The World Health Organization (WHO) Technical Advisory Group on the Responsible Use of the Life Sciences and Dual-Use Research (TAG-RULS DUR) was established in November 2023 to provide independent advice to WHO on the monitoring and mitigation of biorisks, advances in the life sciences and related technologies, governance of dual-use research (DUR) and responsible use of the life sciences (RULS).
The twenty members of the TAG-RULS DUR have a breadth of expertise including oversight of dual-use research and dual-use of concern (DURC), biorisk mitigation and management, biosafety and biosecurity, emerging areas of research and technologies in biology and the life sciences and associated disciplines, governance of emerging technologies, risk communication and disinformation, ethics, international law, policy and governance, pandemic prevention, preparedness and response, monitoring and evaluation related to global health security, and the One Health approach to the RULS and DUR. The Emerging Technologies, Research Prioritisation and Support (EPS) Unit, in the Research for Health Department of the WHO Science Division, serves as the WHO Secretariat for the TAG-RULS DUR.
The general objective of the TAG’s first hybrid meeting was to provide the opportunity for members to exchange ideas on WHO and related TAGs’ activities, discuss current and upcoming activities of the project on the responsible use of the life sciences and dual-use research and provide technical guidance to WHO. From 16-18 April 2024, the members of the TAG-RULS DUR met at WHO headquarters in Geneva to share their views and advance on the work from the first meeting of the TAG-RULS DUR, held virtually in January 2024.
On the first day of the meeting, members were welcomed by Dr John Reeder, Director, Research for Health, Science Division, who reiterated the importance of the group’s advice and recommendations to WHO’s mission and strategic operations. This was followed by updates from the EPS unit on recent RULS and DUR project progress. This notably included updates on the implementation of the Global Guidance Framework for the Responsible Use of the Life Sciences and efforts to raise stakeholder awareness of the risks of current and emerging technologies across the three levels of the Organization.
Participants were also briefed on recent activities of the Global Health Ethics and Governance unit, the Biosecurity and Health Security Protection unit and the Smallpox Secretariat. The group then heard from a variety of adjacent advisory groups at WHO whose complementary activities serve to broaden and bolster the organization’s expert advice related to biosecurity, biosafety and public health risk. This includes presentations from the Technical Advisory Group on Biosafety (TAG-B), Health-Security Interface Technical Advisory Group (HSI-TAG), and the Strategic and Technical Advisory Group on Infectious Hazards with Pandemic and Epidemic Potential (STAG-IH). As a result of these presentations and the discussions that followed, members of TAG-RULS DUR were sensitized to the work and perspectives of WHO at country, regional and headquarter levels.
On the second and third days of the meeting, the TAG members had the opportunity to discuss the objectives, activities and deliverables of the four working groups that comprise the TAG: 1) Science and technology advances, 2) Operationalizing biorisk mitigation, 3) Capacity building, training and education and 4) Reporting mechanism. The purpose of these groups is to focus activities and discussions on specific priority topics and develop recommendations and products that advance specific focus areas of WHO work related to RULS and DUR. Each group was given the opportunity to meet independently before returning to plenary sessions to share and discuss their ideas with the rest of the group. The meeting concluded with the TAG’s consensus on WHO priority actions, recommendations and deliverables for 2024–25, which will be included in a forthcoming comprehensive meeting report.
The Secretariat is grateful for the TAG members participation in this event and their continued commitment to the TAG’s objectives. Updates on upcoming events and publications will be available on the TAG-RULS DUR website.
