The Science Policy Group at Berkeley was recently awarded a Civic Engagement Microgrant from Research!America under its Science Meets Science initiative, an effort to bridge social scientists with STEM scientists. With this microgrant, we will be launching a short series of events on scientific ethics motivated by the phrase, “We can, but should we?” Through these events, we will connect students and researchers with policymakers and local citizens to initiate cross-disciplinary discussion and eventual policy action. For our series, we have selected three topics in science ethics and will host multiple topic-specific events including (1) public forums between leading experts, (2) action-oriented policy roundtables focused on developing one-pagers and white papers, and (3) ethics-centered informational videos for the general public. Our topics and timeline are as follows:
- November 2019 – After the Wildfires: Where should we live?
- January 2020 – Don’t Have a Cow: Will fake meat save the planet?
- March 2020 – Artificial Intelligence: It’s smart but is it just?
Our first public forum, “After the Wildfires: Where should we live?” is on Monday, November 25th, 5:30 PM – 7:30 PM PST in Anthony Hall. We will be joined by:
- Professor Scott Stephens – Professor in Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California, Berkeley
- Dr. Laurie Johnson – Urban Planning Consultant
- Professor Louise Comfort – Professor of Public and Urban Affairs and Director of the Center for Disaster Management at the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, University of Pittsburgh; Visiting Scholar at the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS)
More details about the project can be found here and on the #scimeetssci channel on our Slack.
