Beyond Research Ethics: Dialogues in Neuro-ICT Research

Stahl, Bernd Carsten; Akintoye, Simisola; Fothergill, B. Tyr; Guerrero, Manuel Alejandro; Knight, W. F. J.; Ulnicane, Inga

doi:10.3389/fnhum.2019.00105

Cited by 19 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…The UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council has established the so-called AREA framework for RRI, which is an acronym for anticipation, reflection, engagement, and action. This AREA framework is implemented in the HBP (Stahl et al 2019 ).…”

Section: Social and Ethical Concerns Of Neuroroboticsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In practice, the RRI programme of the HBP is implemented by four work packages that focus on technology foresight (Aicardi et al 2018 ), philosophical and neuroethical reflection (Salles et al 2019 ), public engagement, and ethics support (Stahl et al 2016 ). Ethics Support uses an approach of ethics dialogues to implement RRI (Stahl et al 2019 ). As part of the ethics-related work of the RRI programme, the scholars in the programme collaborate with colleagues from the scientific and technical disciplines to identify and address ethical challenges.…”

Section: Social and Ethical Concerns Of Neuroroboticsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Ethical and Social Aspects of Neurorobotics

et al. 2020

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The interdisciplinary field of neurorobotics looks to neuroscience to overcome the limitations of modern robotics technology, to robotics to advance our understanding of the neural system’s inner workings, and to information technology to develop tools that support those complementary endeavours. The development of these technologies is still at an early stage, which makes them an ideal candidate for proactive and anticipatory ethical reflection. This article explains the current state of neurorobotics development within the Human Brain Project, originating from a close collaboration between the scientific and technical experts who drive neurorobotics innovation, and the humanities and social sciences scholars who provide contextualising and reflective capabilities. This article discusses some of the ethical issues which can reasonably be expected. On this basis, the article explores possible gaps identified within this collaborative, ethical reflection that calls for attention to ensure that the development of neurorobotics is ethically sound and socially acceptable and desirable.

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Section: Social and Ethical Concerns Of Neuroroboticsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Social and Ethical Concerns Of Neuroroboticsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ethical and Social Aspects of Neurorobotics

et al. 2020

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“…So far, the practice of ethical reflexivity is presented broadly, articulating its potential to foster trustworthiness but with no specific details on how such discursive interactions can be concretized in research contexts to foster researchers' trustworthiness, specifically supporting and expressing researchers' moral competence and goodwill. The dialogical approach to ethics has been done in other neuroscience research programs (Stahl et al, 2019). In the next section, we will discuss briefly an ethical reflexivity practice developed by the Neuroethics Thrust with the Center for Neurotechnology as a promising method to foster researchers' trustworthiness.…”

Section: Ethical Reflexivity As Promoting Trustworthinessmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fostering the trustworthiness of researchers: SPECS and the role of ethical reflexivity in novel neurotechnology research

Tubig

McCusker

2020

Research Ethics

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The development of novel neurotechnologies, such as brain-computer interface (BCI) and deep-brain stimulation (DBS), are very promising in improving the welfare and life prospects many people. These include life-changing therapies for medical conditions and enhancements of cognitive, emotional, and moral capacities. Yet there are also numerous moral risks and uncertainties involved in developing novel neurotechnologies. For this reason, the progress of novel neurotechnology research requires that diverse publics place trust in researchers to develop neural interfaces in ways that are overall beneficial to society and responsive to ethical values and concerns. In this article, we argue that researchers and research institutions have a moral responsibility to foster and demonstrate trustworthiness with respect to broader publics whose lives will be affected by their research. Using Annette Baier’s conceptual analysis of trust, which takes competence and good will to be its central components, we propose that practices of ethical reflexivity could play a valuable role in fostering the trustworthiness of individual researchers and research institutions through building and exhibiting their moral competence and good will. By ethical reflexivity, we mean the reflective and discursive activity of articulating, analyzing, and assessing the assumptions and values that might be underlying their ethical actions and projects. Here, we share an ethics dialog tool—called the Scientific Perspectives and Ethics Commitments Survey (or SPECS)—developed by the University of Washington’s Center of Neurotechnology (CNT) Neuroethics Thrust. Ultimately, the aim is to show the promise of ethical reflexivity practices, like SPECS, as a method of enhancing trustworthiness in researchers and their institutions that seek to develop novel neurotechnologies for the overall benefit of society.

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“…Our case study, the HBP, is large, complex, collaborative, and international. It, therefore, possesses attributes requiring special consideration when incorporating ethical frameworks, including a need for a non-imperialist, dialogical approach; cross-disciplinary utility; and sensitivity to social and cultural issues at multiple levels (Aicardi et al, 2018b; Stahl et al, 2018, 2019). In applying RRI within the HBP, the approach to ethical issues has been characterised by dialogues, flexible, and responsive to project needs (Stahl et al, 2016; Aicardi et al, 2018a).…”

Section: Ethics and Big Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To avoid reducing applied ethical frameworks to tick-box exercises or imposing an ethically-imperialist methodology on a vast collaborative project comprised of diverse cultural and interdisciplinary perspectives, our approach to data governance of neuroscience big data is aligned with that of the Ethics Support work package in the HBP and operationalises an ethics of dialogue based on Habermasian discourse ethics (Habermas, 1991, 2006; Stahl et al, 2019). This approach was designed for responsive, discursive inclusivity in the context of neuro-ICT innovation, with the potential emergence of complex and novel ethical issues in mind.…”

Section: Responsible Data Governance Data Governance Meets Rrimentioning

confidence: 99%

Responsible Data Governance of Neuroscience Big Data

Fothergill

Stahl

Ulnicane

2019

Front. Neuroinform.

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Current discussions of the ethical aspects of big data are shaped by concerns regarding the social consequences of both the widespread adoption of machine learning and the ways in which biases in data can be replicated and perpetuated. We instead focus here on the ethical issues arising from the use of big data in international neuroscience collaborations. Neuroscience innovation relies upon neuroinformatics, large-scale data collection and analysis enabled by novel and emergent technologies. Each step of this work involves aspects of ethics, ranging from concerns for adherence to informed consent or animal protection principles and issues of data re-use at the stage of data collection, to data protection and privacy during data processing and analysis, and issues of attribution and intellectual property at the data-sharing and publication stages. Significant dilemmas and challenges with far-reaching implications are also inherent, including reconciling the ethical imperative for openness and validation with data protection compliance and considering future innovation trajectories or the potential for misuse of research results. Furthermore, these issues are subject to local interpretations within different ethical cultures applying diverse legal systems emphasising different aspects. Neuroscience big data require a concerted approach to research across boundaries, wherein ethical aspects are integrated within a transparent, dialogical data governance process. We address this by developing the concept of “responsible data governance,” applying the principles of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) to the challenges presented by the governance of neuroscience big data in the Human Brain Project (HBP).

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Beyond Research Ethics: Dialogues in Neuro-ICT Research

Cited by 19 publications

References 46 publications

Ethical and Social Aspects of Neurorobotics

Ethical and Social Aspects of Neurorobotics

Fostering the trustworthiness of researchers: SPECS and the role of ethical reflexivity in novel neurotechnology research

Responsible Data Governance of Neuroscience Big Data

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