Stipendiat i Assisted Living prosjektet, Erik Thorstensen, disputerte den 28. januar 2020. Tittelen på avhandlingen var «Responsible Assessments: Frameworks for a Value-Based Governance of Assistive Technologies».
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Dr. Simone van der Burg: Senior Researcher at Wageningen Economic Research, The Netherlands.
Dr. Stephan Lingner: Head of Department “Technology Assessment“ at EA European Academy GmbH.
Kjetil Rommetveit: Associate Professor at The University of Bergen og Guest Researcher at the Centre for the Study of Professions, OsloMet – Oslo Metropolitan University
Professor Fredrik Thue ledet disputasen.
Avhandlingen, “Responsible Assessments: Frameworks for a Value-Based Governance of Assistive Technologies” (levert ved Senter for Profesjonsstudier) utforsker muligheter og ulike tilnærminger for verdibasert forskning, utvikling og styring av velferdsteknologier. Denne utforskningen baseres på en utvikling av samfunnsansvarlig vurderingsmetodikk (Responsible assessments). Samfunnsansvarlig vurderingsmetodikk forstås som bruk av konkrete etiske vurderingsverktøy. Avhandlingen knytter samfunnsansvarlig forskning og innovasjon sammen med vurderinger i helsefaglig forskning og beslutningsmetodikk gjennom deres respektive normative og etiske dimensjoner, og åpner således opp et område av både praktisk og teoretisk relevans.
Prøveforelesningen bar tittelen:
“In policies and innovation agendas that promote assistive technologies, a frequent argument is that such technologies have value for society because they save costs and increase efficiency. This is considered attractive in an aging society where the number of patients are expected to grow. Yet, some argue that this view upgrades the value of technology and innovation, and downgrades the value of human (professional) caregivers and patients. If machines are to take over the tasks of care professionals, this is degrading the content of their work. Furthermore, if the elderly are portrayed as (soon to be) patients and a problem for health care costs, their value as humans and contributors to society is similarly downgraded. Based on this background we would like the candidate to respond to the following questions:
How is the ‘ageing society’ defined as a problem for society, and how does this framing inform and shape policies to implement assistive technologies?
What resources can be found within main approaches to RRI for articulating adequate concepts of value, care and the Good Life?”