Leadership in the Equitable and Ethical Design of Science and Engineering

科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)研究提出了伦理和正义问题。STEM研究的审查者和资助者现在经常要求在设计拟议的研究时整合伦理、法律和社会影响以及多样性、公平性和包容性问题。这种预期的转变意味着，生物伦理学家、社会科学家以及艺术和人文领域的学者现在被邀请加入科学和工程研究团队。从根本上将他们纳入科学进程是重要的；然而，如何将这些学者纳入这一进程尚不清楚。例如，不清楚谁拥有相关的专业知识，也不清楚什么才算成功的整合。该项目的研究人员正在对基因组学、神经科学和人工智能领域过去的整合努力和案例研究进行彻底的审查，以建立一个证据基础，以促进更多的伦理和公正的STEM研究。因此，该项目将为制定新的指导方针铺平道路，以组建科学合作团队，并促进持续的体制改革，促进科学和工程领域公平和符合道德的研究。制定的指南将为STEM研究中的研究人员、管理人员、审查委员会、资助者和其他利益相关者提供宝贵的资源。该项目还为研究生和博士后研究人员提供培训机会。越来越多的公共和私人机构和资助者认识到将伦理和社会分析纳入科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)研究设计的关键重要性。这项研究计划评估了以往将侧重于伦理、法律和社会影响(ELSI)和多样性、公平和包容性(DEI)问题的倡议整合或嵌入到科学和工程研究项目中的努力。目前正在以两种方式建立证据基础：(1)对文件和文献的内容分析，这些文件和文献描述了“集成的”和“嵌入的”ELSI研究以及其中的DEI目标；(2)案例研究比较了基因组学、神经科学和人工智能领域中“集成的”和“嵌入的”ELSI和DEI的含义。通过这一分析，项目组确定了最佳实践，这些最佳实践将为科学、技术和经济研究中的ELSI和DEI制定实用的、概念上参与的和伦理上可靠的指导方针。这项研究支持了STEM公平和道德设计研究指南中领导力的未来发展。这些指导方针的目标将是以一种支持将环境影响评估和环境影响评估更有力地整合到科技、经济和经济研究中的方式，具体说明环境影响评估和环境影响评估合作的作用、参与点、时间表和可能的结果。最终，这项研究将支持创建一个跨部门的努力，以创造持续的组织文化和政策变化，从而以Dei、ELSI和促进公平和正义的目标为中心，重新阐述伦理和公平科学的含义。该项目由BIO主管通过ER2计划提供资金。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) research raises issues of ethics and justice. Reviewers and funders of STEM research now often ask for integration of ethical, legal, and social implications and diversity, equity, and inclusion issues in the design of proposed research. This shift in expectation means that bioethicists, social scientists, and scholars in the arts and humanities are now asked to join science and engineering research teams. Their inclusion in the scientific process from the ground up is important; however, it is not clear how to integrate these scholars into the process. For instance, it is not clear who has the relevant expertise or what counts as successful integration. The investigators of this project are conducting a thorough review of past integration efforts and case studies in the fields of genomics, neuroscience, and artificial intelligence to build an evidence base that will facilitate more ethical and just STEM research. As such, the project will pave the way for the development of new guidelines for forming collaborative teams in science and facilitating sustained institutional changes that promote equitable and ethically robust research in science and engineering. The created guidelines will be a valuable resource for researchers, administrators, review boards, funders, and other stakeholders in STEM research. The project also offers training opportunities for graduate students and postdoctoral researchers.Increasingly public and private institutions and funders recognize the critical importance of incorporating ethical and societal analysis into the design of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) research. This research initiative evaluates previous efforts to integrate or embed initiatives focused on ethical, legal, and social implications (ELSI) and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) issues into science and engineering research projects. The evidence base is being built up in two ways: (1) a content analysis of documents and literature that describe “integrated” and “embedded” ELSI research and DEI objectives within it; and (2) a case study comparison of the meaning of “integrated” and “embedded” ELSI and DEI in the fields of genomics, neuroscience, and artificial intelligence. Through this analysis, the project team identifies best practices that will inform the creation of practical, conceptually engaged, and ethically robust guidelines for ELSI and DEI in STEM research. This research supports the future development of Leadership in the Equitable and Ethical Design for STEM research guidelines. The goal of these guidelines will be to specify the role, points of engagement, timeline, and possible outcomes of DEI and ELSI collaborations in a manner that supports a more robust integration of DEI and ELSI into STEM research. Ultimately, the research will support the creation of a cross-sectors effort to reformulate the meaning of ethical and equitable science in a manner that creates sustained organizational culture and policy changes that center DEI, ELSI, and the goals of advancing equity and justice.This project was funded through the ER2 program by the BIO directorate.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.