Transforming American Biosecurity

Sam Weiss Evans, D. Phil.

Senior Advisor at the Federation of American Scientists

3170 Plant Sciences Building Innovation Hub + Zoom | Over the last three years, Dr. Sam Weiss Evans has helped build momentum for consolidating biosecurity and biosafety oversight within the U.S. government and coupling that oversight with an assessment and innovation system. In this talk, he turns a reflexive lens on his own work, unpacking how he has incorporated science and technology studies (STS) principles into both the design of a new government agency—currently the subject of draft legislation in Congress—and his efforts to build a shared vision and coalition around it. He draws on his time as a Senior Policy Advisor to the National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology, where he led the team focused on biosecurity and responsible innovation, as well as his ongoing work at the Federation of American Scientists. He explores issues including code-switching, the political usefulness of sociotechnical anomalies, and methodologies for paradigm shifts. This talk will be of interest to those seeking to understand the strategies and tactics involved in pursuing government reform informed by STS perspectives—and how those efforts can, in turn, further refine those perspectives.

About the speaker

Dr. Sam Weiss Evans is a Senior Advisor at the Federation of American Scientists (FAS). At FAS, Sam is working to bring about foundational biosecurity and biosafety governance reform. He recently completed a term as a Senior Policy Advisor for the National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology, where he led the Commission’s work on biosecurity, biosafety, standards, and responsible innovation. Prior to joining NSCEB, Sam was a Senior Research Fellow at Harvard University, jointly with the Kennedy School of Government’s Program on Science, Technology & Society, and the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. He has spent the past twenty years studying and building experimental governance capacity in bioengineering and several other areas of emerging technology and holds a D.Phil. from Oxford University.

Related links:

• Video – Opening remarks for the National Academy of Medicine / CEPI recent workshop on Preparing for a Future of AI-Enabled Biotechnology (5 minutes)
• evansresearch.org >
• LinkedIn >

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