Research on the ethical issues and governing strategies in scientific research

Dr Joy Zhang was named as an Expert Consultant on the research project, ‘Research on the Ethical Issues and Governing Strategies in Scientific Research’, Commissioned by Department of Policy and Regulation, Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) in 2014. Her involvement was to contribute to MOST’s position paper and to design and lead a qualitative study on scientific risk in collaboration with MOST’s research arm, the Chinese Academy of Science and Technology for Development (CASTED). The aims of this project were: 1) To identify key scientific risks and ethical issues relating to three strategic fields in China: information technology, environmental science and the life sciences. 2) To map out subsequent regulatory challenges China faces, especially in relation to global collaboration. 3) To develop an official position paper on ethical governance, which will provide a new framework for China’s scientific policy.

Governing accountability in China’s life sciences: a comparative study of stem cell and GM food governance

ESRC Future Research Leaders 2014 project – Dr Joy Zhang.

While the rise of Chinese life sciences has brought new opportunities and resources to tackle global health problems, its regulatory quandaries also carry implications that transcend national boundaries. Most notably, China’s deficiency in ensuring responsible research conduct has repeatedly been highlighted by many studies as a major hurdle both to China’s responsible application of new bio-technologies and to public attitude towards research conducted in, and with, China. Cases such as locally authorized stem cell therapy and unsupervised GM food trials not only has the effect of damaging China’s own scientific reputation but also impairs global public trust of biotechnologies.

This ESRC Future Research Leaders project proposes a timely and ambitious study on the accountability problem in China’s life science governance through a comparative study of stem cell research and GM foods. This draws on my extensive network and previous research in both fields. Stem cell research and GM foods make for excellent case studies. They provide complementary views on the project’s three core research questions. Stem cell and GM technologies are both highly visible and controversial fields in China, but they represent the opposite ends of risk framing. While China’s GM food regulation consists of a ‘strong precautionary element’, China’s stem cell regulation arguably resembles a ‘proactionary’ approach. Despite these differences, stem cell and GM technologies in China share a similar regulatory history and governing structure. This difference in regulatory rationales and overlap in governance structures will provide rich comparable data for the research questions.