ARIA Summit and Project Kick-off
May was a milestone month as we officially set Futuring Biological Commons—our ARIA-funded project—into motion. The turnaround for postdoc recruitment was incredibly tight, but we were so lucky to have a fantastic group of candidates apply. The interviews were full-on, but genuinely such a pleasure. I’m absolutely thrilled that Oliver and Matthew will be joining the … Continue reading
DSIT–KCL Horizon-Scanning on Cyberbiosecurity
I was delighted to be invited to take part in a recent horizon-scanning workshop co-hosted by the UK Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and King’s College London. The event focused on a timely question: What cybersecurity protections, mitigations, and solutions should be considered to address emerging risks associated with the exploitation of common engineering … Continue reading
GESDA’s Anticipation Workshop on Planetarized Humanity
In late March, I had the pleasure of participating in GESDA’s Third Villars Anticipation Workshop, Planetarized Humanity: Rethinking Identity, Society, and Governance in a Technology-Driven World. Set in the stunning alpine village of Villars, Switzerland, the workshop brought together an interdisciplinary group to reflect on how emerging technologies—especially AI—might reshape our societies and our sense … Continue reading
UN CSW69 Parallel Event: Feminist Approaches to Justice
It was a tremendous honour to open one of the ‘Feminist Approaches to Justice’ series this March, held in conjunction with the 69th Session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW69). I attended the event as a member of the International Sociological Association (ISA) Publication Committee and as editor of special … Continue reading
Asilomar at 50
In 1975, a group of leading scientists gathered at the Asilomar Conference Grounds in California to discuss the potential risks of recombinant DNA technology. The result was a landmark moment in the self-governance of the life sciences—a model of proactive ethical reflection that has since shaped decades of science policy and public engagement. This year … Continue reading
UK-US/ UK-Japan Meetings on Synbio
Over the past few months, two bilateral academic meetings on engineering biology have been particularly informative and stimulating. The first was the UK-US Workshop on Bioengineering Solutions for Critical Minerals, held on December 5–6, 2024, at the Earth Galleries of the Natural History Museum in London. The event brought together representatives from the UK Government, the US Department … Continue reading
EP PerMed meetings in Brussels
I was delighted to be appointed as a member of the European Partnership for Personalised Medicines ( EP PerMed)’ Citizen Engagement Board (CEB) since June. In the past three months, we’ve met online to comment on a pilot public survey (now out in Italy in Italian!). Apart from virtual meetings, it was wonderful to attend EP … Continue reading
UNESCO Roundtable on Science Communication
At the invitation of UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General for Natural Sciences, I had the great pleasure of contributing to the UNESCO roundtable, ‘Empowering the Global Community Through Scientific Literacy,’ held this week in Paris. I made three suggestions on basis of a draft white paper circulated: 1-Enhancing science literacy is not just about progress or development. … Continue reading
BEST Masterclass
In early September, I spent a week in Durham to observe the Bioprocess Entrepreneurial Skill Training (BEST) Programme jointly organised by BioProNET2 and E3B Metals in Biology. 18 young scientists with entrepreneurial aspirations were selected for this week long training, which incorporates masterclasses, site visits and a mock start-up pitch at the end. I was … Continue reading
2024 Herbert Gottweis Prize
I’m really honoured to receive Critical Policy Studies’ 2024 Herbert Gottweis Prize for my article on decolonisation and science policies. The prize holds an additional personal significance for me, as I had the privilege of briefly working with Herbert on BIONET, the very first academic project I worked on as a PhD student at the … Continue reading
Joy Zhang 