Addressing social issues in the development of Ambient Intelligence based health care applications

Neelke Doorn has a background in Civil Engineering (MSc, 1997) and Philosophy (MA, 2005). She recently finished her PhD, entitled “Moral Responsibility in R&D Networks” at the Philosophy Department of Delft University of Technology. As part of this PhD project, Neelke did a so-called “ethical parallel research” on an Ambient Intelligence research project aimed at developing a monitoring tool for people with chronic lung disease (COPD). Ethical parallel research refers to a new kind of interdisciplinary research in which (applied) ethicists and sociologist become involved in technical research such as to better address social and moral issues. In the last decade, this interdisciplinary research has become increasingly popular, not least with research funding organizations. During her stay at the Brocher Foundation, Neelke will write a paper on the findings of her ethical parallel investigations. In her paper, Neelke will also look at more methodological issues, such as to improve the current practice.