Institute for Science, Ethics and Innovation
Encyclopedia
- For the term used to describe Japanese immigrants, see IsseiIsseiIssei is a Japanese language term used in countries in North America, South America and Australia to specify the Japanese people first to immigrate. Their children born in the new country are referred to as Nisei , and their grandchildren are Sansei...
.
The Institute for Science, Ethics and Innovation (iSEI) is a research institute founded at the University of Manchester
University of Manchester
The University of Manchester is a public research university located in Manchester, United Kingdom. It is a "red brick" university and a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive British universities and the N8 Group...
in 2007 with a mission to examine the role and moral responsibilities of science, technology and innovation in the contemporary world. Chaired by the Nobel Laureate, John Sulston (formerly the founding Director of the Sanger Institute
Sanger Institute
The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute is a non-profit, British genomics and genetics research institute, primarily funded by the Wellcome Trust....
) and directed by the bioethicist, John Harris
John Harris (bioethicist)
John Harris, FRSA, FMedSci , is a British bioethicist and philosopher. He is the Lord Alliance Professor of Bioethics and Director of the Institute for Science, Ethics and Innovation at the University of Manchester. He was educated at the University of Kent and Balliol College, Oxford...
, iSEI performs multi-disciplinary research across four broad areas: What is Science For? Who Owns Science? How Should Science be Used? and the Ethics of Emerging Technologies.
Funded by a Wellcome Trust
Wellcome Trust
The Wellcome Trust was established in 1936 as an independent charity funding research to improve human and animal health. With an endowment of around £13.9 billion, it is the United Kingdom's largest non-governmental source of funds for biomedical research...
Biomedical Ethics Strategic Award, iSEI has embarked on a 5-year research programme on ‘The Human Body: Its Scope, Limits and Future’, starting in 2009. This work will follow five strands within iSEI’s existing research portfolio:
• Human Biomaterials
• Genethics
• Reproduction
• Enhancement
• Methods in Bioethics
The Manchester Manifesto
In 2009, the Institute for Science, Ethics and Innovation published the Manchester Manifesto, the signatories of which include Nobel laureates Joseph Stiglitz (also director of Brooks World Poverty InstituteBrooks World Poverty Institute
The Brooks World Poverty Institute is a research centre connected to the University of Manchester dedicated to multidisciplinary research on poverty, inequality and growth. It was created in 2005 following the donation of £1.3 million to the university by the Rory and Elizabeth Brooks Foundation,...
), John Sulston. The manifesto raised questions about the ownership of science and the rationale for strict intellectual property rights and was widely reported in the British media, with articles in the Financial Times
Financial Times
The Financial Times is an international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and printed in 24 cities around the world. Its primary rival is the Wall Street Journal, published in New York City....
, The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
, The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
accompanied by interviews of the Nobel duo in the BBC's Today programme. The Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys
Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys
The Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys is the British professional body of patent attorneys. It was founded in 1882 as the Chartered Institute of Patent Agents and incorporated by Royal Charter in 1891...
welcomed aspects of the manifesto, but criticised the authors views as being "ill-informed and misleading", leading the authors to respond "it was not the purpose of the Manchester Manifesto to abolish intellectual property, nor yet its governance by laws; but to bring these far more into line with the public interest."