Inclusive and International Risk Assessment: Building a Framework for Gene Drive Organisms Through Collaboration

Current governance efforts for gene drive technology are focused on the development of a risk assessment framework which will outline the basic steps and requirements for the assessment of hazards and risks from gene drive organisms released into the environment. Through the efforts of a small group of experts, an exclusive risk assessment framework is emerging and likely to be embedded into national contexts within a few years. In response to international calls for opening-up gene drive governance, this research team is looking to addresses the urgent need to understand the different ways in which a risk assessment framework might be configured based on an inclusive and reflexive process before this window of opportunity closes. The aim is to build an international and inclusive risk assessment framework that reflects the multiple understandings of hazard and risk gathered from academic, professional and lay actors, and that includes opportunities for participation in future risk assessments.

Principal Investigator: Dr Sarah Hartley, University of Exeter