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This thesis investigates Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) and its possible application for assessing assistive technologies. Such assessments aim to produce ethically acceptable solutions as well as enhanced value for the user groups. RRI connects science, innovation, society and citizens in the creation of social goods or the realisation of social values through research and development processes. Although RRI has been an ideal for the governance of science for almost a decade, it remains little studied, in particular in the field of health and assistive technologies. The notion has received support from several European research funding agencies, but is still only in its infancy when it comes to concrete application with and for citizens and society. The goal of this thesis is to investigate how the governance of assistive technologies can become more responsible through assessments. The research process underlying this investigation was itself inspired by RRI. Through extensive literature searches and several engagement activities with potential users, important stakeholders and their representatives, this thesis investigates the performance of socio-ethical assessments of assistive technologies in light of RRI. It draws on earlier research on Technology Assessment (TA) and applied ethics – and the interconnections between these two traditions – to investigate how these traditions might deliver assessment frameworks in line with the normative demands of RRI; and how to relate these traditions to Health Technology Assessments (HTA), the main approach to making policy decisions on new health interventions. By using of a combination of two such frameworks, the Ethical Matrix and the Socratic approach, this thesis suggests that an exploratory approach to RRI can inform assessment strategies and has the potential to enhance responsibility through both process and product selection. In particular, the thesis illustrates that there are lacunas in the municipal innovation process, where value decisions are made, and that structured assessment methodologies could improve the quality of such decisions. The thesis contributes to an understanding of what RRI could entail in practical research through using its methodological and normative positions as points of departure for investigations into the values in assistive technologies. It also introduces a new approach to innovation chains for assistive technologies in municipalities and it explores how to enhance methods in applied ethics through a combination of the Ethical Matrix and the Socratic approach. ; Avhandlingen undersøker hvordan ansvarlig forskning og innovasjon (Responsible Research and Innovation – RRI) kan anvendes som grunnlag for normative vurderinger av velferdsteknologier. Slike normative vurderinger har som mål å skape løsninger og produkter som etisk sett er mer akseptable og som gir økt verdi for mulige brukergrupper. RRI er en tilnærming til å forstå og påvirke hvordan vitenskap, innovasjon, samfunn og medborgere kan skape samfunnsgoder eller virkeliggjøre samfunnsverdier gjennom forsknings- og utviklingsprosesser. Til tross for at RRI nå har eksistert som et ideal for planlegging og styring av forskning for nærmere et tiår så er tilnærmingen lite utforsket innen helse eller velferdsteknologier. Tilnærmingen har fått oppslutningen fra flere europeiske forskningsråd og finansieringskilder, men er kun i oppstarten hva gjelder faktiske anvendelser sammen med og for borgere innen forskning og utvikling. Gitt at denne avhandlingen springer ut av tenkningen om RRI så er dens overordnede mål å undersøke hvordan styringen og utviklingen av velferdsteknologier kan gjøres mer ansvarlig. Selve forskningsprosessen er også fundert i RRI. Gjennom litteraturstudier og en rekke ulike møter med mulige brukere og andre berørte parter undersøker avhandlingen hva det vil si å gjennomføre sosio-etiske vurderinger i lys av RRI. Ut fra tidligere forskning på Technology Assessment (TA) og anvendt etikk – så vel som skjæringspunktene mellom disse – undersøker avhandlingen hvordan etablerte normative rammeverk fra disse tradisjonene kan bidra til vurderingsformer og –metoder som svarer til de normative kravene i RRI samtidig som de er mulige å kombinere med medisinsk metodevurdering (HTA) som er den sentrale tilnærmingen til å fatte politiske beslutninger om innføringen av nye intervensjoner på helseområdet. Ved å bruke en kombinasjon av to slike rammeverk, etiske matriske og den sokratiske tilnærmingen, viser avhandlingen hvordan en utforskende tilnærming til RRI kan utvikle vurderingsstrategier som har mulighet for å styrke ansvarlighet både i vurderingsprosessene og i valget av teknologiske løsninger. Avhandlingen påpeker at det finnes rom i kommunale innovasjonsprosesser der verdibaserte beslutninger fattes og der mer strukturerte vurderingsprosesser kan øke kvaliteten på utviklingen og valget av teknologiske løsninger. Avhandlingen bidrar til en økt forståelse for hva RRI kan medføre i praktisk forskning og innovasjon ved at den bruker metodiske og normative innsikter fra RRI som utgangspunkt for å undersøke hva verdiene som står på spill ved innføring av velferdsteknologier. Videre åpner avhandlingen opp for nye måter å nærme seg innovasjonskjedene for velferdsteknologier i kommunene, og den utforsker hvordan etisk matrise og den sokratiske tilnærmingen, som er etablerte metoder i anvendt etikk, gjensidig kan berike hverandre. ; publishedVersion

