Recipients: Kristin Matthew, Beth Beason-Abmayr
As synthetic biology applications emerge, many public and private grants are requiring ethical, legal and social implications (ELSI) research and broader impact statements in proposals to complement the proposed research agendas. ELSI research addresses broader social impact of research including whether research ought to be done, how it should or could be regulated, if it needs to be regulated, what policies and rules impede research development and what are major public concerns and questions that need to be addressed. For emerging research on synthetic biology, insights and resources on ELSI issues remain disparate and scattered across multiple literatures in the social sciences, humanities, and policy studies. This project will build Rice’s capacity in synthetic biology ELSI research, by developing resources that can be used by the faculty and ELSI scholars. Work will include: 1) a systematic literature review of ethical issues inherent to the technology focus areas of RSBI; and 2) a comprehensive policy analysis of relevant regulations, incentive, and funding policies relevant for focus areas of RSBI. Results will be utilized to develop an agenda for conducting future ELSI-based research projects, build educational materials, and help to translate basic research to real world application. Outcomes would include peer-reviewed publications, a database of relevant ELSI literature, and other materials that could be used by RSBI faculty for course development or within ELSI and broader impacts sections grant applications.
