Considerable work has been done in the past few years by the Academies and other international organizations on dual use research in the life sciences, and particularly the need to educate the science community more effectively about the challenges and risks. Building on that body of work, at the request of the State Departmen,t an ad hoc committee will develop recommendations for the most effective education internationally of life scientists on dual use issues. To inform its work the committee will convene a workshop to:

• survey strategies and resources available internationally for education on dual use issues and identify gaps,
• consider ideas for filling the gaps, including development of new educational materials and implementation of effective teaching methods, and
• discuss approaches for including education on dual use issues in the training of life scientists.

Based on the workshop and additional information gathering, the committee will produce a consensus report, which will make recommendations on the topics addressed in the workshop.The project is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State.The approximate start date for the project is 4/21/2009A report as noted above will be issued at the end of the project in approximately 12 months.