that seeks to create ethics guidelines to deal with this type of new and emerging technologies with a high socio-economic impact. Eva Buchinger (Austrian Institute of Technology, AIT) is the lead coordinator of the project. In this interview, she presents the key concepts tackled by TechEthos and its expected impact. The project started in January 2021 and will run until the end of 2023. 

 

Question: What are the aims and rationale of the TechEthos project? 

Eva Buchinger: TechEthos aims to facilitate “ethics by design”, namely, to bring ethical and societal values into the design and development of new and emerging technologies from the very beginning of the process. The project will provide ethics guidelines for 3-4 selected technologies. To reconcile the needs of research and innovation and the concerns of society, the project will explore the awareness, acceptance and aspirations of academia, industry and the general public alike.   

TechEthos aims to facilitate “ethics by design”.

Q.: What kind of technologies are you looking at and why? Can you give one example and describe why their ethics dimensions are so significant?

E. B.: We will be looking at new and emerging technologies with a high socio-economic impact and significant ethics dimensions. That is, part of our work will be identifying technologies that are socially, economically and ethically (potentially) disruptive.  

“Disruption” is thereby understood as a generic term, referring to a significant change, may it be positive or negative. We will decide which high-impact technologies we will focus on in TechEthos at the end of the project’s first phase in July 2021. This decision will be informed by a horizon scanning process consisting of a meta-analysis combined with an expert–based impact assessment. We will consider a broad set of technologies ranging from bioengineering to cognitive technologies and smart materials.  

As for now, TechEthos understands the “ethics dimension” as relating to fundamental principles such as human rights, privacy and autonomy as well as specific concerns related to health, environment and human interactions.

Q.: What kind of impact does the project expect to have for policy and the research community?

E. B.: TechEthos is explicitly designed to serve researchers from academia and industry, research ethics committees and research integrity bodies, and governance agents such as standardization bodies, regulators, and policymakers. This will be achieved by developing operational guidelines and codes and other ethical tools, engaging in the process with a wide range of ethical codes and guidelines for the target technologies that currently exist. This will serve as the basis for constructive interpretation and guide the determination of how to enhance existing frameworks or supplement existing practices with new guidelines.  

The goal is to create a set of principles that are action-oriented for the above-mentioned users. Given the wide range of possible technologies, it is impossible to fully anticipate how the various codes or guidelines will be constructed in advance. However, the methodology we are adopting is sufficiently flexible to accommodate a variety of scenarios. 

TechEthos is explicitly designed to serve researchers, ethics bodies, and policymakers.

Q.: Who is involved and why is this the best consortium to achieve the project’s aims? 

E. B.: The TechEthos consortium benefits from the diversity of its partners as well as approaches. The project consists of ten scientific partners and six science engagement organisations representing 14 countries from all over Europe. The project will additionally involve a broad range of stakeholders from academia, industry, policy, and civil society. These stakeholders will contribute through interactive formats such as interviews, surveys, workshops, scenario exercises and games, and exhibitions.

The scientific partners are universities (De Montfort University, Technische Universiteit Delft, Universiteit Twente); applied research institutions (Associazione per la Ricerca Industriale, Austrian Institute of Technology, CEA Commissariat à l’énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives, Trilateral Research) and associations specialising in research ethics (ALLEA, the European Federation of Academies of Sciences and Humanities, EUREC European Network of Research Ethics Committees Office).  

The science engagement organisations are supervised by ECSITE (Association européenne des expositions scientifiques techniques et industrielles) and located in six European countries (Science Center Network Austria, iQLANDIA Science Popularization Centre, Bucharest Science Festival, Centre for the Promotion of Science, Parque de las Ciencias, Vetenskap & Allmänhet Public & Science. All of them have outstanding expertise in dealing with ethics of new and emerging technologies.  

The well-balanced composition of the consortium together with the project’s participative multi-stakeholder approach provides an excellant basis to achieve TechEthos’s aims.    

Q.: What have been the best and worst moments in coordinating a collaborative H2020 project so far?

E. B.: The best experience in coordinating such a diverse consortium is to know that we are working with the top specialists in the field to reach our highly ambitious goals. The greatest challenge may be the unavoidable moments of utmost tension before this wonderful diverse pool of expertise and excellence synergizes into an operational solution.

