Date: Wednesday, Sep 20, 2023 10:00am-11:00am HST
Venue: Zoom (zoom link will be sent before the event to the registered participants)
RECORDING
Presenter:
Dr. Jason Borenstein is a Program Director within the National Science Foundation’s Directorate
for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences. He is part of the team that oversees the Ethical
and Responsible Research (ER2) Program. His duties include coordinating the merit review
process for grant proposals submitted to the ER2 Program and administering awards. Dr.
Borenstein’s research interests include robot & artificial intelligence ethics, engineering ethics,
research ethics, and bioethics.
Description:
The goal of this presentation is to introduce the audience to the Ethical and Responsible
Research (ER2) Program at the National Science Foundation. Research projects funded by the
ER2 Program use fundamental research to produce knowledge about what constitutes or
promotes responsible or irresponsible conduct of research and why, as well as how to best instill
responsible conduct of research into researchers, practitioners, and educators at all career
stages. The presentation will include a brief history of the ER2 program, and a brief description
of the types of proposals that are supported by the program and the merit review process. A
portion of the time will be set aside to address questions from the audience.
About the ER2 Program
The program funds research projects that identify:
(1) factors that are effective in the formation of ethical science, technology, engineering,
and mathematics (STEM) researchers;
(2) approaches to developing those factors in all STEM fields that NSF supports; and
(3) why and how those factors and approaches increase responsibly conducted
research.
Ethical issues in emerging scientific and technological areas are of particular interest as are new
ethical issues created by changing cultural norms. Those topics include, but are not limited to:
- environmental change, climate mitigation and adaptation research
- sensor data and other digital representations of human experiences
- quantum research
- artificial intelligence and robotics
- bioeconomy ecosystems: society and biotechnology
- advanced communications technologies
- equity and inclusion in STEM research
- the prevention of sexual harassment in STEM
- the ethical norms of indigenous and international STEM research.
