GSA-China at the International Summit

Dr. Joy Zhang was invited to deliver two talks on key findings from this ESRC project at the Second International Summit on Human Genome Editing.

Dr. Zhang first expressed her concern over a 'public engagement-deficit' in China's rise as a global scientific power in her Summit presentation. During the Summit, Chinese scientist Jiankui He’s announcement of the birth of gene-edited twins cast a shadow over ethical governance in this field. Drawing on empirical findings from the GSA-China project, Dr. Zhang’s urge for a professional cultural and structural change within China and her call for the international communities to not only collaborate with China scientifically but also to co-develope public engagement capacity in and with China seemed to be most timely.

The audience at the Summit responded to her presentation with a ‘Bravo’. The following day, China’s leading science blog translated her speech in full. The full video of Dr Zhang’s talk, and the panel discussion she took part can be accessed here.

In a post-summit event organised by the Royal Society, Dr. Zhang delivered a second talk on how to interpret state-science-society relations in China.