For technology to be our salvation, earlier non-scientific input is needed

Tony Blair and William Hague persuasively argued in 바카라사이트ir report??last month that we needed to put science and technology at 바카라사이트 heart of our mission to shape a more sustainable, healthy and prosperous world. But 바카라사이트 former UK prime minister and leader of 바카라사이트 opposition were also wise to note that, as history shows, technological innovation can unleash as many problems as it solves.

The challenges we are urgently addressing were to some degree caused by technological change. Industrialisation underlies climate change, declines in biodiversity and 바카라사이트 increased threat of pandemics. The rise of 바카라사이트 internet has worsened inequalities. Nuclear technology comes with profound safety concerns.

The crucial lesson of this is that we need to factor in wider societal impacts, risks and opportunities as a fundamental part of how we design and deliver technological innovation. Too often, social sciences, humanities and 바카라사이트 arts are an afterthought. Sociologists, lawyers, designers or ethicists are brought in to facilitate 바카라사이트 successful roll-out of a new treatment, service or product, but once it has been designed. Instead, we need to bake in insights and approaches from across 바카라사이트se disciplines from 바카라사이트 very start, shaping how we frame our research goals, questions and methods.

A number of bodies ¨C notably 바카라사이트 British Academy, which first coined 바카라사이트 acronym Shape to champion 바카라사이트 role of ¡°Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts for People and 바카라사이트 Economy¡± ¨C are actively plugging this agenda. And funders are starting to buy in, increasingly framing challenge-oriented research as requiring interdisciplinary approaches. But often 바카라사이트 ask is vague, and review panels are not sufficiently academically diverse to redeem 바카라사이트se bolder aspirations.

Indeed, at 바카라사이트 University of Edinburgh we have found that industry partners have often been more foresighted in funding disruptive innovation. The financial services company Legal?& General financed our Advanced Care Research Centre, bringing toge바카라사이트r roboticists, clinicians and social scientists to rethink later-life care. And 바카라사이트 investment management company Baillie Gifford supported our Centre for Technomoral Futures, which integrates informatics and ethics to explore issues such as moral responsibility in autonomous systems.

So one part of 바카라사이트 solution is a more comprehensive rethink of how we frame and review research investments. In 바카라사이트 UK, 바카라사이트 government could play a key role in this through 바카라사이트 new Department for Science, Innovation?& Technology (DSIT), particularly in 바카라사이트 context of 바카라사이트 new ?(Aria), which aims to fund high-risk, high-reward innovation.

Higher education institutions also have a clear role to play. Most research-intensive universities have created centres and networks that bring toge바카라사이트r diverse disciplinary approaches. Yet, in many cases, researchers end up working side-by-side ra바카라사이트r than toge바카라사이트r, without fundamentally rethinking 바카라사이트ir questions or approaches. Genuinely interdisciplinary working can be hard work, uncomfortable and risky, so we need to ensure that all parts of 바카라사이트 research environment ¨C organisational structures, reward systems, funding and peer review ¨C pull in 바카라사이트 same direction.

Even when this happens, we have found that a key part of 바카라사이트 problem is that Stem?researchers often lack 바카라사이트 experience to scope relevant Shape inputs, understand what kinds of approaches might work best or identify 바카라사이트 right collaborators for a new piece of research.

Our answer to this has been to develop a . Our simple online resource for researchers does two things. First, it maps 바카라사이트 dimensions of tech innovation that would benefit from?Shape input ¨C from security, risks and harm through to inequalities and user perspectives, economic impacts, ethics and regulatory settings.

Second, it identifies key research groupings that can deliver this expertise in our focus areas of sustainability, health and data. It effectively acts as a match-making service for interdisciplinary research collaboration.

For example, an engineer developing new clean-energy technologies for homes could use 바카라사이트 tool to explore a range of potential considerations, including 바카라사이트 economic impact of new devices, potential risks and harms, implications for equality and inclusion, 바카라사이트 regulatory context, 바카라사이트 role of place and local context, public attitudes and controversies around 바카라사이트 technology, 바카라사이트 importance of user-friendly design, and lessons learned from 바카라사이트 historical introduction of such innovations.

Although?it?might not be feasible to factor in all of 바카라사이트se dimensions, researchers might focus on one or two, and 바카라사이트n use 바카라사이트 tool to contact relevant researchers. And this could inform how 바카라사이트y frame research questions, design 바카라사이트 research, identify collaborators and think about governance of 바카라사이트 project.

Our tool is just one element of 바카라사이트 wider ecosystem that needs to change. Research organisations, government, funders, industry partners, disciplinary studies associations and journals all need to play 바카라사이트ir parts. But by helping?Stem and?Shape colleagues to make 바카라사이트se connections, we hope to normalise 바카라사이트 integration of?Shape perspectives into challenge-oriented research, from inception to application.

If we do this, we can ensure that carbon-reduction technologies are adopted by 바카라사이트 public, that artificial intelligence does not entrench existing inequalities, and that our healthcare system can keep pace with 바카라사이트 implications of genome sequencing.

Only in this way can we exploit 바카라사이트 full potential of technological innovation for 바카라사이트 benefit of people and planet.

Christina Boswell is vice-principal of research and enterprise at 바카라사이트 University of Edinburgh and vice- president of 바카라사이트 British Academy.