Session Spotlight: Social Aspects of DNA Barcoding

Session Spotlight

Session: Social Aspects of Barcoding

Session Chair: David Castle

• What does your proposed session cover? Why is it important to barcoding?

Our session covers the social aspects of barcoding including access and benefits sharing, trade and biosecurity, intellectual property, public communication and governance issues.

The social aspects of barcoding are important because barcoding, like other parts of conservation and ecological science, run up against barriers of individual behaviour and institutional organisation and practices. To get barcoding done, to use the results to protect biodiversity, is only partly scientific and technological – the rest is social.

• What is your vision for the 4th Conference?

From the standpoint of the social sciences and humanities involvement in a conference like the international DNA barcoding meeting, one generally hopes to have a high level of integration of the scientific and social considerations bearing on barcoding uptake and use.

• What research do you do?

I work on the integration of social science into natural science, with a focus on intellectual property and knowledge management as well as the governance issues. I am also interested in the way that barcoding raises new and old issues for the community of taxonomists in light of the implications of barcoding for how we classify organisms.

• If people are interested in this topic, what can they do to get involved in addition to submitting an abstract?

They should send me an email! We are looking to develop an international network over the next few years of scholars and practitioners interested in the social aspects of DNA barcoding.