CfP: Engineering Life: Regulating Science, Risks, and Society in Europe

Workshop Organisers:

  • Luis Campos, Rice University (US)
  • Francesco Cassata, Università di Genova (IT)
  • Christina Brandt, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena (DE)

Workshop Information:

  • Contact: asilomar@rice.edu
  • Proposal submissions by March 8, 2023
  • Notifications by March 15, 2023

Background

"Debating the ethics of human interference with the mechanics of evolution in a church at the edge of the immense saline test tube where it all started: Rarely does one find one’s metaphors so cheap—or so apt.” So began an infamous Rolling Stone article summarizing the historic International Conference on Recombinant DNA Molecules held in February 1975. Convened by the world’s molecular biologists, the meeting was intended as a technical gathering to assess means of minimizing the risk of potential biohazards involved with novel recombinant DNA techniques before these had been fully developed (and before much was known about them), in order to lift a temporary and voluntary moratorium. The “Asilomar” meeting, as it came to be known, drew over a hundred scientists from around the world (as well as four lawyers) to hash out the potentials of the novel recombinant DNA technology—all while being observed by sixteen journalists, a new feature for a scientific conference.

Nearly fifty years on now, the contested meanings of this landmark event in the history of science policy are ripe for reconsideration, and highlight important transnational issues. While in the US it was the National Institutes of Health that took an advisory role, in Europe it was specific bodies and institutions within each country—as well as the newly founded European Molecular Biology Organization—that established committees to advise on national policies and the building of specially designed laboratories for recombinant DNA work. Moreover, in the half-century since Asilomar, scientists, scholars, and policymakers alike have debated whether “Asilomar” was a paradigmatic or exemplary event; recounted how it unfolded and what it all meant for laboratory protocols, research agendas, scientific governance, and for society at large; and also questioned whether “another Asilomar” meeting was necessary to deal with the emergence of newer techniques in biotechnology. (Today, “Asilomar” is routinely invoked in a variety of other fields ranging from geoengineering to artificial intelligence and machine learning.)

In preparation for the fiftieth anniversary of Asilomar, we propose to activate a network of scholars and students across the United States and Europe to reconsider this seminal event in the history of science and science and technology policy. A related but separate event on the American legacies of Asilomar will be organised and hosted in Houston in May. This June event in Paris aims to convene a group of expert scholars at the Rice Global Paris Center to study the legacies and spirit of Asilomar and its implications for the development of science policy in Europe.

Submissions

Submissions related to the following topics would be favorably received:

  • science policies in Europe developed in the wake of Asilomar
  • histories of genetic engineering in Europe
  • radical science and political activism in Europe related to emerging technologies of life
  • changing notions of “risk” in the life sciences in Europe from the 1970s to today
  • the “myth” of Asilomar in contemporary bioethics and biotechnology

Please send a title and abstract of no more than 300 words, along with a short biography or one page CV, to asilomar@rice.edu by March 8, 2023. Notification of acceptances will be given by March 15, 2023.