Enhancing the Responsible Conduct and Innovation of Stem Cell Research through the Lens of Responsibilization

Stem cell (SC) researchers should play an ethical role in furthering responsible conduct and innovation in their work. This chapter considers how this ethical role could be realized through the lens of responsibilization. Responsibilization involves how researchers are equipped in terms of knowledge, skills, and resources to take responsibility for the ethical implications of their work. Therefore, this chapter discusses the need for SC researchers to expand their understanding of the ethical dimension of their research. It calls for policy changes to ensure that responsible research aligns with societal values, organizational support, and education of virtue-based integrity training. Moreover, moral sensitivity and reasoning should be fostered by educating researchers on the notions of hard and soft impacts, and through moral imagination. Although this overview of ethical challenges is not exhaustive, the proposed blueprint for responsibilization can aid organizations and SC researchers in identifying additional ethical implications and accompanying responsibilities.