Life science in society 2010

Ever since Paul Berg’s call in the early 1970s for contemporary debates on stem cells or synthetic biology and more recent controversies concerning GMOs, the life sciences and technologies have been at the heart of the relationship between science and society.

What types of regulations and controls should be placed on scientific research? Is regulation of the applications of research enough, or should research itself be regulated? Where does research freedom stop and at what point should a researcher’s sense of responsibility start to intervene? Should the public be informed? How can public debates on these issues be organized?

The objective of this joint Genopole®-IFRIS initiative is to revisit these questions by organizing a dialogue between life science and the human & social sciences. We intend to use what has been learned over the last four decades to clarify the most contemporary issues. The goal is to (i) avoid a position which would create a head-to-head conflict between rational scientists and a society prey to its emotions and fears and (ii) understand how science and society co-evolve.

In fact, our body of knowledge and the emerging technologies which generate new knowledge are not all instantly equipped with the standards and values that serve as a basis for managing these entities in society. The governance of knowledge and technologies is built up as we watch, so to speak - in ways that differ from one country or sector to the other and that affect the acceptability of the real or imaginary changes promised by science.

Today’s emerging technologies have a very high scientific content and are based on the production of knowledge that may be uncertain and/or controversial. These technologies hold potential risks and promises. This uncertainty thus results in potentially erroneous concerns and representations that the unilateral application of the scientific rationality alone cannot rectify. This is particularly the case in the life sciences.

Because uncertainty leaves room for a broad variety of interpretations of the risks and promises, a very diverse host of social, economic, political and scientific stakeholders - each with a particular agenda - has become involved in public debate. Each has its own view of the problem and the value of the knowledge and technologies in question.

As a result, the emerging sciences are increasingly confronted with intervention by stakeholders from outside the governmental sphere (non-governmental/non-profit organizations, international advisory boards, national agencies and so on) with a variety of means of expression. In a multipolar organizational model, these stakeholders shape the arenas where they develop cooperative and/or competitive relationships and seek to enclose their concerns and values within standards guaranteeing “good practice” in the production and use of scientific and technical knowledge. They consider that this practice is necessary and relevant because it serves as a guide for orienting the activities of other stakeholders.

The five-year cycle of one-day annual meetings organized by Genopole® and the IFRIS will cover the following themes:

• Life science and public opinion(s) (virtual communities, militant groups, concerned groups, etc.)
• Today’s changing modes of production in the life sciences (high-throughput biology, technology platforms, patents, etc.)
• Information provision, debates and hybrid forums: what have we learned from forty years of debate on life sciences and technologies?
• The standards-based regulation of life science
• The ethical regulation of science in practice

These colloquia intend to deal seriously with the question of science/society co-evolution by inviting a few of the world’s leading specialists in the field of science, technology and society to debate on the last decade’s developments with politicians, journalists, associations and research managers as well as life scientists.

First colloquium : Tuesday, September 28th 2010
Collège de France : 11, place Marcelin Berthelot, 75005 Paris

Although public opinion now appears to have a major influence on science policies, there is no obvious reason why this should necessarily be the case. The idea behind this first colloquium is to work on the notion of “public opinion” by using illustrative case studies: the public opinion that comes out of opinion polls, public opinion in the blogosphere, concerned groups, militant groups, etc.

THE TARGET AUDIENCE

Researchers and scientists (biologists, sociologists, historians, etc.), industrials, the public authorities, politicians, administrators, regulatory organizations & agencies (research, healthcare, medicine, the environment, innovation, ethics, etc.), lawyers, other stakeholders in scientific and technical culture, associations, the media and the general public.

LANGUAGES OF THE COLLOQUIUM

Presentation will be given in English or French depending on the speakers but a simultaneous interpreting service will be provided in both languages

INFORMATION

Save the Date

To widely and to promote the congress “Life sciences in society”

Contact : Nicole Chemali, Communication Director
Mildred Geslin, assistant
GIP Genopole®, Genopole® Campus 1, Bâtiment G8
5, rue Henri Desbruères
F-91030 Evry Cedex, France
Tel.: +33 160 878 440
Fax: +33 160 873 500
communication genopole.fr