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Registration Open for Symposium ‘Across Boundaries in Sciences’

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On the occasion of the 2021 ALLEA General Assembly, ALLEA and the Council of Finnish Academies are organising the scientific symposium ‘Across Boundaries in Sciences’ on 5 May. The online event is open to all upon registration and will consist of a full-day of thought-provoking discussions on today’s science boundaries with leading academics, policymakers, and civil society.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, the boundaries of science have been increasingly pushed and pulled. These tensions have shaken our understanding of science not only within the scientific system, but in relation to politics and society in general. In this evolving scenario, leading academics, policymakers and civil society will join to reflect upon three guiding questions:

  • How can interdisciplinary research increase the impact of science in society?
  • Are the boundaries between science and politics changing?
  • Do we need to strengthen the boundaries of science to tackle science disinformation?

The event will open with the keynote “Fostering Convergence Across Disciplines” from Prof. Riitta Hari (Aalto University). Questions regarding action-focused interdisciplinary research and the boundaries of science across regions, disciplines and generations will be discussed in the following panels, including a breakout session where participants will be able to interact within smaller groups.

In the afternoon part of the event, “Rethinking Boundaries Between Politics and Science”, participants will attend a speech by Ms Adrienn Király, Head of Cabinet of European Commissioner Mariya Gabriel, followed by the contributions of ALLEA President Antonio Loprieno and the Finnish Minister of Education and Culture Annika Saarikko.

Science Disinformation on Focus

The final panel discussion will tackle the topic of science disinformation and focus on the role of policy, science, and civil society in fighting this multidimension phenomenon in the context of the blurring boundaries of science and society.

The line of speakers will include Prof. Dan Larhammar (President of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences), Permanent Secretary Anita Lehikoinen (Ministry of Education and Culture of Finland), Prof. Jane Suiter (Director Institute for Future Media, Democracy and Society, Royal Irish Academy), Dr. Claire Wardle (US Director at First Draft News), and Roman Adamczyk (Research Coordinator at EU DisinfoLab).

The debate will also delve into the upcoming work of the ALLEA project Fact or Fake? Tackling Science Disinformation, which deals with the COVID-19 pandemic and the accompanying ‘infodemic’.

The symposium is free and open to all, but registration is mandatory. Learn more about the programme, concept, and speakers on our dedicated conference website, and join the discussion on social media at #ScienceXBoundaries.

International Health Data Transfer, publication

European Academy Networks Call for Urgent Solution to Health Data Transfer Barriers

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Legal challenges hamper the sharing of health data with researchers outside the EU/European Economic Area (EEA), a new report by European academy networks concludes. The authors call for solutions to overcome these barriers to ensure timely and straightforward research collaboration in the public sector and thereby maximize health benefits for European citizens.

In the report “International sharing of personal health data for research” published today, the European Federation of Academies of Sciences and Humanities (ALLEA), the European Academies’ Science Advisory Council (EASAC), and the Federation of European Academies of Medicine (FEAM) call on EU policymakers and legislators for a commitment to overcome the barriers in sharing pseudonymised health data with researchers outside the EU/EEA, including the ones from the public sector, preferably under Article 46 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

“EU/EEA citizens strongly benefit from international sharing of health data by allowing researchers to make best use of limited resources and to ensure that research conducted elsewhere is also relevant for patients in Europe. This must be encouraged and facilitated to maximise the individual and societal benefits to be obtained from the contribution of research participants”, emphasizes George Griffin, co-author of the report.

The GDPR was implemented before options for transferring data to countries outside of EU were operational. In particular, statutory conflicts between other countries’ legislation and EU fundamental rights have been a main challenge. This affects the direct transfer of public sector health data to foreign institutions and the possibility for external researchers to remotely access data at its original location.

When institutions in other countries have statutory conflicts that prevent them from signing the required contracts under the GDPR, there is currently no workable legal mechanism for sharing health data for public sector research. It has been estimated that in 2019 more than 5,000 collaborative projects were affected between EEA countries and the US National Institutes of Health alone. The authors stress that a solution is urgently needed, both for ongoing research collaborations as well as for new studies.

“Collecting and combining health data is fundamental for the advancement of medical research and improving disease diagnosis and treatment. For research to thrive, pseudonymised personal data often needs to be shared internationally between research groups in a straightforward and timely fashion, whilst securing the protection of personal data”, says Volker ter Meulen, co-author of the report.

In the joint report, the three European academy networks focus on how global sharing of health data benefits public research, describe the challenges imposed by data protection regulations, and provide possible solutions through adapting or expanding the existing legal framework.

