Two Kavli Centers focusing on ethics, science and the public, one at the University of California at Berkeley and the other at the University of Cambridge, were launched last December to help the public understand the impact of scientific discoveries, especially their ethics. Eminent experts will lead these centers: at Berkeley, Stuart Russel, a specialist in AI, will be alongside two Nobel Prize winners: Saul Permutter and Jennifer Doudna, also a Kavli Prize winner, the philosopher of theory and morality Jay Wallace, the bioethicist Jodi Halpern, the neuroscientist Jack Gallant and finally the historian and writer Elena Conis.

Advancing science for the benefit of humanity, the DNA of the KAVLI Foundation

In 2000, Fred Kavli set out to advance science for the benefit of humanity and created his foundation to fund basic research in the fields of astrophysics, nanoscience, neuroscience and theoretical physics to achieve this. The Kavli Foundation supports research institutes in one of these four sciences at universities around the world. Through collaborations with academies and societies, philanthropic organizations, etc., it aims to ensure that the people, processes and products of science make a significant contribution to society. It created the Kavli Prize to celebrate breakthroughs in astrophysics, nanoscience and neuroscience – the big, the small and the complex. This iconic international award is a partnership between the Kavli Foundation, the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters and the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research, and the international AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Awards. Fred Kavli states:

“The Kavli Foundation supports basic science because we believe in its long-term benefits to humanity. We look for benefits that may be far into the future, benefits that may be difficult to predict, but if we look at the past, the benefits of science have been proven over time. The fruits of research are not always immediate and are often not predictable. Often, the benefits are the result of unpredictable outcomes of exploration initially motivated solely by intellectual curiosity.”

The two Kavli Centers for Ethics, Science and the Public

Through science, researchers have continued to make remarkable discoveries with the goal of evolving and modernizing our society, but these can pose ethical or safety issues such as advanced neuroscience, genetics, and artificial intelligence… Who is responsible for the general ethical considerations of scientific discoveries? Two Kavli Centers for Ethics, Science and the Public – at the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Cambridge – have been established to engage the public in exploring the ethical and societal impacts born of scientific discovery. The centers are designed to connect the public, scientists, ethicists, social scientists, and science communicators early in the process of scientific discovery to identify potential impacts on society and to engage in relevant discussions. Cynthia Friend, president of the Foundation, states:

“We are undertaking a democratization of the way we think, collaborate and communicate around scientific discoveries and their ethical implications, ensuring that the public is involved in the process. It is long overdue that this process be carried out.”

The UC Berkeley and University of Cambridge centers are exploring ways to address the dual need to train scientists to be aware of the ethical and public opinion implications of their discoveries and to engage in early and intentional discussions with the public about them.

UC Berkeley’s Kavli Center

The UC Berkeley Kavli Center will be led by a select group of leading scientists, ethicists, philosophers, and campus journalists, each with extensive experience in ethical issues in their respective fields, and will reinvent the way scientists are trained, beginning with the fields of neuroscience, genetics, and artificial intelligence. In addition to AI expert Stuart Russell, these leaders include Nobel laureate Saul Perlmutter, who provided some of the first evidence that the expansion of the universe is accelerating; Nobel laureate and Kavli winner Jennifer Doudna, known for her discovery of the gene-editing tool CRISPR; theoretical and moral philosopher Jay Wallace; bioethicist Jodi Halpern; neuroscientist Jack Gallant; and historian and writer Elena Conis. Stuart Russell, the center’s first director, states:

“In addition to answering fundamental questions about the ethics of science, the Kavli Center will create a generation of scientific leaders who have seen how other scientific disciplines grapple with ethical issues and who have real training in the philosophical analysis of these questions. It’s not just about changing public policy, it’s about changing what it means to be a good scientist in all disciplines that can impact the public.”

The Kavli Center at the University of Cambridge

This new center will explore the extent to which ethical consequences raised by science are managed in different cultural contexts and fields of inquiry such as genomics, big data, medical research, and emerging technologies through a large network of ethics and public engagement experts from the UK, China, India, Russia, and Japan. It will be led by internationally renowned sociologist and genetics counsellor Anna Middleton with the support of sociologist and bioethicist Richard Milne, journalist and broadcaster Catherine Galloway, the creative sector expertise of broadcaster Vivienne Parry OBE, the education and sociology expertise of Susan Robertson and the extensive experience in genomics and public engagement of Julian Rayner. Anna Middleton, the center’s director, comments:

“From discovering the structure of DNA, to sequencing 20% of COVID viruses globally, to developing the first artificial intelligence, Cambridge has been working at the forefront of science for centuries. Through collaboration with experts in popular culture, we will find the foundation for communicating around complex ideas related to the ethical issues raised by science, with the goal that we can all participate in decisions about the consequences of science for society.”

The Kavli Foundation’s work and observations in science and society, including the research of the 20 Kavli Institutes around the world, in which a variety of inspiring and groundbreaking scientific work is being conducted, from decoding brain activity to making artificial cells, is the basis for the creation of these centers.

Translated from La Fondation Kavli lance deux nouveaux centres axés sur l’éthique, la science et le public