Monday, June 30, 2025 6/30/2025

Ethical and Policy Aspects of Cortical Visual Prosthetics Research: An Empirical Neuroethics Study

Award Number: F32MH127776
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MENTAL HEALTH
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: FELLOWSHIP/SCHOLARSHIP/STUDENT LOANS
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 11/01/2021
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 08/31/2024

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Ethical and Policy Aspects of Cortical Visual Prosthetics Research: An Empirical Neuroethics Study - Project Summary Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) have emerged as a promising modality for restoring physiological functions such as mobility, communication, and visual perception. The BRAIN Initiative is a key driver of BCIs, funding development of prosthetics for movement disorders, communication devices, and cortical visual prosthetics (CVPs). CVPs aim to restore some degree of sight or a functional analogue for people who are blind. Unlike other methods of sight restoration, CVPs bypass damaged or dysfunctional ocular anatomy, aiming to provide potentially life-altering benefits via a distinctive, brain-based approach. But while other brain implants, including other BCIs, are widely studied and discussed by neuroethicists, CVPs have received little attention and there is a lack of empirical data on stakeholder perspectives about CVPs. CVPs raise special considerations due to conceptual questions about the role of blindness in identity, autonomy, quality of life, and other dimensions of non-clinical risk and benefit. CVPs are a potential tool for empowering blind individuals, but the specialized nature of the intervention raises issues of access, and it is also crucial that this research avoid unexpected group harms to the blind community. Furthermore, the visual experience that CVP technology is likely to provide even in a best-case scenario is quite different from typical vision. Thus, there is uncertainty about how to measure success in CVP research. Responsible development of CVPs must take into consideration the perspectives of researchers and participants on the issue of how to define restoration of function and determine degree of improvement necessary to qualify as success. Aim 1 will determine how members of a CVP research team define restoration of function and its ethical importance as a research goal by utilizing an embedded neuroethics approach (ethnographic participant observation) with a lab conducting human subjects research on CVPs. Aim 2 will identify the values that guide and ought to guide current and future practice in the field from the perspective of CVP researchers using in-depth qualitative interviews. Aim 3 will employ similar interviews to explore the values that guide and ought to guide current and future practice in the field from the perspective of individuals with experience as participants in CVP research. This project will help identify and address ethics and policy dimensions of next-generation CVP systems, helping to maximize the individual and social benefits of the research while minimizing its risks and providing values-based guidance for development of neurotechnologies aiming to restore vision and other physiological functions.


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2025 ( Subtotal = -$7,068 )
2025	2024	PRESIDENT AND FELLOWS OF HARVARD COLLEGE	25 SHATTUCK ST	BOSTON	MA	02115	SUFFOLK	USA	Mental Health Research Grants	000	4	6/25/2025	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	-$7,068
														Subtotal = -$7,068

Issue Date FY: 2024 ( Subtotal = $66,860 )
2024	2024	PRESIDENT AND FELLOWS OF HARVARD COLLEGE	25 SHATTUCK ST	BOSTON	MA	02115	SUFFOLK	USA	Mental Health Research Grants	001	4	8/30/2024	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	-$9,932
2024	2024	PRESIDENT AND FELLOWS OF HARVARD COLLEGE	25 SHATTUCK ST	BOSTON	MA	02115	SUFFOLK	USA	Mental Health Research Grants	000	4	10/25/2023	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$76,792
														Subtotal = $66,860

Issue Date FY: 2023 ( Subtotal = $74,500 )
2023	2023	PRESIDENT AND FELLOWS OF HARVARD COLLEGE	25 SHATTUCK ST	BOSTON	MA	02115	SUFFOLK	USA	Mental Health Research Grants	001	3	3/6/2023	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$1,918
2023	2023	PRESIDENT AND FELLOWS OF HARVARD COLLEGE	25 SHATTUCK ST	BOSTON	MA	02115	SUFFOLK	USA	Mental Health Research Grants	000	3	11/4/2022	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$72,582
														Subtotal = $74,500

Issue Date FY: 2022 ( Subtotal = $0 )
2022	2021	PRESIDENT AND FELLOWS OF HARVARD COLLEGE	25 SHATTUCK ST	BOSTON	MA	02115	SUFFOLK	USA	Mental Health Research Grants	002	2	11/5/2021	CHANGE OF GRANTEE / TRAINING INSTITUTION / AWARDING INSTITUTION	$0
2022	2021	PRESIDENT AND FELLOWS OF HARVARD COLLEGE	25 SHATTUCK ST	BOSTON	MA	02115	SUFFOLK	USA	Mental Health Research Grants	001	2	11/5/2021	CHANGE OF GRANTEE / TRAINING INSTITUTION / AWARDING INSTITUTION	$70,994
2022	2021	BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE	ONE BAYLOR PLAZA	HOUSTON	TX	77030	HARRIS	USA	Mental Health Research Grants	000	1	11/5/2021	NEW	-$70,994
														Subtotal = $0

Issue Date FY: 2021 ( Subtotal = $70,994 )
2021	2021	BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE	ONE BAYLOR PLAZA	HOUSTON	TX	77030	HARRIS	USA	Mental Health Research Grants	000	1	7/1/2021	NEW	$70,994
														Subtotal = $70,994

Grand Total All Awards = $205,286

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Ethical and Policy Aspects of Cortical Visual Prosthetics Research: An Empirical Neuroethics Study

Award Number: F32MH127776

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MENTAL HEALTH

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: FELLOWSHIP/SCHOLARSHIP/STUDENT LOANS

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 11/01/2021

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 08/31/2024

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