The UKRI TAS hub has the ambition to deliver world-leading best practices for the design, regulation and operation of ‘socially beneficial’ autonomous systems which are both trustworthy in principle, and trusted in practice by individuals, society and government. In so doing, we are committing to the following guiding principles. These will guide everything the hub does, including its internal management, and the research, engagement, and skills programmes.
1. Collaboration open to all. As a national centre, we will be open to collaboration with research organisations, government, NGOs, SMEs, industry, and the wider public. While we help coordinate the activities across the TAS programme, we are not restricted to working with only our initial set of partners or the TAS research nodes.
2. Inclusive and Responsible Research. We will promote research that takes careful deliberation and broad engagement to reflect on its intentions, design, risks, and potential societal concerns [1]
3. Nurturing a Diverse Research Community. We will create an inclusive and accessible working environment, and will put in place mechanisms that proactively address inequality, and help to provide fair and equal opportunities for all members of the TAS research community.
4. Openness. We will advocate the principles of open science, aiming to make our research outputs transparent and accessible, including open access, open data, open-source, open innovation, and adopt the DORA assessment criteria that emphasise research quality over quantitative metrics [2].
5. Working across Disciplinary Perspectives. We will nurture and promote a culture of respect and understanding of different disciplinary perspectives to ensure a holistic view is taken in addressing the challenges of designing, using, and regulating autonomous systems.
6. Striving for Equal Voices. We will provide spaces to ensure all voices from within the TAS community are heard regardless of seniority or loudness, and that views can be expressed, challenged and debated constructively and respectfully.
7. Promoting Creativity. We will encourage risky and adventurous approaches to develop new perspectives or to create engaging and critical experiences for the public and TAS research community by working with the Arts and the creative sector.
8. Reviewing Research Fairly. We will foster and adopt peer-review standards (e.g. impartiality, declaration of conflicts of interest) and best practices to assess and drive the work of the programme, from the selection of early ideas for development to the assessment of proposals, and research outputs.
9. Listening and Engaging. We will promote dialogue with stakeholders, policymakers, and the general public, which in our view is critical to developing a multi-perspectival approach to developing TAS that is responsive to society’s demands as they arise.
[1]https://epsrc.ukri.org/research/ourportfolio/themes/healthcaretechnologies/strategy/toolkit/home/integrity/ri/