Friday, January 23, 2009
FP7 grant for Ibo van de Poel
Together with consortium partners Ibo van de Poel, managing director of 3TU.Ethics and associate professor at the Philosophy Department of TU Delft, has received a research grant from the FP7 programme of the European Union. Title of the project is “Ethical and regulatory issues raised by synthetic biology” (SYNTH-ETHICS). The project has a total size of 531.000 euro, of which a part will go to the Philosophy Department in Delft. The researcher from 3TU.Ethics that will contribute to the execution of the research is David Koepsell.
Abstract of the SYNTH-ETHICS project
SYNTH-ETHICS addresses the ethical, legal and social implications of the emerging field of synthetic biology, with a special focus on biosafety and biosecurity and on notions of life. The project starts with discerning relevant ethical issues in close collaboration with the synthetic biology community. Next, the public debates around these issues are analysed. The current ethical and regulative frameworks existing in synthetic biology and closely related fields like nanobiotechnology and genetic engineering will then be reconstructed and assessed for their ability to deal adequately with existing and newly emerging ethical issues in synthetic biology. On that basis, challenges for current regulatory and ethical frameworks will be identified and recommendations for dealing with these challenges will be formulated targeted at three relevant groups: 1) the synthetic biology community, 2) EU policy makers and 3) NGOs/the public.
The project is at the intersection of ethics, technology assessment and foresight, law, and new technologies, and expertise from all relevant fields is included in the project team. The project will build on insights and discussions from other fields such as biotechnology and nanotechnology. It will also try to assess which aspects of synthetic biology might give rise to ethical problems of a different nature, specific to the field. In turn, it will contribute significantly to a more adequate and proactive broadly applicable approach to the ethical aspects of new technology. It will contribute to a common understanding of synthetic biology and the ethical, legal and social issues involved in EU member states, and to the shaping of a distinct European approach without ignoring the discussions and developments in the US and elsewhere. Stakeholders’ views will be solicited during the project and will be taken into account, and the project will help to prepare for a rational and informed public dialogue on synthetic biology. Finally, the project provides a sound basis for EU policy-making in the coming years, also by cooperation and using synergies with other EU-funded and international projects.
Project team
The project team will consist of:
- Julian Kinderlerer (TUD) (chair)
- Armin Grunwald (FZK) (vice chair)
- David Koepsell (TUD) (convenor)
- Patricia Osseweijer (TUD) (convenor)
- Laurens Landeweerd (TUD)
- Christopher Coenen (FZK)
- Anke van Gorp (TNO)
- Elena Pariotti (UNIPD)
- John Weckert (ANU)
The daily board for this project will consist of Kinderlerer, Grunwald, Van der Poel and Osseweijer.
