Research Report for the Wellcome Trust Project on `Building a Sustainable Capacity in Dual-use Bioethics’
By James Revill
The concepts of education and awareness raising have received considerable attention in the international security discourse in the 21st Century and there have been a small number of programmes that have been designed to inter alia, survey educational content, develop educational material and engage in educational activity. However, there is little material on how such projects can be measured in terms of success or indeed what baselines can be identified from which to measure progress. Accordingly, this report outlines some of the issues that need to be taken into consideration in designing metrics and measures for such projects.
It begins by outlining the nature of the challenge, before moving on to look at how other analogous projects have sought to identify metrics and measures of success in the world of business ethics, development aid, human rights training and environmental education. The paper then proceeds to look at different methodologies that could be applied to the dual-use education context, such as a results framework, social network analysis and impact analysis, before concluding with a number of possible approaches to measuring success that could be employed and balance the need for pragmatic and simple indicators of success at the policy level, with the more rigorous requirements for determining progress from the academic perspective.
- Author:
- University of Bradford
- Publish Date:
- 2009
- April 29, 2011
- | Filed under Europe, Report, and 2001-2025
This report provides a detailed account of the development and verification of the RV-PCR method for detection of live spores of Bacillus anthracis Ames in environmental sample matrices such as the BioWatch air filters, surface sampling wipes, and water. NHSRC has made this publication available to assist in preparing for and recovering from disasters involving anthrax spores contamination. This work specifically represents a very important step in NHSRC’s support for the ERLN. It is also key to the Agency’s commitment to fulfill its homeland security mission and its overall mission to protect human health and the environment.
- Author:
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
- Publish Date:
- March 2011 (Revised)
- March 25, 2011
- | Filed under North America, Report, and 2001-2025
“Department of Homeland Security is proposing to move foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) research from its current location at the Plum Island Animal Disease Center—located on a federally owned island off the northern tip of Long Island, New York—and potentially onto the united States mainland. FMD is the most highly infectious animal disease that is known. Nearly 100% of exposed animals become infected. A single outbreak of FMD on the U.S. mainland could have significant economic consequences. GAO was asked to evaluate the evidence DHS used to support its decision that FMD work can be done safely on the U.S. mainland, whether an island location provides any additional protection over and above that provided by modern high containment laboratories on the mainland, and the economic consequences of an FMD outbreak on the U.S. mainland.”
- Author:
- U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO)
- Publish Date:
- 2008
- June 27, 2011
- | Filed under North America, Report, and 2001-2025
Research Report for the Wellcome Trust Project on `Building a Sustainable Capacity in Dual-use Bioethics`
By Judi F. Sture
This booklet is intended as a supplement to existing guidance and regulatory mechanisms in biosafety and bioethics with which you as a life scientist are already familiar. It is not intended to overload you with further time-consuming and burdensome activity. Rather, it is hoped that you will find some useful guidance here to support you as you move towards making dual use awareness and response a part of your daily professional life, just as you already do with issues of biosafety and bioethics.
- Author:
- University of Bradford
- Publish Date:
- 2010
- April 29, 2011
- | Filed under Europe, Other, and 2001-2025
Research Report for the Wellcome Trust Project on `Building a Sustainable Capacity in Dual-use Bioethics`
By Nicholas Evans
The dual-use dilemma occurs when research or technology may be used to ben- efit or harm humanity. This dilemma has become a pressing concern in the life sciences. Rapid advances in the understanding of the neurological, cognitive, information, biological and nanotechnological sciences hold the promise of new medicines and forms of energy, but may also aid in—among other things—the cre- ation of biological weapons. The risks that accompany any gains have generated significant debate over the last decade regarding the appropriate regulation of the life sciences, in an attempt to realise the promised benefits without the associated harms.
This is not the only way that “dual-use” can be used. Dual-use technology may refer to research with both military and civilian uses, and may not be in this context be a positive term. However, recent debates about the misuse of scientific research and technology refer to dual-use not as strictly military/civilian, but rather in terms of the capacity for research to be used in beneficial or harmful ways. It is this problem termed “dual-use” that I shall be referring to throughout this paper.
- Author:
- University of Bradford
- Publish Date:
- October 2010
- April 29, 2011
- | Filed under Europe, Report, and 2001-2025
