Speakers: Dr. Natasha M. Udu-gama and Dr. Mackenzie Graham

Registration Link: Register Here

About the Webinar: Every research project embeds values, whether in the questions scientists choose to ask, the communities they partner with (or don’t), or the ways their findings get used. Making those values visible is tricky–even trickier is bringing this understanding into your research. In this fireside chat, Oxford bioethicist Dr. Mackenzie Graham and community science practitioner Dr. Natasha Udu-gama will bring complementary perspectives on this challenge. Graham explores how ethical questions arise in everyday scientific practice, sometimes uncomfortably, and what it takes for scientists to engage with these ethical questions honestly. Udu-gama draws on experience building community science partnerships to create dialogue, trust, and space for community priorities and mutual learning. Together, they will explore how scientists can approach research that is grounded in ethics, trusted by communities, and conducted for effective service to society.

About the Speakers: Dr. Natasha M. Udu-gama is a highly accomplished expert with over 11 years of experience in community science program development and partnership building. During her tenure with the American Geophysical Union (AGU), she was instrumental in growing the Thriving Earth Exchange program from five to 370 community science partnerships globally. Concurrently, she's applying her skills and learning new ones to develop a conscious creative business enterprise in collaboration with her music producer/author husband. Dr. Mackenzie Graham is a Senior Research Fellow at the Ethox Centre, University of Oxford. His research is primarily in bioethics and data ethics, and he has a particular interest in the philosophy of trust. He received his PhD in Philosophy in 2016 from Western University in Canada, where his research examined the moral status and well-being of patients with disorders of consciousness.

Event Host: Funded by the Kavli and Rita Allen Foundations, the ComSciCon SEEDS program is creating a resource for early-career scientists looking to impact the world beyond academia. By curating stories of researchers navigating the ethical and societal implications of their work (efforts often unsupported by traditional institutions), SEEDS provides the insights needed for scientists to bridge the gap between theory and practice.