EOAR SEMINAR, NOVEMBER 2023

Assoc Prof Grant Fisher (Graduate School of Science and Technology Policy, KAIST)

 

This talk explores the interplay between narratives of innovation and the pursuit of novel forms of biotechnology by engaging with the case of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). While sometimes cast as a technical solution to ethical disputes surrounding the derivation of human pluripotent stem cells, iPSCs might be more accurately described as conforming to a strategy in US policy geared toward avoiding engagement with divisive ethical values while forging agreement over shared goals in translational research. Furthermore, the pursuit of iPSCs was as much concerned with the commercialization of stem cell research as it was with ethics. Drawing on an idea of “incomplete theorization” derived from legal theory, this talk outlines how framings of innovation in public policy are probed, challenged, and re-articulated when the epistemological, normative, and economic implications of the research became increasingly clear.

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When: Tuesday, 28th November 2023, 1-2 PM (ACDT)

Where: Online. Please RSVP to openstemcells@adelaide.edu.au

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Assoc Prof Grant Fisher is Associate Professor of Philosophy of Science in the Graduate School of Science and Technology Policy at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology. He is interested in the development and use of scientific models in exploratory and speculative areas of science and technology and the social and ethical implications of this research.