Assessments of novel assistive technologies for use in home-based services has been documented to be performed in a variety of ways and often with a rather narrow focus on safety and effect or effectiveness. In order better to understand the place for wider forms of assessments of assistive technologies, the current study presents a combination of the Ethical Matrix and the Socratic approach for assessment of health technologies—the Ethical HTA Matrix. This matrix was filled with content based on a case of a GPS localization system, which was validated by stakeholders. In a next step, central decision-makers in assistive technologies and stakeholders were interviewed concerning their views on this methodology. Mainly, the matrix was seen as very comprehensive, but too detailed with an abundance of information. Nevertheless, some informants suggested concrete uses of the matrix in their organizations. Some understood the matrix more as an epistemic tool aiming at providing an overview of the state of knowledge, while others identified a normative potential in the matrix that could be implemented in health innovation processes for the home-based services, in particular when discussing novel solutions and working methods with health professionals and care workers.

In this paper I try to approach contemporary Hungarian political culture through an analysis of the history of changing monuments at Szabadság Tér in Budapest. The paper has as its point of origin a protest/irredentist monument facing the present Soviet liberation monument. In order to understand this irredentist monument, I look into the meaning of the earlier irredentist monuments under Horthy and try to see what monuments were torn down under Communism and which ones remained. I further argue that changes in the other monuments also affect the meaning of the others. From this background I enter into a brief interpretation of changes in memory culture in relation to changes in political culture. The conclusions point toward the fact that Hungary is actively pursuing a cleansing of its past in public spaces, and that this process is reflected in an increased acceptance of political authoritarianism

In this paper I try to approach contemporary Hungarian political culture through an analysis of the history of changing monuments at Szabadság Tér in Budapest. The paper has as its point of origin a protest/irredentist monument facing the present Soviet liberation monument. In order to understand this irredentist monument, I look into the meaning of the earlier irredentist monuments under Horthy and try to see what monuments were torn down under Communism and which ones remained. I further argue that changes in the other monuments also affect the meaning of the others. From this background I enter into a brief interpretation of changes in memory culture in relation to changes in political culture. The conclusions point toward the fact that Hungary is actively pursuing a cleansing of its past in public spaces, and that this process is reflected in an increased acceptance of political authoritarianism.

This article analyzes a current exhibition, Climate for Change, which opened at the Norwegian Petroleum Museum in 2019. By engaging with the way in which the exhibition constructs a "we," the article proceeds to examine how agency for mitigation is presented and analyzed. It assesses how futures are created and what types of futures emerge. These themes are addressed with reference to insights from museum research and energy humanities. The choices in the exhibition point toward a traditional understanding of continuities, of agency, and of future visions while tending toward a reduction of Norwegian accountability for climate change.

This book presents new developments in Scandinavian memory cultures related to World War II and the Holocaust by combining this focus with the perspective of history didactics. The theoretical framework of historical consciousness offers an approach linking individual and collective uses and re-uses of the past to the question how history can and should be taught. It also offers some examples of good practice in this field.The book promotes a teaching practice which, in taking the social constructivist notions of historical consciousness as a starting point, can contribute to self-reflecting and critical thinking - being fundamental for any democratic political culture.

This book presents new developments in Scandinavian memory cultures related to World War II and the Holocaust by combining this focus with the perspective of history didactics. The theoretical framework of historical consciousness offers an approach linking individual and collective uses and re-uses of the past to the question how history can and should be taught. It also offers some examples of good practice in this field. The book promotes a teaching practice which, in taking the social constructivist notions of historical consciousness as a starting point, can contribute to self-reflecting and critical thinking - being fundamental for any democratic political culture.

This book offers the policy-maker or decision-maker key insights and practical information regarding the features of ethics frameworks best suited to the ethical assessment of human cognitive enhancement (HCE) applications, such as pharmaceutical cognitive enhancers and noninvasive brain stimulation techniques. This book takes as its departure point the entrenched philosophical debate between opponents and proponents of HCE and the increased feasibility of some applications of HCE. Recent calls for policy-making in the area of human enhancement reflect the need to find a balance between addressing current ethical issues and issues that are more speculative in nature or are underpinned by abstract philosophical concepts. Practical ethical approaches for policy or decision-making should enable the development of an evidence base for the risks and benefits of HCE applications. Moreover, such practical approaches should also incorporate a broader range of value bases that would facilitate convergence regarding certain decisions and judgements. This book identifies and evaluate tools that help us to go beyond polarised philosophical debates in order to assist practical decision makers in concrete ethical deliberation and decision-making. The focus is on systematic methods with which to identify relevant ethical values and assess the impacts of an HCE application on those values in order to facilitate decision-making regarding the ethical acceptability or desirability of the application