The Hong Kong Catastrophic Risk Centre (HKCRC) at Lingnan University and Project Innovative Ethics (P.I.E.) at Kobe University have entered into an Agreement of Friendship and Cooperation. On 5 December 2023, the agreement was signed by Prof Andrea Sauchelli, Director of HKCRC and Prof Naoto Chatani, Director of P.I.E, on behalf of their respective parties.
This agreement marks the beginning of a research partnership between HKCRC and P.I.E., which share similar interests in applied ethics, with a special emphasis on the impact of recent and future technologies. The research collaboration will offer HKCRC fellows the opportunity to work with faculty members from other active research centres in Asia, with the aim of enhancing understanding of the risks and morality of recent technological advancements.
Prof Rachel Lung Wai-chu, Acting Dean of the Faculty of Arts, and Ms Sharon Tam Siu-lan, the Director of the Office of Research and Knowledge Transfer, were also present at the ceremony. Prof Lung expressed her support for the collaboration and emphasised the pressing need for research efforts to understand Artificial Intelligence’s complex ethical and risk-related implications.
Following the ceremony, a workshop on the ethics of non-human subjects was held, featuring presentations by Prof Takuya Niikawa (P.I.E.) and HKCRC fellows Dr Gary O’Brien and Dr Adrian Yee. During the workshop, academics and students from Lingnan University actively engaged in debates on the ethical treatment of artificial agents and animals.