About the report

The joint report is based on discussions between experts from across Europe that were nominated by member academies of ALLEA, EASAC, and FEAM and acted in an individual capacity, bringing together all relevant disciplines and expertise for this topic of great shared importance for all. The participants convened virtually in two working group meetings (June 2020 and September 2020) and an online cross-sectoral roundtable (October 2020). The resulting draft report was peer-reviewed by independent academy-nominated experts.

Key takeaways from the report

  • Health research is crucial for all: it benefits individual patients, population health, development of health-care systems, and social cohesion and stability.
  • Sharing pseudonymised personal health data for public sector research is essential to make effective use of limited resources.
  • Data must be shared safely and efficiently, taking account of privacy concerns: this is part of the conduct of responsible science and addressing these opportunities should be part of wider initiatives to build trust in research and researchers and to take account of patient views.
  • Legal challenges have resulted in impediments to data sharing with researchers outside the EU/EEA, affecting both the direct transfer of data to non-EU/EEA countries and remote access to data at its original location.
  • There must be increased commitment by the European Commission to urgently overcome these barriers in sharing data. Preferably, a simple and consistent operational solution would be found under Article 46 of the GDPR, whilst protecting the privacy of personal data from EU/EEA citizens.

Download the report

New Project to Explore Climate Sustainability in the Academic System

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ALLEA, together with its member the German Young Academy (Die Junge Akademie), is starting a new project on the climate sustainability of science. The initiative will review the existing knowledge, experiences and data regarding how academia can support the mitigation of greenhouse gases with changes of its working modes, for instance on academic travel-culture.

The disruption of the Covid-19 pandemic has encouraged a re-thinking of working modes and practices across all sectors, including academia. This project takes this opportunity to deepen the discussion and develop a deliberated and balanced path towards a sustainable academic system.

Attending international scientific conferences and on-site international collaboration have been major drivers of research in the past decades. Now, reducing the carbon footprint through digital exchanges and finding alternatives to emission-intensive transportation could help make academia more sustainable. At the same time, a co-benefit of digital exchanges may well be an increased international participation.

The project aims at developing a proposal that supports the transformation of academia to meet the challenge of climate sustainability without compromising on excellence in research and without diminishing international exchange and collaboration in academia.

ALLEA and the Die Junge Akademie are now in the process of gathering a European group of high-level experts with a multi-disciplinary, generational, gender and geographical balance. The selection criteria seek to encompass a wide and representative set of views within the scientific community.

In the coming months, the group will review existing findings that investigate sources of emissions in academia, collect and assess best-practice examples to reduce emissions and explore potential co-benefits arising from the implementation of changes.

 

Watch Recording: Expert Workshop on Current Challenges for ILSA

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Last January, the ALLEA Science Education Working Group organised an expert workshop on current challenges for international large-scale studies of achievement (ILSA). Chaired by WG member Maksym Halchenko of the National Academy of Educational Sciences of Ukraine, the meeting addressed the role of ILSAs as well as current and emerging challenges related to these studies.

A dedicated introduction to PISA (Programme for International Assessment) was presented, and participants discussed examples of assessment discrepancies when applied to heterogenous countries where school systems are very different.  This webinar was recorded and is now available to the wider public.

  • Introductory Remarks | Watch
    – Meeting chair Dr. Maksym Halchenko, National Academy of Educational Sciences of Ukraine
  • The impact of PISA on the development of educational research and evidence-based decision-making | Read abstract | Watch
    – Prof. Benő Csapó, Professor of Education, University of Szeged, Hungary
  • Circulation of a mediated artefact. Questioning the consequences of PISA for education – the example of Poland | Read abstract | Watch
    – Dr. Piotr Zamojski, Assistant Professor, University of Gdańsk, Poland
  • Use and misuse of international large-scale assessments: Why it matters to science education and policy | Read abstract | Watch
    – Dr. David Rutkowski, Associate Professor with a joint appointment in Educational Policy and Educational Inquiry, Indiana University, USA;
    – Dr. Leslie A. Rutkowski, Associate Professor of Inquiry Methodology, Counselling and Educational Psychology, Indiana University, USA, Professor of Educational Measurement, University of Oslo, Norway
  • Education as a global race – or for democracy and solidarity? The side effects of PISA testing | Read abstract| Watch
    – Prof. Svein Sjøberg, Professor Emeritus in Science Education, Oslo University, Norway
  • Plenary discussion  | Watch

The ALLEA Science Education Working Group is committed to supporting the further progression of science education throughout Europe to ensure students develop the necessary knowledge, skills and motivation to participate as active citizens and to pursue careers in science. Since June 2019, the group is chaired by Dr Cliona Murphy of the Royal Irish Academy.

