Eminent panellists are to be quizzed on their work at a special Trinity College event chaired by Justice Adrian Hardiman, writes Dick Ahlstrom.
Who makes the rules for science? Are surgeons playing God with their patients? Can science be wholly ethical and still make discoveries?
There will be answers to these and other thorny questions about scientific research and its new directions in a unique Halloween-themed question and answer session on Thursday, October 30th, to be chaired by Justice Adrian Hardiman.
"No Strings Attached: Who Makes the Rules for Science?" is the provocative title selected for the free public event organised by The Irish Times, the Royal Irish Academy and the Linnean Society of London in association with sponsors DEPFA Bank plc. It takes place at 7 p.m. in the Burke lecture theatre in the Arts Block, Trinity College Dublin.
The unusual format allows members of the audience to put questions on science, research and ethics to a panel of experts who will respond directly to the audience.
The topics to be discussed are dictated by the public itself and can be about any aspect of research from cloning and global warming to genetic testing and the safety or GM foods.
The panel includes Christine Evans, a consultant urologist and from Channel 4 television's Under the Knife with Miss Evans; Prof Clive Page, a pharmacologist from the University of London; and Dr Andrew Green, a geneticist at the National Centre for Medical Genetics, Our Lady's Hospital, Dublin.
In the run-up to the evening the Royal Irish Academy is taking suggestions for questions at the e-mail address tickets@ria.ie or by dialling the number provided below.
These questions can be on any issue related to research including the ethical issues associated with them.
On the evening, Mr Justice Hardiman will ask each of the panellists in turn to make a 10-minute presentation outlining the major focus of their work. The chair will then begin to pose some of the pre-submitted questions to the panel and at the end of each answer will take a few live questions.
Each of the panellists has been chosen because they work in areas where people are traditionally squeamish or have expressed concerns, such as surgery, animal research, stem-cell research and genetic modification of plants and animals.
Public understanding of science has become an important life skill. Matched with this is an increasing culture of accountability and the view that the time has come to ask questions about what science and scientists might be allowed to do. Now is your opportunity to ask the hard questions and raise the issues.
Seats for this even are extremely limited and are not available either from The Irish Times, the Royal Irish Academy or from DEPFA Bank plc. Tickets are only available by dialling the number below.
To obtain a free ticket for this event, tel: 1550 114709 or 0906 604 0249 (from Northern Ireland) and leave your name, address, telephone number and the number of tickets you require (maximum two tickets per person). Phone lines stay open until the 400 places are booked. Calls cost 74 cent per minute, but may be more expensive from mobile phones.