CAREER: The Global Helix: International Perspectives on Ethics, Values and Equity Issues in Biotechnology

Portland State University, Portland OR

Investigators

Abstract

In recent years, countries on every continent have embraced biotechnology and incorporated it into national priorities, policies and planning. The goal of this Career Development project is to develop integrated models of research, teaching and pre-college outreach initiatives addressing issues of ethics, values and equity relating to biotechnology in a worldwide context. Specifically, the research component of this project will identify and compare key ethics, values and equity issues relating to biotechnology in a number of developed and developing countries (India, South Africa, Switzerland and the United States) using a combination of quantitative and qualitative methodologies to identify the ethics, values and equity issues influencing the promotion of or resistance to biotechnology around the world. The education component of this project involves high school teachers in a cross-cultural science education exchange, both to participate in data collection and to share strategies relating to biotechnology education. Findings from the research will be presented at national and international meetings and submitted to journals in a variety of science and social science fields. Informed by results from the cross-cultural research, curricula at the graduate and undergraduate and pre-college levels will be developed. Findings will also be made available to representatives in the host countries, and cooperative arrangements for curricular exchanges developed. A website about the project and its results will be maintained at Portland State University.