Dual-Use Bioethics

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About the Project on Building a Sustainable Capacity in Dual-Use Bioethics

The advance of the life sciences and biotechnology have the potential to bring great benefits to humankind through responding to societal challenges; however it is also possible that such advances could be exploited for hostile purposes, something evidenced in a small number of incidents of bioterrorism, but more particularly by the series of large-scale offensive biological warfare programmes carried out by major states in the last century. A number of activities have been identified to respond to this challenge, which has been termed the "dual-use" dilemma, however one central component in dealing with dual-use must include a process of engagement with scientists and the application of the expertise of life scientists and bioethicists to assist in the long-term process of policy development.

Unfortunately, to date engagement amongst practising life scientists on the issues of dual-use or ethical responsibilities has been limited. Moreover, little work by bioethicists has addressed the dual-use dilemma in the life sciences. Accordingly, to respond to this challenge the project on building a sustainable capacity in dual-use bioethics has been initiated.

Objectives

The project on building a sustainable capacity in dual-use bioethics is an interdisciplinary and collaborative exercise which brings together a number of leading experts including Professor Malcolm Dando and colleagues at the University of Bradford's Department of Peace Studies, Dr Brian Rappert in the Department of Sociology and Philosophy, University of Exeter, Dr Alexander Kelle in the Department of European Studies, University of Bath and Dr Michael Selgelid. The project aims to build a sustainable capacity in dual-use bioethics both by facilitating analysis of the dual-use bioethics problem now and by training young scholars to continue such work in the future. Specific project objectives include:

1. Providing an interdisciplinary framework for analysis of the ethical responsibilities of life scientists for the dual-use aspects of their work;
2. Translating these responsibilities into means of professional conduct;
3. Analysing policies in several countries to define and implement the identified ethical responsibilities, with a special attention to developing countries;
4. Assisting development of the national and international governance mechanisms and norms related to dual-use bioethics and biosecurity.

This is important in contributing to the development of effective national and international policies and practices in the life sciences to prevent the misuse for hostile purposes of benignly-intended knowledge, materials and technologies being produced in the ongoing revolution in the life sciences.

Contact

For general enquiries please use one of the following means of contacting project personnel, alternatively, to contact a specific individual, please see the expertise page.

Mailing List

To subscribe to the Dual-Use Bioethics Mailing list for updates, please send an email to dualusebioethics@bradford.ac.uk and you will be included in forthcoming updates on a quarterly basis.