Doctoral Student Profile

Bruce Small

Supervisors: Mike O'Driscoll, Liezl Van Zyl

Ethics and social responsibility in science
My thesis examines scientists’ attitudes to social responsibility in regard to the development of Promethean technologies with a particular focus on gene technologies. As science penetrates deeper into the mysteries of nature the potential technological applications have increasing power to effect both physical and social reality. In a world both benefited and harmed by human mastery of technology, I argue that this Promethean potential of new technologies may place increasing responsibility on scientists and the science community regarding the social and physical impacts. The research is a mixed method study with qualitative interviews conducted with 22 scientists and a quantitative survey of 833 scientists across six NZ CRIs.