We work towards addressing legal and ethical implications of genetic findings, including:

• Ethics of Genetic Research
• Ethics of Applications of Genetic Findings (e.g. Gene Editing)
• Ethics of Access to Benefits of Genetic Scientific Progress
• Ethics of Use of Genetic Data for Prediction
• Legal Regulation of Genetic Research
• Legal Regulation of Applications of Genetic Findings (e.g. Gene Editing)
• Legal Regulation of Use of Genetic Data for Prediction

‘Neural and Psychological Processes in Decision Making’

Head of TAGC Law & Ethics and LESIG Co-ordinator, Fatos Selita, was an invited speaker at the Judges’ Training Conference 2018. The talk was attended by over 100 judges from UK Tribunals and Courts.  The talk ‘Neural and Psychological Processes in Decision Making’ covered how human mind is influenced, how these influences affect decision-making, and how to protect from influences (both external and internal) – how to outsmart human mind weaknesses. The talk included:

• Memory
• Metaphor
• Powerful vs. powerless language
• Attention
• A number of psychological processes such as Fundamental Attribution Error
• Influences and litigants in person (unrepresented litigants)
• Pathways of influences into human mind
• Undoing penetrated influences
• Individual differences in traits
• Impact of genes and environment on traits
• Distribution of traits
• Consciousness in decision-making
• Mental health, and impact on decision-making

‘Genes and Human Rights’

Udayana University School of Law, Bali, Indonesia

LESIG Co-ordinator, Fatos Selita, addressed the impact of genetic advancements on human rights. The talk covered key genetic findings on human traits and addressed implications for human rights. Read more

‘Human Memory, Witnesses and Decision Making’

Head of TAGC Law & Ethics and LESIG Co-ordinator, Fatos Selita, delivered training to the UK judiciary on Human Memory, Witnesses and Decision Making.  The training was attended by a range of judges, including High Court, Criminal Court, and Court of Appeal.  The training covered a number of important aspects of decision-making, including:

• Reliability of memory and how memory is influenced and altered;
• Mind weaknesses and mind bugs affecting decision-making (e.g. selective attention, fundamental attribution error, biases)
• Suggestion (e.g. in police interviewing, lineups, advocacy)
• Impact of questioning on memory on evidence
• Lie detecting; The mechanism of dishonesty
• How to know a lie from the truth
• Origin of traits; Origin of individual differences and
• How these affect decision-making.

Collaborations and contact

ORGANISATIONS: We welcome proposals for collaborations, including from research organisations, law organisations (e.g. law firms, chambers, law schools), policy institutions and interdisciplinary organisations.

INDIVIDUALS: If you are a lawyer, judge or geneticist with an interest on legal implications of genomic findings, we will be happy to hear from you.

Contact: Fatos Selita, fs@inblc.com