It is inevitable that the Muslim public living in the Gulf region, together with public policy makers working in in this region, will sooner or later face tough ethical questions to be addressed and difficult decisions to be made about complex issues related to genomic medicine and personalized healthcare. A number of countries in the Gulf region led by Qatar and Saudi Arabia have already initiated ambitious scientific ventures with the aim of joining the genomic revolution for ultimately better prevention, diagnosis and treatment for their populations. Since 2003, enormous amounts of money and labor have been invested in these ventures hoping that they will positively impact these countries’ healthcare sector. In their foreseeable engagement with genomics, the general Muslim public will be in need of accessible knowledge about genomics, as a field of scientific enquiry, and about Islamic ethics, as part of people's "moral world" in the Gulf region, and how ethical positions concerning genomics are (to be) developed within the Islamic tradition. However, we argue in this project, scholarly-informed and knowledge-based communication between the two fields of genomics and Islamic ethics on one hand and the general public in the Arab-Muslim world on the other hand is almost non-existent yet.
In order to address this lacuna, the proposed project "Genomics, Islamic Ethics and Public Engagement (GIEPE): Towards Bridging the Knowledge and Communication Gaps" presents a pioneer attempt to develop religiously- and culturally-sensitive approaches and perspectives for effective public engagement and also for developing policies and regulations in this emerging field. As a long-term objective, the GIEPE project also aims at creating a fertile land for a prospective Qatar-based world class hub of experts and specialists interested in nurturing and promoting Public Understanding of Science (PUS) and Public Engagement with Science (PES), also in Arabic. The project’s research team will be composed of high-profile experts in various fields including Islamic ethics, genomics, international bioethics, medical social sciences, translation and interdisciplinary and intercultural communication. This is besides a to-be-recruited group of senior and young researchers from inside and outside Qatar. Different methods and tools will be used throughout this research, e.g. creating database of relevant literature, conducting research (e.g., papers and responses), holding meetings open for the public and developing a distinct online forum dedicated for discussions and communications with the public about the project's content, its different activities and output. The GIEPE project will also produce concrete deliverables including reference work, tentatively entitled "Genomics and Islamic Ethics in Public" with the aim of making genomics and Islamic ethics more accessible to the general public, a glossary explaining the main technical terms in genomics and Islamic ethics and a document with concrete guidelines for public policy. It is to be noted that the key deliverables of the project will be available in both Arabic and English in order to make them accessible to a wide range of audience with diverse backgrounds.
At the practical level, this project is to be of great service for Qatar and its national genome initiatives, particularly Qatar Genome Project. Additionally, it will serve as a model for other countries, in the region and beyond, which are willing to foster their scientific projects with culturally-sensitive schemes for public engagement. At the academic and scholarly level, the GIEPE project will bridge the knowledge gaps between experts in different disciplines, particularly genomics, Islamic ethics, bioethics and social sciences by involving them in interdisciplinary research ventures. The project will also help these experts reach out to the public by making the expert voices more attentive and responsive to the needs, concerns, expectations and aspirations of common people.