PERITIA Public Lectures: [Un]Truths, Trust in an Age of Disinformation

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PERITIA – Policy, Expertise and Trust – is launching a series of public lectures from 6 April to 1 June 2021. Around the topic of ‘[Un]Truths: Trust in an Age of Disinformation’, these five meetings will explore the concept of trust and truth, both becoming contentious topics for science and democracy. Conspiracy theories disrupt political elections, disinformation campaigns target scientific consensus around climate change and vaccines, and anti-elite populism overshadows public debates. In the midst of a pandemic, citizens find themselves asking quintessential philosophical questions: what truth is, whom we can trust, or how we should trust. 

Hosted by the UCD Centre for Ethics in Public Life and the American University of Armenia, the lectures are open to all upon registration via Zoom and moderated by science communicator Shane Bergin. The first part of this online series runs every second Tuesday, from April to June 2021. Participants are invited to join an interactive Q&A debate after each lecture. Registration is free.

  • Lecture 1: Trust in Science

    6 April 2021, 17:00 CEST
    Naomi Oreskes, Harvard University

  • Lecture 2: Misunderstanding Conspiracy Theories

    20 April 2021, 17:00 CEST
    Quassim Cassam, Warwick University

  • Lecture 3: The Democratic Value of Truth

    4 May 2021, 17:00 CEST
    Michael Lynch, University of Connecticut

  • Lecture 4: Trustworthy Science Advice

    18 May 2021, 17:00 CEST
    Heather Douglas, Michigan State University

  • Lecture 5: Trust vs. Argument

    1 June 2021, 17:00 CEST
    Dan Sperber, Institut Jean Nicod

Read more and register here

Horizon Europe: Three Calls for Proposals Announced

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The Work Programme 2021 for the European Research Council (ERC), major actor for research grants in Europe, was presented yesterday by the European Commission. For this first work programme under Horizon Europe, three main calls for proposals for frontier research actions have been announced. The total amount of these calls is set to €1.9 billion.

The first open call announced is the European Research Council Starting Grants, aimed at supporting researchers with 2-7 years of experience since completion of PhD, to start their own research team or programme. It is accessible for any field of research conducted in a public or private research organisation. It will be launched on 25 February. More info on the Starting Grants

Later in March, Consolidator Grants will be available for researchers with 7-12 years of experience. Grants may be awarded up to €2 million for a period of 5 years. It is dedicated to researchers looking to consolidate their own research team or programme. More info on the Consolidator Grants

Finally, the Advanced Grants for leading advanced investigators will be launched in May with a budget of €626 million overall. These grants are intended for established, leading principal investigator who want long-term funding to pursue a ground-breaking, high-risk project. More info on the Advanced Grants

PERITIA Conference ‘Trust in Expertise in a Changing Media Landscape’

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The EU-funded research project PERITIA is organising the virtual scientific conference ‘Trust in Expertise in a Changing Media Landscape’, to be held on 18-19 March. The registration and programme are available on the event website. 

The event will bring together researchers from all over the world, discussing how best to assess, establish and maintain the credibility and trustworthiness of expertise in a rapidly changing media environment. 

Scholars will present their latest findings on distrust and disinformation, populist responses to expertise, and the role of journalism and platform algorithmic design in formations of public trust in science. 

The highlights of the multidisciplinary conference include keynotes by Onora O’Neill (University of Cambridge), Christoph Neuberger (University Free, Berlin), Natali Helberger (Amsterdam), and Michael Latzer (Zurich). 

A welcome keynote will be delivered by the organisers José van Dijck and Donya Alinejad (Utrecht University), which will be followed by two days with more than 40 speakers and a dozen of panel discussions. Among the topics covered by the programme are the pandemic, climate change, conspiracy theories, algorithms and social media platforms.

The conference will close with a roundtable discussion featuring Stefan Larsson (Lund University), Jo Pierson (Free University Brussels), Judith Simon (University of Hamburg), and José van Dijck (Moderator, University of Utrecht).

Registered participants will be invited to join the Digital Café, a networking platform run by wonder.me to informally meet participants and speakers during the coffee breaks and after the event. 

ALLEA is part of PERITIA as one of the project partners working on coordination, communications and dissemination. The research project, funded by the Horizon Europe research and innovation programme was launched as a continuation of the research work developed under ALLEA’s working group Truth, Trust and Expertise.

