Conference
Date to be confirmed

10:00 am to 5:30 pm

Followed by

One-Day School for students
Date to be confirmed

Venue: Tomsk State University, Tomsk

Language: Russian and English

Conference attendance: First come first served (maximum 150 people)

Acceptance to One-Day School: Competitive (maximum 100 students)

Conference presentations: Lightning Talks (pre-recorded) and Posters 

Conference organiser:
Centre for Science and Ethics

In the past two decades, unprecedented progress occurred in the areas of genomic and computational research. These advances can benefit all people, but can also be used in harmful ways. For example, potential harm includes risks of social polarization, and discrimination across areas of life (e.g. health finance, criminal justice, employment and education). Coordinated action from key stakeholders is required in order to protect people from harmful uses of scientific advances.

The Centre for Science and Ethics of TSU invites academics and students from different disciplines to take part in the conference. The conference aims to challenge the mindset that “scientific progress is impossible without risk and sacrifice”. Students are also invited to take part in the workshop on May 21. More information can be found at scienceandethics.tsu.com

Genetic findings are already widely used in medicine and are increasingly applied to other spheres, such as crime prevention, and educational and career selection. Artificial intelligence (AI) is also increasingly used in different spheres, including in criminal justice. Data processing, including big data and fusion techniques, data sharing practices, and large-scale data breaches, have new dimensions in the 21st century. The speed and scale of processing is changing daily, and similar is the scale of data breaches.

The following workshop will bring together students from different disciplines to gain knowledge in these areas, and to get involved in interdisciplinary research.

This Conference will bring together specialist in genetics, law, medicine, data, ethics, education and other disciplines to assess implications from a range of perspectives, understand the interdependence of these sciences, and seek interdisciplinary solutions for protection of people and society.

Presenting at the conference: Talks and Posters

To present at the Conference, please submit your poster or lightning talk abstracts (maximum 200 words) by email to: se@mail.tsu.ru. All student’s submissions will be entered in the competition of the best student poster and the best student talk. The deadline for submission is on March 28 2022. Authors of accepted poster presentations will be notified by April 11 2022. Accepted posters and recordings of the Lightning talks must be submitted by May 18. Maximum length of a Lightning talk is 7 minutes. Digital posters must be created and submitted in power point and pdf format. 

Scope. Implication (legal and ethical) of latest findings in genetics, digitalisation and AI for other key areas such as education, insurance, sentencing, privacy, discrimination/human rights, and medicine.

What is the role of empirical ethics in bridging gaps between societal literacy and scientific advances, and informing the decision-making process? What can legal professions do to protect people and minimise harm from the use of these findings? What is the role of psychology and psychologists in helping people to adjust to the new technological advances? What is the role of universities in helping societies to extract maximum benefits from advances and to minimise negative impact?

Opportunity to publish in International Journal
in Open Access*

The conference presents an excellent opportunity for conference participants to publish in the Special Issue in the Legal Issues Journal (LIJ). www.legalissuesjournal.com

* The Open Access fee has been waived for those presenting at the Conference.

Students who participate in the conference have the opportunity to take part in the One-Day Workshop. The Workshop programme is designed to equip students with knowledge of ethics in research and practice, and the opportunity to get engaged in discussions of the Film Club. Topical film is “Three Identical Strangers”.

Learning Objectives

To get a good understanding of:

Key findings in genetic science presenting legal and ethical implications for individuals and wider society; associated implications of the use of these findings, including in access to health care; using genetic information in medicine; gene editing; discrimination and education; legal protection in place; legal protection required; and possible solutions to protect individuals and society.

Advancements in the field of Big data, including data processing and data sharing; and associated legal and ethical implications affecting individuals and society, and potential solutions.

Advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI); use of these advancements in practice in decision making, including in crime prevention and in criminal sentencing; implications of such findings and use for people and society; laws and regulations in place; and potential solutions for individuals and societies.

Interconnection and interdependence of Genetics, Big data, AI, Law, Ethics and Justice; and the impact inter-disciplinary work can make to ensure both progress and protection of individuals and society; or to increase societal awareness of potential risks of these technological developments.

Opportunity to get involved in projects

The participants in the Conference and One-Day School will have an opportunity to get involved in projects presented during the events.

Experts/Lecturers