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Membership of Nanotechnology Working Group Announced
July 28, 2003The Royal Society and the Royal Academy of Engineering today (Wednesday 30 July 2003) announced the membership of their working group on nanotechnology. The working group includes experts in ethics, health, the environment and consumer concerns, as well as scientists and engineers whose expertise is in nanotechnology.
The Academies have been commissioned by the UK Government's Office of Science and Technology to conduct a study into the potential benefits and possible problems associated with nanoscience and nanotechnology. The study aims to identify the environmental, health and safety, ethical and societal implications, and uncertainties that may arise from the development of the technology both at present and in the future. It will also identify areas where additional regulation needs to be considered.
Sir Alec Broers, President of the Royal Academy of Engineering, said,
"We are pleased with the very broad range of expertise that makes up the working group. They will bring together the capability to look closely at the various issues surrounding nanotechnology and consider the many and varied points of view on this emerging area of research and application. We know that they will deliver the definitive report that the Government has requested and one that the broader public will have confidence in."
Professor John Enderby, Vice President of the Royal Society said,
"Nanotechnology has the potential to impact on everyone - many researchers are working on applications that they hope will benefit society, for example to improve the delivery of cancer fighting drugs and to increase the speed and power of computer circuits. For this reason, our working group is not just made up of nanotechnology experts, but is comprised of non-science experts too. Our working group includes experts in ethics, health, the environment and consumer concerns, such as Sir Jonathan Porritt and Deirdre Hutton, and leading scientists and engineers such as Prof John Ryan and Prof Mark Welland. This will give the working group a broad outlook and will ensure that penetrating questions are asked of everyone involved in the nanotechnology debate."
The study was launched with a call to stakeholders to make submissions outlining their hopes and concerns about the new technology to the working group. The working group will be considering the responses to the initial call for views at their first working group meeting today (Wednesday 30 July 2003) and these will be used to decide on the study's terms of reference. Over 80 stakeholders from academia, non-governmental organisations and industry responded to the initial call for views. A progress report detailing the study's developments will be available in August.
The working group members are:
1. Chair
Prof Ann Dowling FREng, FRS - Prof Dowling is Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Cambridge and will chair the study. Prof Dowling is a Fellow of both the Royal Society and the Royal Academy of Engineering. She is a scientist and an engineer but does not work directly on nanotechnology, so comes to the project with an open mind and will ensure that the concerns of all stakeholders are taken into account throughout the study.
2. Prof Roland Clift OBE FREng - Prof Clift is Director of the Centre for Environmental Strategy at the University of Surrey and a member of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution. He is a chemical engineer by training with expertise in Life Cycle Assessment (the understanding of the environmental impact of processes and product from their inception to their final disposal).
3. Dr Nicole Grobert - Dr Grobert is currently based at the Max-Planck Institute in Stuttgart Germany, but is shortly taking up a Royal Society Research Fellowship at the University of Surrey. She is a chemist working on the synthesis and modification of nanotubes.
4. Mrs Deirdre Hutton CBE - Deirdre Hutton is Chair of the National Consumer Council and a key advocate of and expert on consumer concerns.
5. Prof Ray Oliver FREng - Prof Oliver is a Senior Science and Technology Associate, in the Strategic Technology Group at ICI plc. He has expertise in the applications of nanotechnology in industry.
6. Baroness Onora O'Neill CBE - Baroness O'Neill is based at Newnham College, University of Cambridge. Baroness O'Neill is an expert in political philosophy and bioethics. She gave the BBC Reith Lectures in 2002.
7. Prof John Pethica FRS - Prof Pethica is based at Trinity College, Dublin. Professor Pethica's work investigates the surface and nanometer scale properties of materials.
8. Prof Nick Pidgeon - Prof Pigeon is Director of the Centre for Environmental Risk at the University of East Anglia. His research looks at risk management, the psychology of risk perception and communication, public preferences and risk valuation.
9. Sir Jonathan Porritt CBE - Sir Jonathan is Co-Founder and Programme Director of Forum for the Future and Chairman of the UK Sustainable Development Commission. He is a leading writer, broadcaster and commentator on sustainable development and environmental issues.
10. Prof John Ryan - Prof Ryan is based at the University of Oxford and leads the Interdisciplinary Research Collaboration on Bionanotechnology.
11. Prof Anthony Seaton FMedSci - Prof Seaton holds a departmental chair in Environmental and Occupational Medicine at the University of Aberdeen. He has a variety of research interests including the development of asthma, the neurotoxicity of paint solvents, the biological effects of air pollution and the interaction of genetic factors in the development of disease processes.
12. Prof Saul Tendler - Prof Tendler is based at the University of Nottingham. He is an expert in pharmaceutical chemistry and his research interests are directed at investigations of molecular systems and their interactions.
13. Prof Mark Welland FREng FRS - Prof Mark Welland is Head of the Nanoscale Science Laboratory in the Department of Engineering at the University of Cambridge. He is Director of the recently formed Interdisplinary Research Collaboration in Nanotechnology.
14. Prof Roger Whatmore FREng - Prof Whatmore is Head of the Advanced Materials Department, Director of Nanotechnology and Professor of Engineering Nanotechnology at Cranfield University. He is exploring applications of ferroelectric materials in microsystems and nanotechnology.
ends
Royal Academy of Engineering
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