Hastings Center News
Roscoe Award for Early-Career Scholar’s Essay on Science, Ethics, & Society
Artificial intelligence, gene editing, and other powerful new technologies have profound implications for society. They will likely bring both potential benefits and safety concerns and have other ethical and social ramifications. How can we reap the benefits, while minimizing harms? What kind of society do we want to build with our new powers? What virtues and values should we preserve?
The Hastings Center invites nominations for The 2022 David Roscoe Award for an Early-Career Scholar’s Essay on Science, Ethics, and Society. The award is a demonstration of The Hastings Center’s commitment to public engagement, including excellent writing for the general public on the social and ethical implications of advances in science and technology. Hastings is especially interested in supporting public-facing writing by early-career scholars out of recognition that this kind of writing is not encouraged by many academic institutions. This award, named in honor of a recent past chair of the Hastings board, includes prize of $2,000.
Deadline: July 6, 2022. Nominations for the 2022 award are closed.
How prizes are awarded: Submissions must be essays, literary compositions addressing a topic from a distinct point of view. They must be written in English and must have been published in a journal, general interest publication, or blog of a media outlet or an institution (not a personal blog). Each essay should be under 5,000 words. The award is intended to celebrate a scholar who writes in a style that is accessible and engaging to a general audience and who is pursuing or has recently completed (within the last six years) a relevant academic degree. Submissions published between June 1, 2021 and July 1, 2022 will be considered. Communications that rely on broadcast media, such as podcasts, are not eligible.
The winner will be announced in September 2022, and the award will be presented at a Hastings Center event at the annual meeting of the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities (ASBH) in October 2022.
To enter: Any person, including the author, may nominate an essay. There is no entry fee. To submit an entry, click here.
The Hastings Center addresses fundamental ethical and social issues in health care, science, and technology. Founded in 1969, It is the oldest independent, nonpartisan, interdisciplinary research institute of its kind in the world. Throughout its 50-year history, The Hastings Center has placed great value on public engagement, including writing for a broad audience about ethical concerns facing society.