Research Ethics – Open Learning
Topic outline
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Dual-Use and Social Responsibility
Social responsibility of research is a broad area and is not covered in detail in TENK’s RCR guideline. However, both the European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity and TENK's RCR guideline emphasize the responsibility of the scientific community and researchers for the "wider impacts" of research.
The responsibility comes out more clearly when we think about how research outcomes are used or how they can influence social decision-making and discussion in many ways. Research data can be instrumentally valuable in justifying societal decisions, or research can provide good grounds for social criticism and presenting alternatives. Often, research outcomes are also used more broadly as a basis for public debate and the views of individual people. Incorrect research results mislead people in their decision-making and can, in the worst case, cause extensive social harm.
A special challenge from this point of view is the so-called dual-use dilemma: many research results and technologies can be used for both useful and very harmful purposes. There are several examples of this kind of research. In her Responsible Research article, NIHW Senior Specialist Susanna Sissonen mentions
reawakening in the lab the Spanish flu virus that killed more than 50 million people in the early twentieth century, or chemical synthesis of the polio virus. Sometimes, surprising research findings occur unpredictably. In the early 21st century, an Australian research group were trying to develop a mouse contraceptive vaccine using the mousepox virus. Surprisingly, the virus’ ability to cause the disease increased and the virus also killed the majority of the mice that had been vaccinated against it. Because the mousepox virus is closely related to the smallpox virus, the case created discussion on the openness of science and whether it is ethically right to publish research findings that could be misused.
The problem of dual use can also arise in social science or humanities research, if the research outcomes can be used, for example, to stigmatize or marginalize certain groups in the society. In socially sensitive topics, the researcher has to seek an ethical balance in terms of how to preserve the critical freedom of the research and the responsibility to report also on sensitive and controversial topics, but to do it in a way that doesn’t lead to unfair consequences for some groups or individuals in the society.
Open science requirements can also increase risks related to dual use, or they can also be used for malicious purposes. It is therefore important for the research community and researchers to identify the risks associated with their research already in the planning phase. At the University of Helsinki, you can request a statement on questions related to the dual use of research from the Research Ethics Committee in the Natural, Biological and Environmental Sciences and Engineering.
D4.2. Should Scientific Research Be Censored?
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