David Lyreskog is a Senior Researcher in Neuroethics with Neuroscience, Ethics and Society (NEUROSEC), Department of Psychiatry, at the University of Oxford, and Director of Oxford Winter Neuroethics School (OWNS) – an intensive course designed to equip (prospective) Neuroethics researchers with cutting-edge tools and skills. While his work spans broadly across the field, his key research focus lies in the intersection of psychiatry, decision-making, and new and emerging technologies.
1. What’s the first thing you do when you get to work in the morning?
I open up a window to let the morning air into the office, and check my schedule: who am I meeting today? I then go and fill up my water bottle. It’s important to stay hydrated!
2. What’s your work routine like?
In a way, I do not have many work routines as such. Each day is different, each week looks different from the last. It is a blessing and a curse! But I do put stock into planning ahead, so there is a semblance of method to the madness. Or at least I tell myself that.
3. Are you involved in the theoretical, investigative, or the practical/translational aspect of neuroethics? Describe your research area briefly.
Broadly speaking, I specialise in ethics in the intersection of psychiatry, decision-making, and new and emerging technologies. This involves an array of projects and methodologies, which is part of the fun, really. I have the luxury of working with extremely talented people from medical science, moral psychology, neuroscience, computer science, philosophy… the list of backgrounds goes on and on. I am convinced that interdisciplinarity is crucial to doing neuroethics well, because we need all these different skillsets, and yet no one person can be an expert in them all.
4. What’s a challenge that you face on a daily basis as a neuroethicist?
Methodological dogma. Which is probably quite a dry answer, but I do think we need to innovate more in neuroethics – we can’t keep sending out a million online surveys (which are increasingly likely to be responded to by AI) and then wonder why people seem to say one thing and do another. Life is not a hypothetical. It is happening all the time all around us, and the ethics of the decisions we make – and the frameworks we use to make those decisions – are profoundly entangled in real-life time and place, and the relationships at play in those situations. So, we need to find ways to tap into that. But it is difficult to innovate methods, partly because of external pressured stemming from dogma (“what will peer reviewers say?”), but perhaps more so because we as researchers have internalised those dogmas and block ourselves from moving beyond them. And that’s a daily struggle, I think!
5. How do you determine what questions deserve the most focus and attention in your work?
I like to go searching slightly outside of the limelight: are people focusing on principles for ‘Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence’? Perhaps we are missing something in non-principalist ethics, such as how AI affects relationships and vice versa; Is attention being paid to Brain-Computer Interfaces? Perhaps there is something important being neglected in Brain-to-Brain Interfaces. Right now, when a lot of research is being done on the mental health impacts of climate change, I am thinking a lot about the impacts of value-laden disagreements about climate change, for instance.
6. What do you wish more people understood about being a neuroethicist? Whether it be from a schooling, interest, or day-in-the-life point of view? Describe neuroethics in your own words.
Neuroethics, to me, is such a fundamental part of our lives; understanding how and why we make the choices we make, and the impacts those choices have on ourselves and our relationships. And I think people can generally understand that part, if we lead with that. The tricky part comes into play when we’re asked the follow-up question: “How do you study that?”. To which, these days, I really just want to reply: “Yes”.
7. What skills or training do you most frequently use in your work and how do you suggest more people gain these skills if they want to contribute to the field?
The skill I use the most on a daily basis is definitely interdisciplinary literacy – understanding how other disciplines operate in Neuroethics, what types of answers they can provide to complex research questions, and how they can contribute to specific tasks and projects. This is not a skill that has been taught to me, unfortunately, and it is therefore incredibly demanding. And I know I am not alone in that. This is precisely why we are now launching the Oxford Winter Neuroethics School. It is a first-of-its-kind hybrid course for how to discern the strengths of the multitude of methods and skills involved in Neuroethics research, and how to integrate them successfully into the interdisciplinary approaches crucial to success in Neuroethics and related fields. Since there is literally no other place on earth to train and develop this skill, I would recommend people to join us in this endeavour – our applications are now open!
8. What do you love most about your work? What keeps you motivated?
So many things… It offers such freedom in learning new things, pursuing interests, and at the same time doing something worthwhile, something that helps people. Or at least we like to think so. It also helps that I really like the people I work with! I am working on giving my impostor syndrome less attention, and instead focusing on being impressed and feeling fortunate that I get to work with such talented, creative, and kind people every day. Academia can feel lonely at times, but it doesn’t have to be that way. The feeling of being part of a team with shared aims, struggles, ups and downs, is such a major boost to quality of life!
9. What’s one thing you wished you did differently in your career trajectory?
I wish I would have hesitated less, as a general rule. But that’s easier to say now, with hindsight. I still worry too much, to be fair. Other than that, I wish I would have taken more ownership over my own education and pushed harder to broaden my skillset a bit. It gets harder the older you get!
10. What’s one thing you could advice the next generation of neuroethicists?
Join us at the Oxford Winter Neuroethics School! Not only is it going to be great for skills development (I know I will be learning tonnes myself from our fantastic faculty), but it is also meant to be vehicle for everyone to meet and get to know up-and-coming neuroethicists, industry professionals, legal scholars, and so on, from around the world. One of the hopes we have with this programme is to identify, grow, and support the talent pool that we so desperately need in Neuroethics and related fields.
Other than that: be kind. It’s really competitive out there, and it can get messy when people are desperate. But really try to be kind to each other, and to yourselves. If we want things to change for the better, it starts with ourselves, and we need to be able to take that responsibility.
11. What’s the last thing you do when you leave work in the evening?
I water my desk plant, close my email, and wrap up the day: Was it a good day? ‘Nice!’ Was it not so good? ‘Oof, rough game. New one tomorrow!'
This post is part of the Neuroethics Today blog series 'A Day in the Life of a Neuroethicist' where we bring you answers to questions by junior and senior neuroethicists about a day in their life to give you a better idea of what neuroethicists do, what have they learned throughout their trajectory, and ways that you can do it too.
Commenti