Responsive Science.
Team : Watching-Place; Responsive Science Working Group (Lily Fitzgerald, Julianne Yip, Sam Weiss Evans, Devora Najjar, Jeantine Lunshof, Kevin Esvelt)
During our time as graduate students at the MIT Media Lab (Sculting Evolution group), much of our research focused on the development of Responsive Science: a new framework for community-steered science, specifically concerning the generation and implementation of ecotechnologies (or biotechnologies designed to combat ecological challenges).
Responsive Science began as an online platform that invited public discourse surrounding the use of gene drive systems (and synthetic biology tools) for altering the shared environment. Our research group shared live updates of our work, published research and communication materials, and more broadly called for individuals to voice concerns or ideas at any point in the development pipeline.
Putting Responsive Science into practice, we investigated implementing the framework in/with communities located on Saint John, USVI. Here, we worked with local individuals, environmental groups, and community organizations to explore the potential implementation of daisy drive systems on the island, specifically to curtail the presence of disease-carrying mosquitoes.
You can learn more about the development of the Responsive Science model, its key tenets, and some of the practical challenges realized in its implementation in the resulting publication: Hurdles in responsive community engagement for the development of environmental biotechnologies.