European Union Flag

Call for Membership – European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies

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The European Commission has opened the public Call for Membership of the European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies, the independent advisory body established by the President of the Commission.  It is tasked with addressing all aspects of Commission policies and legislation where ethical, societal and fundamental rights dimensions intersect with the development of science and new technologies.

Since its inception in 1991, the EGE has provided the Commission with high quality and independent advice on manifold ethical issues. In the last three years, advice was provided on topics such as artificial intelligence (2018), the future of work (2018), COVID-19 and health crises (2020) and genome editing (forthcoming).

In addition to professional expertise, members should have a high motivation to serve the mandate of the EGE, be able and willing to provide wisdom, foresight and vision, to take the time to engage in in-depth collective ethical discussion in regular meetings in Brussels and online, to devise and draft analyses and recommendations, to build working relationships of trust and collaboration and to serve independently of other interests. They should offer a broad understanding of current and emerging ethical developments, including an understanding of the role and future of ethics in the EU context, combined with the capacity to engage with inter-, trans- and multi-disciplinary perspectives when addressing contemporary ethical dilemmas.

Interested individuals are invited to submit their application by 22 March 2021 (12:00 noon CET).

Read the full call

Lise Meitner: “A Physicist Who Never Lost Her Humanity”

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The editorial De Gruyter has published an excerpt from the ALLEA book “Women in European Academies: From Patronae Scientiarum to Path-Breakers”. The article is part of the chapter on Lise Meitner, written by Doris A. Corradini, Katja Geiger and Brigitte Mazohl and dedicated to the scientist, the first female member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (OEAW). The full article, including full references, can be found here. We reproduce parts of the contents, which can be read on their blog DG Conversations.

Against all odds, Austrian-born Lise Meitner devoted her life to a career in nuclear physics. On the occasion of the UN International Day of Women and Girls in Science, we look back on the achievements of a brilliant woman who many believe was once robbed of the Nobel Prize.

“It brings me great pleasure that with the election of your person in particular, esteemed Professor, the first woman has been elected to the ranks of the Academy’s membership since its founding.” The president of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW), Heinrich Ficker, wrote these words of congratulation in a letter dated 9 June 1948 to Lise Meitner, a physicist already famous beyond Austria’s borders, on her election to Corresponding Member Abroad for the Division of Mathematics and the Natural Sciences.

Lise Meitner was indeed the first female member of the Academy, which had been founded in 1847. As a woman and a Jew she was elected into an academy whose membership only three years prior had consisted of many members of the National Socialist party (NSDAP) (approximately 50%) and which had not significantly changed its composition since the NSDAP had been outlawed in 1945. In 1949, the same honour of being elected the first female member was conferred on her at the German Academy of Sciences in Berlin. A few years previously she had been elected to the Academies in Stockholm, Gothenburg, Copenhagen and Oslo. In 1955, she was named an External Member of the Royal Society, an honour that meant a great deal to her, and in 1960 this was followed by her election to membership of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

The grounds for Meitner’s election to the ÖAW were her fundamental research in the field of nuclear physics and her contribution to the study of nuclear fission. While in exile in Sweden over the New Year 1938/39, she had succeeded in explaining the physics behind the puzzling results of an experiment performed by her former Berlin colleagues Otto Hahn and Fritz Straßmann. When uranium was irradiated with neutrons, the radiochemical analysis revealed traces of the element barium. This indicated that the uranium atom had ‘split’ into lighter fragments, a result which the two chemists were unable to explain. Lise Meitner, together with her nephew Otto Robert Frisch, interpreted the reaction as nuclear fission and calculated the huge quantity of energy released in the process. Nevertheless, in 1946 Otto Hahn was the sole recipient of the 1944 Nobel Prize in Chemistry “for his discovery of the fission of heavy nuclei”.

That Lise Meitner’s involvement in this epoch-making scientific breakthrough was crucial, and yet recognition for it went instead to Hahn, can be considered a prime example of the lack of acknowledgement and visibility granted to women in science. It is particularly striking because Lise Meitner was nominated for the Nobel Prize a total of 48 times by colleagues – without success. That she went empty-handed in 1946 has been cited by the science historian Margaret W. Rossiter as paradigmatic of the unequal distribution of fame between women and their male colleagues. At one point Rossiter considered naming this phenomenon the ‘Lise Effect’, but instead decided on the ‘Matilda Effect’ – now the conventional term in the history of science – after Matilda Joslyn Gage (1826–1898), an American feminist and early sociologist of knowledge.

 

Read the full article here.