Biochemical Security 2030 Towards improved Science-based multilevel governance

Project introduction and updateFirst project meeting 30/10/13

Project Focus

How to close the gap between advances in S&T and existing governance capacities in Chemical and Biological Weapons regimes?

An issue of calibration and capacity?

1.How do CBW regimes currently identify and address S&T risk

2. Assumed Trajectories of three key S&T areas – synthetic biology, neuroscience,and nanotechnology, including targeted drug delivery.

3. Are new areas of S&T generating new governance structures- Consequence for CW regimes

4. How can international regimes better respond to these developments at international level

5. How feasible are UK regional security networks of public andprivate research institutions?

Threshold concept• Thinking about the future S&T

challenges underpinned by several drivers:• Changing nature of warfare• Politics of CBW regimes• Two level changes in S&T

• Outputs• Underlying systems of Tech generation

(Kelle, Nixdorff, Dando 2012)

Project Design

Focus of analysisFields of S&T

Institutions

Policy Initiatives

CBW regime Issues

Politics

Project Design (Stream 1)

Empirical Research Outputs

Policy MaterialAcademic PublicationsOnline Presence

S&T

Governance

Knowledge Generation

Project Design (Stream 2)

Local level Assessment and Networking Feasibility Study

Project Progress

• 5 Briefing papers currently being drafted (12 in total)

• Website and Twitter are live

Biochemsec2030.org

@biochemsec2030

Synthetic Biology: Example Case Study- What are the issues, how have they emerged?

- Gene-synthesis, diffusion and deskilling dynamics

- Which institutions are key in identifying and responding to biosafety concerns

- Government/Biosafety/ Scientific Community

- Life and death of policy initiatives? - When policy outpaces institutions, sustainability

- What has been ‘learnt’ from experiences related to Synthetic Biology?- Policy Communities/ Scientific Communities/ Institutional Capacities

Key Questions for this meeting

- Key themes/ Lines of Enquiry

- Focus, timelines and targets of policy 0utputs - Briefing papers?- Monographs?- Edited series?

- How can future meetings be useful to you?