Sandy Starr
deputy director, Progress Educational Trust; author, AI: Separating Man from Machine

Sandy Starr is deputy director of the Progress Educational Trust (PET), a charity that improves choices for people affected by infertility and genetic conditions. PET advances public understanding of science, law and ethics in the fields of genetics/genomics, assisted conception and embryo/stem cell research.

Sandy is coauthor of the report Fertility, Embryo Research and Genome Editing: Public Attitudes in Europe (published jointly by PET and the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology), and is a member of the international interdisciplinary network EMERGE (Embryo Model Ethics, Research, Governance and Engagement). He was project consultant for the UK’s Code of Practice for the Generation and Use of Human Stem-Cell-Based Embryo Models (published jointly by PET and Cambridge Reproduction).

In recent years, Sandy has led the development of exhibits and activities at the Science Museum in London, including Can You Make a Khan? The Science, Law and Ethics of Human Augmentation (which formed part of the official 60th anniversary celebrations of Star Trek) and From Mansters to Mootants! (exploring the science and law of combining humans with animals). He has also lectured and written about genome editing for the Thackray Museum of Medicine in Leeds.

Sandy has lectured and written about AI in relation to the history of algorithms and the life and work of Ada Lovelace, and he has published a pamphlet in the Letters on Liberty series entitled AI: Separating Man from Machine.

RELATED SESSIONS

Saturday 17 October, 16:45 Robert Runcie Room, Church House
From womb transplants to caesareans: brave new world of fertility?

Sunday 18 October, 11:00 Convocation Hall, Church House
Dystopia versus utopia: does AI change everything?