Innovation, Perception, Ethics and Nature (IPEN) tidl. ESB/KS 156232/510

IPEN will describe and discuss the interdependence and the interplay between innovation, public perception, bioethics and images of nature in modern biotechnology. Four sub-projects will examine: * The mapping of the Salmon-genome, Bio-banks and bio-consulting as examples of Norwegian innovation. * Public perception as monitored in survey (Eurobarometer) and revealed in focus groups and public discourse, * The institutionalisation of bio-ethics with a view to its relation to risk assessment as well as its ambiquity and political function. * Images of nature, as the manipulative, the authentic and the instrumental, and attempts at new conceptualisations of nature, nature-society and nature-environment. The approach is interdisciplinary, originating in the humanities and the social sciences. The methodology includes STS-studies, theories of innovation, anthropological descriptions, interviews, survey and focus groups, normative philosophy and analyses of institutionalised consequences, typologies and images.