Research Progress on Environmental, Health, and Safety Aspects of Engineered Nanomaterials (2013) / Chapter Skim
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5 Going Beyond Green
5 Going Beyond Green
Pages 115-125
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From page 115... ...
that provides an overall vision of a comprehensive research enterprise on the potential EHS risks posed by ENMs, capturing the interrelated and interdependent research activities that are driven by the evolving production of ENMs. That construct highlights critical interactions among members of the research community and the wider group of stakeholders and the importance of a coordinated infrastructure to ensure that the efforts of the research community are optimized.
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From page 116... ...
Stable, long-term support and incentives for sustaining the research community and engaging interdisciplinary and international researchers. An adaptive decision-making process that integrates the latest nanotechnology EHS information from all over the world into a "knowledge commons" and provides sufficient funding and incentives, with input from multiple stakeholders, to illuminate the path toward ENM design, application, and highpriority risk research.
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From page 117... ...
Applications research is often relevant to our understanding of potential EHS risks and vice versa, and this highlights the need for close collaboration of researchers in both fields and for an infrastructure that supports more efficient and facile information flow between and integration of the applications-research and implications-research communities. However, close researcher interaction does not necessarily imply that applications research and implications research should be jointly managed.
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From page 118... ...
When faced with the nuances of risk research, an organization that is in large measure evaluated by its success in technology development may not be perceived as able to set priorities effectively among either resources or topics for risk research. If the potential research synergies and cross-fertilization between applications research and implications research are to be realized, concerns about the true equality of the dual objectives of "responsible development" must be addressed.
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From page 119... ...
Moreover, the gap in empowered leadership of nanotechnology EHS research at the federal level has made coordination and communication challenging and left the enterprise open to perceptions of conflicts between technology development and risk research. Such leadership requires a stronger central convening authority than the NNI can now provide -- one that has sufficient management and budgetary authority to direct implementation of a research strategy throughout all the NNI agencies and to ensure its integration with EHS research undertaken in the private sector, the academic community, and international organizations (NRC 2012, pp.
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From page 120... ...
establish its own stakeholder advisory council to develop best practices for this vital function and commit to funding regular workshops to bring together US and foreign researchers who are working on nanotechnology EHS research and other stakeholders. Public–private partnerships.
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SUSTAINING AND NURTURING RESEARCH EXCELLENCE Whatever organization oversees the nanotechnology EHS research strategy, among its most important functions will be to secure and maintain adequate funding for the program. The research strategies outlined by the NNI and by this committee cannot be accomplished without a sustained commitment over at least the next decade.
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From page 122... ...
In recognizing such disincentives as they apply to multidisciplinary research on EHS aspects of ENMs, the committee recommends that incentives be established to foster joint planning and information exchange. Examples of such incentives are enhanced support to give higher priority to multidisciplinary, integrated EHS aspects of ENMs; frequent multisponsor, multidisciplinary meetings to build a community of investigators addressing EHS aspects of ENMs; and a cross-agency budget for key multidisciplinary research initiatives.
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From page 123... ...
It would also facilitate oversight of the nanomaterial research program and provide greater accountability for research progress. It may be possible to engage researchers to offer snapshots or meta-analyses of the state of knowledge in their own fields, and this information could feed into an adaptive decision-making process that constantly evaluates the evolving consensus developing in the research community on such key issues as those presented in Chapter 4.
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From page 124... ...
Bioinformatics provides relevant examples of what can be accomplished with these techniques; for example, the National Cancer Institute's Metathesaurus provides synonyms that link cancer research and trial resources (NCI 2013) and linkages to hundreds of resources accessible through the National Library of Medicine (NLM 2013)
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From page 125... ...
. CONCLUSION Characterization of the risks posed by ENMs throughout their life cycle is a scientific challenge that requires integrated, quantitative, and systems-level approaches.
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