[Forum] CfP, Paris: Engineering Life: Regulating Science, Risks, and Society in Europe

[Schwerin]

Auf diesen CfP darf ich aufmerksam machen:

https://global.rice.edu/pariscenter/about/engineering-life-cfp


    "Engineering Life: Regulating Science, Risks, and Society in Europe"


      Paris, France
      June 14 - 16, 2023

*Workshop Organisers:*

  * Luis Campos, Rice University (US)
  * Francesco Cassata, Università di Genova (IT)
  * Christina Brandt, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena (DE)

*Workshop Information:*

  * Contact: asilomar at rice.edu
  * Proposal submissions by March 8, 2023
  * Notifications by March 15, 2023


      Background

"Debating the ethics of human interference with the mechanics of 
evolution in a church at the edge of the immense saline test tube where 
it all started: Rarely does one find one’s metaphors so cheap—or so 
apt.” So began an infamous Rolling Stone article summarizing the 
historic International Conference on Recombinant DNA Molecules held in 
February 1975. Convened by the world’s molecular biologists, the meeting 
was intended as a technical gathering to assess means of minimizing the 
risk of potential biohazards involved with novel recombinant DNA 
techniques before these had been fully developed (and before much was 
known about them), in order to lift a temporary and voluntary 
moratorium. The “Asilomar” meeting, as it came to be known, drew over a 
hundred scientists from around the world (as well as four lawyers) to 
hash out the potentials of the novel recombinant DNA technology—all 
while being observed by sixteen journalists, a new feature for a 
scientific conference.

Nearly fifty years on now, the contested meanings of this landmark event 
in the history of science policy are ripe for reconsideration, and 
highlight important transnational issues. While in the US it was the 
National Institutes of Health that took an advisory role, in Europe it 
was specific bodies and institutions within each country—as well as the 
newly founded European Molecular Biology Organization—that established 
committees to advise on national policies and the building of specially 
designed laboratories for recombinant DNA work. Moreover, in the 
half-century since Asilomar, scientists, scholars, and policymakers 
alike have debated whether “Asilomar” was a paradigmatic or exemplary 
event; recounted how it unfolded and what it all meant for laboratory 
protocols, research agendas, scientific governance, and for society at 
large; and also questioned whether “another Asilomar” meeting was 
necessary to deal with the emergence of newer techniques in 
biotechnology. (Today, “Asilomar” is routinely invoked in a variety of 
other fields ranging from geoengineering to artificial intelligence and 
machine learning.)

In preparation for the fiftieth anniversary of Asilomar, we propose to 
activate a network of scholars and students across the United States and 
Europe to reconsider this seminal event in the history of science and 
science and technology policy. A related but separate event on the 
American legacies of Asilomar will be organised and hosted in Houston in 
May. This June event in Paris aims to convene a group of expert scholars 
at the Rice Global Paris Center to study the legacies and spirit of 
Asilomar and its implications for the development of science policy in 
Europe.


      Submissions

Submissions related to the following topics would be favorably received:

  * science policies in Europe developed in the wake of Asilomar
  * histories of genetic engineering in Europe
  * radical science and political activism in Europe related to emerging
    technologies of life
  * changing notions of “risk” in the life sciences in Europe from the
    1970s to today
  * the “myth” of Asilomar in contemporary bioethics and biotechnology

Please send a title and abstract of no more than 300 words, along with a 
short biography or one page CV, to asilomar at rice.edu by March 8, 2023. 
Notification of acceptances will be given by March 15, 2023.
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