How Competing Sociotechnical Imaginaries Shape Trust and Governance of Gene Editing in Agriculture and Food

新的基因编辑技术有望在农业部门内带来显著的好处。然而，实现这些技术的全部潜力将取决于它是如何管理的，以及公众是否接受它。农业和食品的基因编辑因其与转基因生物的联系、科学复杂性以及社会和伦理问题而对公众的接受度构成了挑战。农业和食品基因编辑的新治理形式将是必要的，因为现有的监管工具无法应对其复杂性和新的风险，但尚不清楚这些治理形式应该是什么，以及它们是否会增强公众对这项技术的信任。为了解决这些差距，该项目分析了关键行为者如何利用相互竞争的集体未来愿景和科学在其中的作用来塑造农业和食品基因编辑的公众信任和治理方法。调查结果将通过政策小组、数字讲故事项目、高中教案和在线出版物广泛传播给关键公众。这些创新的数字和在线教育资源将提高公众识字率，并参与围绕农业和食品基因编辑的科学、社会和伦理问题。该项目产生的知识将造福于广泛的利益相关者、影响者和参与农业和食品基因编辑治理努力的公众。这是一项比较调查，旨在比较研究来自关键社会群体的参与者对其技术科学未来的想象如何对农业和食品基因编辑技术的使用和治理产生影响。多种社会科学方法，包括媒体内容分析、深入的利益相关者访谈、审议研讨会和解释性比较方法，被用来调查这一新出现的科学争议，并开发方法，为与有争议的和新兴技术相关的决策创造更具包容性的治理程序。项目目标包括：(1)确定技术科学未来的关键愿景及其倡导者；2)评估关键行为者如何发展和利用特定的未来愿景来稳定或破坏公众对基因编辑技术及其治理的信任；3)比较不同案例对未来的展望；以及4)邀请关键行为者参加审议讲习班，对结果进行评估并审议包容性治理办法。总体而言，该项目将有助于负责任的研究和创新的理论和实践，以及关于新兴技术治理的科学和技术研究的奖学金。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

New gene editing techniques promise significant benefits within the agricultural sector. However, realizing the full potential of these technologies will depend on how it is governed, and whether the public accepts it. Gene editing for agriculture and food poses public acceptance challenges due to its association with genetically modified organisms, scientific complexity, and social and ethical concerns. New governance forms for gene editing for agriculture and food will be necessary since existing regulatory instruments cannot deal with its complexity and novel risks, but it is unclear what those governance forms should be and if they would enhance public trust in the technology. To address these gaps, this project analyzes how key actors use competing collective visions of the future and the role of science within it to shape public trust and governance approaches for gene editing for agriculture and food. Findings will be broadly disseminated to key publics through a policy panel, digital storytelling projects, high school lesson plans, and in online publications. These innovative digital and online educational resources will advance public literacy and engagement with the scientific, social, and ethical issues surrounding gene editing for agriculture and food. Knowledge generated by this project will benefit a wide range of stakeholders, influencers, and publics who are engaged in governance efforts for gene editing for agriculture and food.This is a comparative investigation of how the ways in which actors from key social groups imagine their technoscientific futures matter for the use and governance of gene editing technologies for agriculture and food. Multiple social science methods, including media content analysis, in-depth stakeholder interviews, deliberative workshops, and interpretive comparative methods, are used to investigate this emerging scientific controversy and develop ways to create more inclusive governance processes for decision making related to controversial and emergent technologies. Project goals include: (1) Identifying key visions for technoscientific futures and their proponents; 2) Assessing how key actors develop and use particular visions of the future to stabilize or disrupt public trust in gene editing technologies and their governance; 3) Comparing visions of the futures across cases; and 4) Engaging key actors in deliberative workshops to provide an assessment of findings and deliberate on inclusive governance approaches. Overall, the project will contribute to the theory and practice of Responsible Research and Innovation, and to scholarship in Science and Technology Studies on governance of emerging technologies.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.