Projektbeschreibung
Soziale Aspekte der Einführung neuer Gesundheitstechnologien am Beispiel der COVID-19-Impfstoffe
Die COVID-19-Pandemie hat die Aufsichtsbehörden dazu gezwungen, Notmaßnahmen einzuleiten und neuen Impfstoffentwicklungstechnologien Tür und Tor zu öffnen. Jedoch sollte die soziale Akzeptanz auch dann nicht außer Acht gelassen werden, wenn es als ziemlich sicher gilt, dass mRNA die Entwicklung von Impf- und Wirkstoffen revolutionieren könnte. Ziel des EU-finanzierten Projekts GENEVACRISIS ist es, die Rolle der gesellschaftlichen Wahrnehmung bei der Einführung neuartiger Technologien zu verstehen. Die Forschenden werden Narrative aus Interviews und Zielgruppendiskussionen mit Fachleuten aus Wissenschaft, Politik und Wissenschaftskommunikation sammeln und der Frage nachgehen, wie diese die Reaktion der Menschen auf die Technologie beeinflusst haben könnten. Das Projekt wird dazu beitragen, ähnliche Situationen in Zukunft besser bewältigen zu können.
Ziel
The coronavirus pandemic has disrupted our ways of living across the globe. This research project will use social science and humanities approaches to analyse the enabling role of the coronavirus crisis in the development and (potential) deployment of emerging genetic vaccine technology, and associated transformations in social values and scientific research practices. Although traditional routes are being utilised to develop vaccine candidates, the pandemic has thrown open doors for the introduction of the state of the art genetic vaccines as an emergency response, e.g. Moderna Inc.’s vaccine candidate ‘mRNA-1273’. The underlying mRNA technology presents a completely new yet unproven therapeutic modality, which scientists believe has the potential to disrupt the drug development domain. In practice, only a few gene therapy approaches have received drug approval, and these are mainly aimed at treating rare hereditary conditions. In contrast, genetic vaccines would potentially be administered to the general population, both healthy and affected. They would hence normalise the mRNA medicine platforms. However, the state of the art mRNA therapeutics in general and genetic vaccine technology in particular is yet to undergo serious scrutiny and analysis from a social science perspective, a gap and original research problem that this project aims to address. The project will examine narratives around the Covid-19 pandemic, and through interviews and focus group discussions with scientists, policymakers, and science communicators will explore its enabling role in the introduction of genetic vaccine technology. Furthermore, it will analyse the ways in which these developments might shift social values and research practices. The research outcomes will provide key insights to policymakers for the governance of DNA and mRNA therapeutics platforms, and enhance social science understanding of how narratives of crisis co-shape our response to emerging science and technology.
Wissenschaftliches Gebiet
- medical and health sciencesbasic medicinepharmacology and pharmacydrug discovery
- medical and health sciencesmedical biotechnologygenetic engineeringgene therapy
- medical and health scienceshealth sciencespublic healthepidemiologypandemics
- medical and health scienceshealth sciencesinfectious diseasesRNA virusescoronaviruses
- medical and health sciencesbasic medicinepharmacology and pharmacypharmaceutical drugsvaccines
Schlüsselbegriffe
Programm/Programme
Thema/Themen
Aufforderung zur Vorschlagseinreichung
Andere Projekte für diesen Aufruf anzeigenFinanzierungsplan
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)Koordinator
EH8 9YL Edinburgh
Vereinigtes Königreich