SBE-UKRI: Synthetic Genomics and Responsible Research and Innovation

The aim of this project is: (1) to carry out a social scientific analysis into how scientists design and build large stretches of DNA and (2) to develop new approaches to responsible research and innovation in an international, cross-project, multispecies context. Synthetic genomics is an emerging scientific field in which scientists aim to design and build larger stretches of DNA than ever before, at the scale of chromosomes and even whole genomes.

We aim to bring diverse perspectives into this field by conducting a social scientific analysis designed to support discussion of responsible research. By studying responsible research within a large-scale, international, collaborative scientific in genomics this project will mitigate the tendency for these conversations to be organized at the individual project level by isolated social scientists.

This project will be of interest to scientists working directly in genomics and engineering biology as well as citizens, policy makers, and scientists working in other fields.

This project is a cross-national social scientific investigation of synthetic genomics to further the theory and practice of responsible research and innovation, and to develop capacity for productive future collaborations between the social and natural sciences. It will examine how ideas of national competitiveness and international collaboration are shaping policies for synthetic genomics and the place of responsible research and innovation within these policies.

It will reflect on and articulating roles that social sciences can play in doing synthetic genomics responsibly. This project will bring diverse stakeholder perspectives into discussions of synthetic genomics through a series of workshops to investigate synthetic genomics and developing social scientific engagement with the field. The project’s findings will contribute the theories and practices of responsible research and innovation (RRI), research and funding policy, the relationship between expectations and research trajectories, the challenges of interdisciplinary collaboration with scientific fields, and multispecies studies.

It will be of interest to researchers working in innovation studies, sociology, anthropology, geography, politics, development studies, history, philosophy and bioethics. This proposal is awarded under the SBE-UKRI Lead Agency Opportunity.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.