Understanding Agents of Scientific Change: the Case of Embryo Research

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For the HSD initiative, Embryo research provides a case study of rapidly changing science within radically contested contexts. As with any science, embryo research is embedded in webs of unsettled ethical, legal, political, religious, cultural, and social negotiations that shape the conduct of science, its diverse meanings, and the spectrum of decisions built upon such understandings. Embryo research starts with a scientific drive to understand development of the individual organism and is shaped by three clusters of factors: (1) technical, including experimental techniques, equipment, and the way results are presented (in publications and presentations) and represented (in images and models); (2) actors, laboratory settings, institutions, and local contexts of scientific and technical work; and (3) social/cultural/ intellectual/economic environments in which the work is done. These clusters of Technical, Actors/Places, and Social/Cultural all impact and are impacted by the science. Understanding each requires different disciplinary research approaches, and understanding interactions requires multi-disciplinary research strategies and methods. The factors combine to serve as "Agents of Change" shaping science in society. This project explores those agents of scientific change in a dynamic, interactive, integrative, interdisciplinary, international research environment. With regards to Intellectual Merit, we will accomplish two major intellectual goals. First is a rich understanding of the history and current state of embryo research, the factors involved, and the multiple contexts in which research is done. Because of the importance of embryo research, this is of powerful intellectual value itself. Furthermore, in bringing together multiple otherwise disparate areas of study related to this particular case, we will achieve a much richer understanding of the Agents of Change influencing each case of scientific change. Our hypotheses focus on selected episodes in which different factors had different relative importance, and we seek to analyze and understand the Agents of Change over time. All results will be part of the digital working environment of the Virtual Laboratory (VL) in collaboration with the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin. We will archive research materials to be shared among different working teams, and will add scholarly interpretive essays and articles that will make up an on-line Resource Collection accessible to multiple users, in addition to traditional scholarly publications. With regards to Broader Impacts, this project has a several: (1) Working with a network of nearly 2 dozen collaborators in 6 countries and multiple disciplines, we will develop a true "collaboratory." By sharing materials and research questions, we will ask new questions within each discipline and learn of research materials, questions, and interpretations across disciplines. (2) The VL tested digital working environment makes that research possible by making all research materials and scholarly interpretations available to all users at all times. (3) The research will allow us to demonstrating how Agents of Change affect this case of Embryo Research in its societal contexts, including interpretations of the emerging patterns shaping science and societal decisions. This should also inform future decisions processes and policy-making. (4) In the final stages, we will develop Educational Materials for multiple user groups. A Postdoctoral Fellow, Graduate Student, and Undergraduates will all be members of the research team, and each will be trained individually while helping to add to the accumulating community results.