Challenges and Opportunities for Education About Dual Use Issues in the Life Sciences (2011) / Chapter Skim
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3 Current Conditions: Establishing a Baseline About Education on Dual Use Issues
3 Current Conditions: Establishing a Baseline About Education on Dual Use Issues
Pages 51-72
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From page 51... ...
; and • What educational materials addressing dual use research in the life sciences already exist. The committee's primary information gathering took place during an international workshop, held over twoandahalf days in November 2009 at the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw; the agenda and participants list for the workshop may be found in Appendix B
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From page 52... ...
And the education reaches only a portion of life science students, technical personnel, or faculty. Issues related to raising awareness among life scientists about dual use issues is thus related to larger issues of the type of education about research ethics and broader social responsibility that scientists should receive.
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From page 53... ...
is a loosely defined set of issues, policies and professional standards, and good research practices that emerged in the United States after the NIH mandated in 1989 that hold ers of certain training grants provide instruction in responsible conduct of research to their trainees in order to ensure integrity in research gen erally.3 The policy came in response to congressional efforts to regulate research to prevent misconduct but also in response to the 1989 report from the Institute of Medicine that advocated such education (IOM 1989)
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From page 54... ...
There has also been a conscious effort in recent years to expand RCR education internationally, as reflected in the Second World Conference on Research Integrity in Singapore in July 2010.4 Survey of In-Person Courses and Modules: Europe, Japan, UK, and Israel A group of researchers at the University of Exeter, the University of Bradford, the National Defence Medical College of Japan, and the Landau Network Centro Volta in Italy have recently undertaken a program of activities to identify the biosecurity education available in multiple coun tries and assess potential needs and opportunities. As an important com ponent of this project, Giulio Mancini, James Revill, and their colleagues conducted surveys in Europe, Japan, the United Kingdom, and Israel on the existence of biosecurity modules within a selection of university degree courses (Revill and Mancini 2008; Minehata and Shinomiya 2009; Minehata and Friedman 2009; Revill 2009; Revill et al.
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From page 55... ...
included specific references to biological weapons, arms control, or the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BWC) , although the limitations in online descriptions of course material and a low response rate to requests for followup interviews complicated the ability to draw firm conclusions on the extent these topics are covered.
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From page 56... ...
Secondary school Alevel biology course specifications like wise did not include specific references to biological weapons or to "dual use," although discussions of ethical, social, and environmental issues in biology were broadly encouraged. A similar survey was conducted in Israel, in a partnership between the Bradford Disarmament Research Centre and the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS)
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From page 57... ...
The survey results identified four categories of educational programs: education programs for scientists, biodefense policy courses, biosafety training programs, and bioterrorism preparedness courses for public health students. This survey, augmented by additional AAAS research, identified existing education programs at 14 universities that "specifically dealt with educating graduate or professional students in the biomedical sciences on dual use research issues" (AAAS 2008:3)
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From page 58... ...
However, only 55 percent agreed that institutions should provide mandatory training, while 86 per cent felt that the principal investigator of a laboratory should assume the primary responsibility for training lab personnel about dual use research and for assuring that any dual use implications of ongoing research had been appropriately considered. Online Educational Materials In addition to inperson courses and modules devoted to aspects of biosecurity identified in the surveys, the committee sought information about what online educational resources currently exist in the United States and internationally for use in undergraduate or postgraduate edu cation.10 A background paper commissioned from Cheryl Vos (2009)
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From page 59... ...
• Educational Module Resource, Bradford Disarmament Research Centre (UK) , National Defence Medical College (Japan)
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From page 60... ...
Biosecurity: Risks and Responsibilities is a video series whose "learning units" provide an introduction to biological weapons, bioterrorism, and the risk of misuse of legitimate biological research. It also has three case scenarios for the user to consider, as well as links to readings to supple ment both the learning units and the case scenarios.
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From page 61... ...
The EMR is a major component of an ambitious education effort by researchers from the United Kingdom, Italy, and Japan. Much of the activity is car ried out by the Bradford Disarmament Research Centre of the University of Bradford, which developed the EMR in cooperation with the Defence Medical College of Japan and the Landau Network Centro Volta.
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From page 62... ...
The Educational Module on Chemical & Biological Weapons Nonproliferation from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute in Sweden, the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Free University Brussels) in Belgium, and the Inter national Relations and Security Network in Switzerland (http://poli.vub.
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From page 63... ...
The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) , with support from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, developed The Multiple Uses of Chemicals to provide IUPAC chemists and chemistry teachers with materials intended to raise aware ness about the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC)
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From page 64... ...
As the background presented by Pinard on the United States and Revill and his colleagues on Europe, Israel, and Japan indicated, there appear to be relatively few inperson courses devoting attention to dis cussions of laboratory research with dual use potential, although, as the next section illustrates, interest and initiatives in these areas appear to be growing. There was also considerable discussion among the participants that a significant amount of information and training about responsible conduct and biosafety is currently provided informally, either through dedicated modules outside regular coursework or via inlaboratory men toring by senior researchers.
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From page 65... ...
This section describes some of the efforts that emerged during the Warsaw workshop, as well as those reported elsewhere. It should be noted that a significant number of the examples of new educational efforts represent the result of the work of the group associated with the Bradford Disarmament Research Centre mentioned above.
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From page 66... ...
As described above, the Education Module Resource was the result of collaboration with the Japan Defence Medical College and the Landau Network Centro Volta. Students at the Medical College receive different parts of the material at several points in their education as their needs and interests develop (Yamada 2009)
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From page 67... ...
. Linking laboratory biosafety with security measures can thus pro vide a context for introducing dual use issues as part of a larger context of responsible research.
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From page 68... ...
The proposed curriculum includes relevant national and international guidelines and regulations, risk assessment, appropriate laboratory practices, and laboratory risk management. An optional third semester on special topics would also be available.
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From page 69... ...
Como, Italy: Landau Network Centro Volta and Bradford Disarmament Research Centre. Minehata, M., and D
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From page 70... ...
Bradford, UK: Bradford Disarmament Research Centre. Second World Conference on Research Integrity.
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From page 71... ...
Presentation on Panel "International Cooperation, Biosecurity and the Education of Life Scientists," Geneva: BWC States Parties Meeting. Online Educational Materials Bradford Disarmament Research Centre, National Defence Medical College of Japan, and Landau Network Centro Volta.
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