This World Café session brings conference attendees into structured, small-group dialogues to explore a timely topic: how to better understand and govern the collection, sharing, and reuse of neuroscience data. Rather than aiming for consensus, the session is designed to produce a collective output that surfaces under-attended harms, under-realized benefits, research questions, pilot governance ideas, and the tradeoffs that connect them — creating a resource the broader community can use.
Discussion Coordinators
Stanford
- Lea Witkowsky
- Anita Jwa
- Leana King
Lucca
- Guido Cassinadri
Stellenbosch
- Damian Eke
- Tanya De Villiers-Botha
Agenda
- Introduction and framing / 3–5 minutes
- Issue orientation / 5–7 minutes
- Small group discussions, Round 1 / 20 minutes
- Small group discussions, Round 2 / 25 minutes
- Closing and synthesis / 3 minutes
Attend
Those on-site at one of the three conference venues — Stanford, Lucca and Stellenbosch — should attend their hub’s in-person World Café session.
Virtual participants should attend the World Café discussion at Stanford on Wednesday, April 15, 4:00-5:00pm PDT, using the Zoom Meeting link below. You will use breakout rooms and a Miro Board to do the same exercise as those in-person.
Wednesday, April 15, 2026
4:00–5:00pm PDT
Time check »
Neuroethics 2026
Building Bridges and Cultivating Community
This session is part of the Neuroethics 2026 conference organized by the INS and hosted by the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics. Register for the conference to attend in-person at Stanford University in Stanford, California, U.S., or to participate virtually.
Description
This World Café session brings conference attendees into structured, small-group dialogues to explore a timely topic: how to better understand and govern the collection, sharing, and reuse of neuroscience data.
A World Café is a participatory method in which small groups engage in focused, iterative conversations, building on each other’s ideas to generate shared insights. This year, the International Neuroethics Society is piloting this format for the first time as part of its three-hub conference design, with conference attendees at Stanford, Lucca, and Stellenbosch engaging in parallel discussions.
Rather than aiming for consensus, the session is designed to produce a collective output that surfaces under-attended harms, under-realized benefits, research questions, pilot governance ideas, and the tradeoffs that connect them — creating a resource the broader community can use. These insights will also feed into a cross-site exchange later in the conference, where perspectives from all three hubs will be brought into conversation.
As neuroscience and neurotechnology become increasingly data-driven, this session offers a rare opportunity for neuroethics scholars from around the globe to help shape how the field identifies key risks, realizes potential benefits, and navigates the tradeoffs between them.
Come add your perspective.
Recording
Background videos will be provided.