Margaret E. Kosal spoke at an international workshop of The Royal Society in London May 12th on Neuroscience, Conflict, and Security.

The roundtable workshop brought together experimental scientists, engineers, and medical specialists along with social scientists and legal scholars to investigate developments in neuroscience and their implications for society and public policy. Kosal discussed the "Security Implications of Cognitive Neuroscience Research" during the block of sessions focused on policy, legal, ethical, and dual use (harmful as well as beneficial) issues. Other technical sessions focused on neuropharmacology, functional neuroimaging, and the mind-machine interface (i.e., neural interfaces and brain computer interfaces).

According to Kosal “Whatever approaches governments, funding sources, private markets, and scholars pursue, the questions raised by the security implications of advanced neuroscience applications necessitate intrinsically inter- and multi-disciplinary efforts. Scientists, engineers, and scholars will need to collaborate meaningfully. Robust models of the impact of cognitive science on international security require analysts to consider complicated and cutting-edge scientific and technical concepts.”

The workshop was part of The Royal Society's Brain Wave Project which is investigating "concerns raised in science and security policy circles about the military and law enforcement applications of rapid advances in the neurosciences; the ‘militarisation’ of neuroscience."

The Royal Society is a fellowship of the world's most eminent scientists and is the oldest scientific academy in continuous existence.