Future Organisms Interview Collection (UK), 2022-2024

Calvert, Jane and Smith, Robert (2026). Future Organisms Interview Collection (UK), 2022-2024. [Data Collection]. Colchester, Essex: UK Data Service. 10.5255/UKDA-SN-858318

The aim of this project is two-fold: to carry out a social scientific investigation into synthetic genomics and to develop new approaches to responsible research and innovation through this investigation.

Synthetic genomics is an emerging scientific field that makes it possible for scientists to design and build larger stretches of DNA than ever before, at the scale of chromosomes and even whole genomes. It could potentially bring new types of organism into the world. Synthetic genomics is attracting funding and building momentum internationally. However, decisions about the direction of the field are being made by small groups of scientists and engineers. Although some are aware that these decisions deserve broader reflection and scrutiny, the field lacks mechanisms to ensure it incorporates diverse perspectives. We aim to address this problem by conducting the first social scientific analysis of synthetic genomics explicitly designed to open up discussion and debate about the field.

Responsible research and innovation (RRI) is an approach to governing new scientific and technological fields that has gained traction in recent years. However, RRI is currently not well equipped to engage with large-scale, international, collaborative scientific work such as that undertaken in synthetic genomics. When RRI is implemented it often involves an individual social scientist being tasked to 'deliver' RRI for a single scientific research project, limiting the extent to which they can engage with broader governance structures. In contrast, independent social scientific research conducted on emerging science and technology often remains detached from its object of study, offering little opportunity to shape its development. By developing an approach to synthetic genomics that is engaged but autonomous, our project will extend and enrich RRI by offering an alternative model for social scientific engagement with emerging scientific fields.

Our cross-national investigation of synthetic genomics will encompass the United Kingdom, the United States and Japan - three countries that are investing heavily in the field. We will analyse scientific literature and policy documents, and - taking advantage of our geographic distribution - conduct a multi-sited ethnography of the major sites in which synthetic genomics is being developed and interview key actors in our three countries.

Our research is organised into three workstreams: Countries, Creatures and Capacities. The Countries workstream examines national and international policy and funding strategies for synthetic genomics and the narratives and expectations embedded within them. The Creatures workstream explores the ways in which synthetic genomics alters human relationships with other organisms by positioning humans as designers of other species. The Capacities workstream explores the role of social scientists within the field.

We will build on our existing connections with scientists, engineers, policy makers, artists, designers, and other stakeholders to 'open-up' debate about the trajectories and futures of the field by convening a series of experimental workshops. Our final workshop will bring together social scientists from our three countries working in synthetic genomics and related fields to share our experiences, explore new approaches to RRI, and build connections for future work.

Data description (abstract)

Motivation and aims for the study

Synthetic genomics is an emerging international research field that promises to bring new types of organism into the world, potentially challenging fundamental relationships between humans and other species. Future Organisms involved social scientific investigation of synthetic genomics across three countries that have invested significantly in the field: the UK, the USA and Japan. The main objectives were to:

1. Advance the theory and practice of responsible research and innovation (RRI) through a study of synthetic genomics
2. Explore the narratives and expectations driving national investments into synthetic genomics

3. Investigate the significance of the organism being engineered in synthetic genomics research projects

4. Create spaces that allow commitments in synthetic genomics to be reflected upon, debated and, where necessary, challenged

5. Build international capacity for social scientific engagement with synthetic genomics and other emerging fields

Key topics covered in this research included:

Synthetic genomics and the role of social scientific engagement

Recent developments in DNA synthesis technologies are making it possible for scientists to build long stretches of genetic material, including whole chromosomes and even complete genomes. These capacities are proliferating globally, along with financial support for large and ambitious genome construction projects. Decisions about what to build, however, are being made by a small group of scientists and engineers who are re-designing organisms in ways that could profoundly change how humans relate to other species. Currently there is little social scientific analysis or scrutiny of this work, despite its potential epistemic and social ramifications. Social scientific engagement helps to complete this gap. As a part of this, the project aimed to contribute to work on RRI by reflecting on and articulating roles that social sciences can play in synthetic genomics. This is a pressing issue since research funding initiatives around the world are drawing social scientists into closer proximity to STEM research, but often asymmetrically, positioning the social sciences as service providers

Multispecies approaches to responsibility

Synthetic genomics foregrounds the organism being engineered and so provides a compelling call to respond to these critiques by drawing multispecies studies into conversation with RRI. This project therefore explored how human ‘response-abilities’ (Haraway 2016) to other creatures are shaped in synthetic genomics. Together, we will attend to how creatures manifest in the field to ask how multispecies interdependencies could enrich RRI theory and practice.

Policy narratives and national agendas

The literature underpinning the concept of RRI emphasises the importance of political and economic forces in shaping the trajectories of science. However, much STS work conducted under the aegis of RRI involves an individual (often early career) social scientist being tasked to ‘deliver’ RRI for a single scientific research project, limiting the extent to which they can engage with large-scale international initiatives such as synthetic genomics. This project therefore offered an analysis of synthetic genomics across multiple sites and scales – from individuals and laboratories to national and international institutions – to interrogate the narratives and expectations at play.

Key findings:

Our study of the emergence of the field of synthetic genomics shows that it is defined in local ways, depending on context. Synthetic genomics has not yet formed a distinctive community, despite the expectations of many scientists involved in the ‘GP-write project’ at the start of our research. However, the ideas have travelled and have had impacts in contexts where national agendas are most attuned to them, often tying into efforts to drive the bioeconomy. We see a contrast between large, highly-capitalised laboratories, which draw on dominant metaphors of controlling living systems, and smaller laboratories, where we see different ways of thinking about engineering biology that extend beyond control. The desire for ethics/social science capacity exists in the field, but there are difficulties in realising this. These findings are the product of the entire project and do not derive solely from the interviews referred to in this data collection.

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