UC Berkeley’s Center for Science, Technology, Medicine, & Society is pleased to announce our latest Working Group, which explores topics of Science Governance and Risk Futures, particularly in relation to geoengineering and synthetic biology.  This small group of scholars gathers on a regular basis to explore the legitimacy political collectives claim in governing scientific experimentation, not only when concerns of safety and security are readily seen, but also when those concerns are distant, ambiguous, and contentious. The Working Group discusses these and related questions in the context of two cutting-edge and emerging suites of technology where immediate risks of research are not significant, but where applications could pose serious societal, political and environmental hazards: synthetic biology and geoengineering. These technologies are chosen because issues of governance are immediately pressing, and because they will afford us some interesting comparative perspectives on technological governance more generally.

Visit the Working Group’s page for more information.

This working group is made possible through a grant from the UC Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation.