Regulating Biotech (Research Exchange with IIT Delhi)

Recent advances in biotechnology (for example, quantum biotechnology) are positioned to fundamentally change our understanding of biology, and our ability to manipulate living organisms and their environments. Managing this in a responsible manner, however, will challenge existing regulatory frameworks. 

By seeding research collaborations, this project will propose a pathway forward with a key question being whether a universal regulatory approach is desirable, or whether each field of application presents unique challenges that must be differentially addressed.

This research presents a unique opportunity between UQ and the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT-D), which involves four staff from IIT-D travelling to UQ in 2023 to meet with UQ staff and academics, give a public seminar, participate in a roundtable as part of CPF's Policy Engagement Program, and develop and progress a collaboration that leads to a tangible output such as a grant application or publication. The kinds of collaborations that the project will seed will directly correlate with 3 key research themes emerging from the UQ-India Engagement Strategy 2018-2-21 via an analysis of regulatory futures for agricultural and biomedical biotechnologies, and climate science.