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SYMPOSIA
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•••As of February 1, 2002
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| Science and the Public Trust |
Biotechnology Policy in Europe and North America: A Roundtable Discussion
Friday, February 15, 2002 2:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. |
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| Susanna Hornig Priest, Texas A&M University |
| The volatile public response to emerging biotechnology, both agricultural and medical, has challenged policymakers and members of the scientific community to consider issues of public trust and accountability across national boundaries in new ways. Policy development in Europe and North America has taken place in diverse media and public opinion climates, within divergent political cultures, producing different strategies and outcomes. The widespread perception in the U.S. has been that national differences in media reports and other cultural factors are largely responsible for differing policy outcomes, but this perception may mask other possible explanations. Different approaches to managing uncertainty, assessing technologies, and providing for public participation in policy development also exist. Heavy industrial investment in biotechnology-based research may strain the existing social contract between the scientific community and the public, and these dynamics may play out in different ways in particular national contexts. Like perhaps no other contemporary set of scientific developments, the emergence of biotechnology has forced the scientific community to reexamine its relationship to society. This panel examines some of the factors shaping biotechnology policy development in specific cases involving Austria, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Switzerland, the U.K. and the U.S. Two panels address the view from continental Europe and from North America and the U.K. |
| 1 | Austria and the European Mainstream: Parting Company | Helge Torgersen (Speaker), Institute for Technology Assessment, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Austria |
| 2 | Challenging the Risk Society: The Case of Finland | Timo Rusanen (Speaker), University of Kuopio, Finland |
| 3 | Biotechnology Policy in France: Centralized Government or Citizen Governance? | Suzanne de Cheveigné (Speaker), Laboratoire Communications et Politique, France |
| 4 | Biotechnology in Germany: Between Boom and Bust | Jüergen Hampel (Speaker), Center of Technology Assessment in Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany |
| 5 | Biotechnology in Switzerland: From Street Demonstrations to Regulations | Urs Dahinden (Speaker), Universitat Zurich, Switzerland |
| 6 | Food Labeling as Battleground in the GMO Food Debate | Edna F. Einsiedel (Speaker), University of Calgary |
| 7 | Ethics, Ethos, and Trust in the Global Biotechnology Debate: The UK Experience | Martin Bauer (Speaker), London School of Economics, United Kingdom |
| 8 | Biotechnology in the U.S. Public Sphere, 1970-1999: Media and Policy Interactions | Bruce V. Lewenstein (Speaker), Cornell University |
| 9 | CO/W Bruce Lewenstein | Matthew C. Nisbet (Speaker), Cornell University |
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What Message Is Science Sending--And How?
Sunday, February 17, 2002 3:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. |
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| Eliene Augenbraun, ScienCentral, Inc.; Daryl Chubin, National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering, Inc. |
| In recent years, many organizations have committed to enhancing public understanding of science. This symposium discusses creative TV and web approaches that are already at work and new initiatives being developed. It explores what would happen if the public did know more about science. Would an engaged electorate support science as we know it or would they want to spend their tax dollars differently? Would understanding the process of science help? Is there something inherently unattractive about science that keeps Americans from wanting to do it. Should we report that honestly? After the speakers have discussed what they look for in a science or engineering story audience members will have the opportunity to give two minute presentations. The panel will help them craft the message they wish the public to receive. This hands-on approach is intended to illustrate the communications problems introduced by the speakers and to empower the audience to solve them. |
| 1 | Why the Public Needs to Understand the Process of Research | Hyman H. Field (Speaker), National Science Foundation |
| 2 | No Title Available | Daryl Chubin (Moderator), National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering, Inc. |
| 3 | No Title Available | Daryl Chubin (Moderator), National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering, Inc. |
| 4 | What Makes a Great Science Documentary? | Melanie Wallace (Speaker), NOVA-WGBH |
| 5 | Building the IEEE Virtual Museum: Technological History on the Web | Michael N. Geselowitz (Speaker), IEEE History Center |
| 6 | A New Distribution System for Science TV Stories | Eliene Augenbraun (Speaker), ScienCentral, Inc. |
| 7 | What Message Is Science Sending? | Daryl Chubin (Speaker), National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering, Inc. |
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The Politics of Human Participants for the Social and Behavioral Sciences
Monday, February 18, 2002 11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. |
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| Rachelle D. Hollander, National Science Foundation |
| This symposium discusses the historical, political, scientific, and ethical issues surrounding recent changes and proposals for change in federal requirements concerning human participants. It focuses on the ways in which past and present contexts, changes, and proposals for change affect or might affect the social and behavioral sciences. The current situation is one which can foster discussion of human participants issues for these sciences, or create increasing or increasingly grave difficulties for them to flourish. As scientific work grows increasingly inter-disciplinary, all science is affected as well. Presenters will provide views from the research communities and their societies, and from members of Federal research agencies and quasi-official bodies established to examine these matters. |
| 1 | Attending to the Needs of Human Participants and Researchers in the Social and Behavioral Sciences | Felice Levine (Speaker), American Sociological Association |
| 2 | Meeting Requirements for Human Participants Protections: How NSF Responds | Stuart Plattner (Speaker), National Science Foundation |
| 3 | Doing Ethically Responsible Research--A View from the Trenches | Joan Sieber (Speaker), California State University-Hayward |
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Science, Technology and Society: Public Participation in Decision-Making
Monday, February 18, 2002 11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. |
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| Jill Chopyak, The Loka Institute; Khan Rahi, The Loka Institute |
| This symposium discusses and evaluates the interface between science, technology and society. Recent issues in Europe (mad cow disease, hoof and mouth, debate over genetically modified organisms) and in the U.S. (communication with research subjects, conflicts of interest) are bringing to the fore the issue of the interface point between science and society. This symposium addresses the following questions: What is the interface point between science, technology and society? How can scientists and other experts communicate and interact more effectively with communities and citizens? What role does society have in determining the direction of research that will have broad societal impacts? This symposium discusses models that have successfully involved citizens and communities in science and technology decision-making, such as community-based research, the European concensus conference and scenario workshop processes. Discussion will also center on what is needed within the policy-making realm that would help facilitate the process of interaction between science, technology and society. |
| 1 | Public Participation in Technology Decisions: Danish Experiences | Lars Kluver (Speaker), Danish Board of Technology |
| 2 | Setting Priorities for Communities: Citizens and Scientists Working in Collaboration | Gretchen Latowsky (Speaker), JSI Center for Environmental Health |
| 3 | Learning from Consensus Conferences | David H. Guston (Speaker), Rutgers University |
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