The last decades have given rise, in pluralist democracies, to a new cast of professionals whom we might call ‘expert bioethicists’ or ethics experts. These new specialists claim expertise in the ethical analysis of issues which arise in relation to biomedicine, research and innovation in the life sciences, and increasingly so in new fields of technological innovation. Typically, one would not expect experts or specialists to play a central role in policy areas where politics, and values, are so explicit.

This Lunch Briefing will explore the implications of an expansion of the boundaries of expert authority and the role experts play in decisions on scientific and technological innovation.

Before joining the Institute, Annabelle Littoz-Monnet was Assistant Professor at the Central European University, Budapest (2005-2009). She has also worked for the Socio-Legal Studies Centre at Oxford University and as a Research Fellow at the Royal Institute of International Relations, Brussels (2004-2005). Her current research interests include global governance, the politics of knowledge, international organisations, bureaucratic expansion and the concept of ethical expertise. She is now working on a SNSF research project examining uses of ethical experts by bureaucrats and policy-makers.