ENHANCE Conference

Welcome to the conference

We are on the verge of many pioneering activities and scientific breakthroughs concerning brain-computer interfaces, brain stimulation, and neurochemicals, that have the potential to go beyond the treatment of diseases to enhance cognitive performance in work, education, and leisure. At the same time, societal processes such as the quest for self-optimization or transformations in and outside of the labor market (e.g., digitalization, increasing stress, and cognitive demands) may create the desire, but also the pressure, to use such neuroenhancement. These developments require the attention of an interdisciplinary dialog. The planned conference aims to unravel the inherent complexity of neuroenhancement by bringing together ethicists, sociologists, psychologists, engineers, pharmacologists, neuroscientists, political scientists, and legal scholars. By fostering interdisciplinary exchange, we aim to illuminate the multifaceted dimensions of neuroenhancement and facilitate future collaborations.

This interdisciplinary conference aims at discussing the following questions:

1. What is currently possible with neurotechnology concerning cognitive enhancement (CE) purposes and which developments can be expected in the (near) future?
2. What are the associated ethical, legal, and social issues of using/refusing neurotechnology for cognitive enhancement?
3. Which empirical evidence underlines the extent of these issues (e.g., studies on prevalence, causes and consequences of cognitions and emotions on such neurotechnology, and of the respective use/non-use on the individual and society)?
4. How should a possible prevention of detrimental individual and societal consequences of neurotechnology use/non-use or regulations and legal norms reflect this (e.g., how to deal with the uncertainties of neurotechnology, including counselling users, training people [building literacy], advertising techs, and media representation)?

We invite scholars from a variety of disciplines, including sociology, psychology, psychiatry, neuroscience, philosophy, bioethics, medicine, law, and the political science. The three-day program will include keynote lectures by renowned scholars on the current possibilities and limits of neuroenhancement, its ethical dimension, the etiology of use, and prevention.

We are looking forward to an enriching conference!

The conference organizers,

Dr. Sebastian Sattler (University of Bielefeld, Germany), Prof. Dr. Saskia Nagel (RWTH Aachen University, Germany), Dr. Dimitris Repantis (Department of Psychiatry and Neurosciences, Charité Berlin, Germany), and Prof. Dr. Guido Mehlkop (University of Erfurt, Germany)

The conference is supported by: