Challenges and opportunities for ELSI early career researchers

BMC Medical Ethics

Debate

Anida Causevic-Ramosevac¹  Jasjote Grewal²  Jovana Brkić³  Mirko Ancillotti⁴  Marianna Nobile⁵  Goran Milovanovic⁶  Travis Tatum⁷  Faruk Berat Akcesme⁸  Jane Kaye⁹  Victoria Coathup⁹  Jessica Bell⁹  Sarah Coy⁹  Teresa Finlay^1,10  Cristiana Pavlidis^1,11  Tessel Rigter^1,12 

[1] Bosnalijek Joint Stock Company, Pharmaceutical and Chemical Industry, Jukiceva 53, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina;CELLS - Centre for Ethics and Law in the Life Sciences, Leibniz Universitaet Hannover, Hannover, Germany;Centre for Developing Pharmaceutical and Biochemical Practice, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia;Centre for Research Ethics & Bioethics, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden;Dipartimento di Giurisprudenza, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy;DiploFoundation, Belgrade, Serbia;Dynamics Lab - UCD Geary Institute for Public Policy, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland;Genetics and Bioengineering, International University of Sarajevo, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina;HeLEX - Centre for Health, Law and Emerging Technologies, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom;School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK;University of Patras, Rio, Western Greece, Greece;VU University Medical Center, Dept. of Clinical Genetics, Section of Community Genetics, EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research, Amsterdam, The Netherlands;National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Bilthoven, The Netherlands;

关键词: Early career researcher;    ELSI;    Interdisciplinary;    Web 2.0;    Collaboration;    Networks;    Mentoring;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12910-016-0121-5

 received in 2015-12-23, accepted in 2016-06-07,  发布年份 2016

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundOver the past 25 years, there has been growing recognition of the importance of studying the Ethical, Legal and Social Implications (ELSI) of genetic and genomic research. A large investment into ELSI research from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Human Genomic Project budget in 1990 stimulated the growth of this emerging field; ELSI research has continued to develop and is starting to emerge as a field in its own right. The evolving subject matter of ELSI research continues to raise new research questions as well as prompt re-evaluation of earlier work and a growing number of scholars working in this area now identify themselves as ELSI scholars rather than with a particular discipline.Main textDue to the international and interdisciplinary nature of ELSI research, scholars can often find themselves isolated from disciplinary or regionally situated support structures. We conducted a workshop with Early Career Researchers (ECRs) in Oxford, UK, and this paper discusses some of the particular challenges that were highlighted. While ELSI ECRs may face many of the universal challenges faced by ECRs, we argue that a number of challenges are either unique or exacerbated in the case of ELSI ECRs and discuss some of the reasons as to why this may be the case. We identify some of the most pressing issues for ELSI ECRs as: interdisciplinary angst and expertise, isolation from traditional support structures, limited resources and funding opportunities, and uncertainty regarding how research contributions will be measured. We discuss the potential opportunity to use web 2.0 technologies to transform academic support structures and address some of the challenges faced by ELSI ECRs, by helping to facilitate mentoring and support, access to resources and new accreditation metrics.ConclusionAs our field develops it is crucial for the ELSI community to continue looking forward to identify how emerging digital solutions can be used to facilitate the international and interdisciplinary research we perform, and to offer support for those embarking on, progressing through, and transitioning into an ELSI research career.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s). 2016