The integrated ethics and society programme of the Human Brain Project: Reflecting on an ongoing experience

Aicardi, Christine; Reinsborough, Michael; Rose, Nikolas

Abstract

© 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. The EU-funded Human Brain Project (HBP) aimed to deliver advances in brain science, cognitive neuroscience and brain-inspired computing which would have broad-ranging implications and benefit European citizens. Achieving such outcomes is dependent, in part, upon the ability of large scale research projects to anticipate potential needs and concerns of user communities as well as other stakeholders and society in general and integrate these into their research programme. While the responsibility to anticipate such needs and to address them belongs to all those directing the research programme, the HBP has a specific Subproject dedicated to researching society and ethics issues. This seeks to enable research across the HBP to better incorporate societal concerns and ethical awareness into their research design and trajectory. This article describes the structure of the Ethics & Society Subproject, reflects on our experience three years in, and considers some of the challenges in formulating and implementing such a programme for responsible research and innovation.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: May 10, 2017
• Online Publication Date: Jun 1, 2017
• Publication Date: Feb 12, 2018
• Deposit Date: Apr 10, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 1, 2018
• Journal: Journal of Responsible Innovation
• Print ISSN: 2329-9460
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis (Routledge)
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 5
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 13-37
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/23299460.2017.1331101
• Keywords: neuroscience, neurotechnology, human brain project, responsible research and innovation, foresight
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/870246
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/23299460.2017.1331101
• Additional Information: Additional Information : This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Journal of Responsible Innovation on 01/06/2017, available online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/23299460.2017.1331101.
• Contract Date: Apr 10, 2018