Upcoming seminar in the "Science & Society" cycle

Save the date for the upcoming "Science & Society" seminar with speakers Florence Hachez-Leroy, Jérôme Santolini and Jean-Claude K. Dupont, which will be held on Friday January 19, 2024 at 5.30pm in the François Jacob auditorium at the Institut Pasteur. The topic will be "Science and conscience."

The question of the potential consequences caused by research or the implementation of a technology developed from research findings has long been raised. Dual-use research in particular is often a topic for discussion in research organizations; in other words research that is at risk of being misused or represents an unacceptable risk (see the report by the working group in the National Advisory Council on Biosafety (CNCB), HAL ID: hal-03408946). But at a time when society essentially wants science to be useful and when any research performed (or not performed) is liable to shape the trajectories open to society, the question also has a more general dimension, causing us to reflect on the meaning of research and the way in which it fits into these trajectories.
 
While we need to be aware of the tensions that characterize today's society – and that can also be seen in research organizations – over the potential consequences of research and scientific choices, we also need to take note of the responses provided and the implications of these responses, from the individual or collective choices of scientists to the decision to delegate these choices to ad hoc committees, the role of economic and political leadership and demands by civil society and/or research groups.

For this latest event, these questions will be discussed with Florence Hachez-Leroy, a corporate historian and author whose most recent book is "Threats to food. Packaging, food coloring and other contaminants," Jérôme Santolini, a scientist at I2BC/CEA specializing in the biochemistry of oxidative stress, director of the "Citizen Science" association and a member of the group "Scientists in rebellion," and Jean-Claude K. Dupont, a philosopher and Head of Ethics at the Institut Pasteur.
 
For organizational reasons, please sign up by emailing fbontems@pasteur.fr


A reception (bread, cheese and wine) will be held after the discussion.