History of Science Society 3rd International workshop: Genetics, history and public understanding
Genetics, history and public understanding
3rd International workshop
Barcelona, 30-31 May 2008
Following the successful second workshop in Brno in 2005, this third workshop will precede the 2008 European Society for Human Genetics meeting, to be held in Barcelona June 1-3.
This history and public understanding of human genetics workshop will be focused thematically and includes both historical and contemporary studies on:
Hope, trust and troubled dreams of genetics
Genetics increasingly dominates medical and public thought and practice. The transformation of genetic medicine from a marginal field in the 1950’s to a core activity of biomedicine is one of the most interesting developments in modern science. The rise of the new genetics with its promises and perils does affect the medical and public perception and communication around health and disease. The past decade we witness an increase and more intense focus on the genetic and biological basis for disease. How does this spill over to discussions in both medical and public spheres and what implications might be visible with regard to the expectations, trust and concerns regarding genetics and medicine?
Accounting for genetic or hereditary factors in medicine is nothing new in itself. Since at least the eighteenth century scientists, doctors and patients have tried to establish links between heredity and disease. The meaning, visibility and legitimacy of these links have changed over time; from the brave new world of eugenics to medicine’s 21th century holy grail. Moreover, the traffic in ideas and practices between science, medicine and the public sphere has never been one-way but always reciprocal.
Most recently, doctoring healthy people on the basis of their genetic susceptibility has raised concerns of misuses of genetic information (e.a. stigmatization and discrimination) but has also created new expectations of its uses and prospective uses in medicine. This invites to questions how understandings of genetics as a technological and social project have changed over time?
The international workshop seeks to address this relatively neglected topic. The goal is to explore how beliefs, knowledge and practices regarding genetics have been distributed, exchanged, and co-produced, and to what effect.
The two-day workshop will be organized around the following three themes:
- Organizing public communication and genetic literacy
- Public challenges: data sharing, risk and stigma
- Understanding genetics as a technological and social project
Programme and Organising committee:
Prof. Ruth Chadwick, director of CESAGen and director of Nowgen's Ethical, Legal and Social research theme, Lancaster University, UK.
Prof. Martina Cornel, Community Genetics, VU medical centre, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (co-organiser)
Prof, Peter Farndon, Clinical Genetics Unit, Director Genetics Birmingham Womens Hospital, Birmingham, UK
Prof. Peter Harper, Institute of Medical Genetics, University of Wales College of Medicine, Cardiff (honorary member)
Prof. Annemiek Nelis, director of the Centre for Society and Genomics, Radboud University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands
Prof. Toine Pieters (Organiser and chairman) Department of Medical Humanities (Metamedica), VU medical centre, P.O. Box 7057, 1007 MB Amsterdam, The Netherlands (Organiser)
Prof. Xavier Roqué Rodriguez, Centre d'Estudis d'Història de les Ciències (CEHIC), Facultat de Ciències - Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona - 08193 Bellaterra (Barcelona) Spain (Local host)
Dr. María Jesús Santesmases, Departamento de Ciencia, Tecnología y Sociedad, Instituto de Filosofía, CSIC, Madrid
Prof. Christos Yapijakis, Department of Neurology, Clinical and Molecular Neuro-genetics Unit, University of Athens, Greece