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genomicsnetwork uploaded a new video
(1 month ago)
Innogen seminar - 31 October 2011
http://bit.ly/zepJla
Abstract:
In princip...
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Innogen seminar - 31 October 2011
http://bit.ly/zepJla
Abstract:
In principle, there are a number of grounds on which we might judge that a particular regulatory environment for new technologies is not right. For example, we might judge that risk (to human health and safety or to the environment) is not properly regulated or that the material regulatory permissions or prohibitions are out of line with the requirements of, say, human rights or human dignity. We might also judge that a particular regulatory intervention is not fit for purpose because it is ineffective, or counter-productive, or lacking sustainability, or something of that kind.
However, if the charge is that the regulatory environment is not sufficiently supportive of innovation, how might it be answered? Which parts of the regulatory environment (for example, the principle of procrastination rather than precaution; the Sony principle in relation to "dual use" technologies; and, above all, the patent regime) can claim to be innovation-sensitive and supportive?
In this paper, the central question is whether we might do better in supporting (or, at least, not obstructing) beneficial innovation while also regulating responsibly for risk as well as for ethical concerns.
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genomicsnetwork uploaded a new video
(1 month ago)
Genomics Forum seminar - 17 November 2011
http://bit.ly/xKPWRp
Iain Gilles...
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Genomics Forum seminar - 17 November 2011
http://bit.ly/xKPWRp
Iain Gillespie - Consultant, Ex-Head OECD Science & Technology Policy Division & OECD Biotechnology Division
There is a proliferation of initiatives in the life sciences to bring together dispersed and diverse elements of the research infrastructure and simplify the process for learning about and accessing these resources. Their common goal is to leverage innovative capacity by creating interconnected webs of knowledge and exploiting external expertise. These initiatives are made possible by the recent advances in information technology: the storage capacity of data; its ease of transmissibility across the Internet; the development of software to access, make interoperable and analyse data; and the governance systems that regulate access and use of data. Collectively, such initiatives have been described as "knowledge markets". Some are monetised, others open and free-access networks.
The fundamental questions that knowledge markets raise are the extent to which they can create a basis for a distributed, networked system of research and development that significantly improves the productivity of innovation, whether current research infrastructure is up to the task of supporting such initiatives and the extent to which various actors get to play in, and derive benefit from, them.
This seminar will look at some of the evidence for the development of knowledge markets and try to draw some tentative conclusions on where good practice might lie (or not), the learning opportunities particularly for emerging and developing economies and possible policy responses at the international level.
For more infromation read Gillespie, I & Wells, R (2011) Collaborative Mechanisms for Intellectual Property Management in the Life Sciences, OECD, Paris
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genomicsnetwork uploaded a new video
(1 month ago)
Genomics Forum seminar - 1 December 2011
http://bit.ly/wXM1DF
Julie McCand...
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Genomics Forum seminar - 1 December 2011
http://bit.ly/wXM1DF
Julie McCandless
Lecturer in medical and family law at LSE
www.lse.ac.uk/collections/law/staff/julie-mccandless.htm
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 and the Welfare Reform Act 2009 have recently instigated a number of changes to the rules pertaining to legal parenthood and birth registration. The former now permits two women to be registered as a child's legal parents from the moment of birth when certain conditions are met (McCandless and Sheldon, 2010), while the latter introduces a requirement for all births to be jointly registered by two parents unless certain exemptions are satisfied (Probert, 2011). A cursory analysis of the passage of this new legislation reveals a lack of consensus amongst law and policy makers on the purpose and significance of birth registration. Most strikingly, there was disagreement as to what 'facts' birth registration should record -- whether genetic, legal, social or some combination thereof -- as well as the relationship formal birth registration has with the legal rights and responsibilities of parenthood more generally. This lack of consensus can be seen as signalling birth registration as something more complex than a straightforward historico-legal record of genetic fact (Warnock, 1984), mirroring the position in UK law that legal parenthood can be attributed on a number of grounds other than the genetic relationship. Despite the varying grounds on which legal parenthood can be attributed, UK law has remained steadfast in refusing to recognise more than two legal parents on a child's birth certificate, rendering as normative a very particular family form.
While there exists a rich literature on the question of what does and should make a parent in law, as well as a growing critical commentary on the impact of understandings of parenthood garnered by the recent legislative changes, no study offers a sustained, socio-legal consideration of (legal) parenthood and the two family model in the broader context of birth registration. While some legal studies have started to think about the role and purpose of birth registration (e.g. Bainham 2008), they tend to focus on specific questions -- such as whether a birth certificate should record genetic parenthood -- rather than locate such questions in the broader historical, social and political context of civil birth registration. Therefore, what I am interested in developing in this project is a critical assessment of the role of birth registration in contemporary UK society and to consider alternatives to the present system, particularly in light of diversifying family forms, modern preoccupations with privacy and identity and the increasing array of other databases which record personal information relevant to the generation of national statistics (especially health and family related statistics). In my seminar session, I would like to present some ideas on how to set-about this research, as I start to design a long-term socio-legal research project on birth registration.
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