Designing a responsible neuroscience research infrastructure
Over the past 8 years, the Human Brain Project (HBP) has tested the strengths and limitations of responsible research & innovation, also known as RRI. To mark the ten-year anniversary of RRI, a group of HBP researchers now share what can be learned from implementing this concept in a large multi-disciplinary research project. This includes…
Dealing with responsible research & dual use in the Human Brain Project
EBRAINS is a new digital research infrastructure created by the EU-funded Human Brain Project (HBP) that gathers an extensive range of data and tools for brain-related research. EBRAINS capitalises on the work performed by the HBP teams in digital neuroscience, brain medicine, brain-inspired technology and Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI). On 16 June, we held…
Q&A with Ethics Rapporteurs: Neurorobotics
What ethical and societal questions scientists, engineers and developers in the Human Brain Project (HBP) encounter in their work? How do they deal with them? To shed some light on these questions we have a Q&A series with Ethics Rapporteurs. The second rapporteur in the series to answer our questions is Dr. Francesca Irene Cavallaro…
Paving the Way for the Good Work of the HBP Ethics Advisory Board to roll on …
Shamim Patel The Human Brain Project’s (HBP) Ethics Advisory Board (EAB) has since January 2020 six new EAB members: Kristin Bergtora Sandvik; Michaela Th. Mayrhofer, Christine Mitchell, Sven Nyholm, Vicenç Torra and Blaise Yvert. They cover a wide geographical spread (Austria, France, Ireland, Norway, The Netherlands and the USA) and have a diverse range of…
Q&A with Ethics Rapporteurs: High Performance Analytics and Computing
What ethical and societal questions scientists, engineers and developers in the Human Brain Project (HBP) encounter in their work? How do they deal with them? To shed some light on these questions we start Q&A series with Ethics Rapporteurs. First to answer our questions is Meredith Peyser (Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany) from the Sub-Project 7 High…
Q&A: Point of Registration of Ethical Concerns (PORE) in the Human Brain Project
Manuel Guerrero Q1: What are the aims of the Human Brain Project’s PORE (Point of Registration of Ethical Concerns)? The PORE utility provides a way to identify ethical, regulatory and social issues in Human Brain Project (HBP) research and innovation, which may be raised from any person from inside or outside the HBP community in any…
How does Ethics Support in the Human Brain Project work?
How does the Ethics Support work package in the Human Brain Project (HBP) work? What are the aims and main activities of Ethics Support? Who are our main collaborators within and outside the HBP? What are future challenges for Ethics Support? To answer these and other questions and facilitate exchange of information and ideas on…
Beyond box-ticking: towards ethics dialogues
‘Beyond Research Ethics: Dialogues in Neuro-ICT Research’ is the title of a recent article (Stahl et al 2019) published by the members of Ethics Support team of the Human Brain Project (HBP). This article outlines a dialogical approach that the Ethics Support team applies in its work in the HBP. This approach offers an alternative…
The Human Brain Project’s Ethics Advisory Board: Q&A with Shamim Patel
How and why the highly regarded HBP’s Ethics Advisory Board (EAB) was established? What its main achievement are? And what the future holds for the EAB? Our Question and Answer series with Ethics Support task leaders continues with Shamim Patel, task leader for the Ethics Advisory Board and Other Ethics Services. What is the Ethics Advisory Board…
Responsible Dual Use in Neuroscience and Neurotechnology
Neurotechnology as many other powerful technologies can potentially be ‘dual use’ technology, namely it can be used for beneficial as well as harmful purposes. How can we ensure that neuroscience and technology developed for civilian applications is not misused towards malicious ends? What can researchers, engineers, policy-makers and other stakeholders do to safeguard responsible use…