Office C is a service of the Congress of Deputies, in collaboration with the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT). Its aim is to compile information and scientific and technological evidence of interest, which in the future may serve as a basis for making decisions within the Congress. Moreover, this office also organizes activities to facilitate dialogue between the scientific community and members of parliament, so that parliamentarians can make informed political decisions. In order to do this, various projects are carried out, one of which is the Informe C, in which Mavi Sánchez-Vives collaborated this year. Each year, they select topics that are considered to be of interest in the medium-long term. This year they were: forest fires and the restoration of burnt areas; advances in neuroscience; air quality; ageing and well-being; disinformation in the digital age; and advances in neurodegenerative diseases. The six reports from 2023 can be read here.
Mavi Sánchez-Vives participated in the creation of the Informe C: Avances en neurociencia: aplicaciones e implicaciones éticas. As a researcher, her work was to support the people responsible for drafting and reviewing the report. In this case, the latest scientific news on neurotechnologies was summarized. The report also explains the importance of neurotechnologies in the field of health, both in the treatment of diseases and in the generation of knowledge. This use is followed by expectations in the commercial and economic spheres, with the potential for the application to different areas such as entertainment, education and security. All of this has ethical implications and involves the need to create legislative frameworks that ensure that people are properly protected.
“The preparation of these reports is an important step towards providing our parliamentarians with accurate and up-to-date information on the state of neuroscience,”- says Mavi Sánchez-Vives - “I am grateful to have been able to take part in this project and hope it will have a positive impact on society”.
Furthermore, Sánchez-Vives was one of the four neuroscientists selected to participate in one of the Diálogos C held on Tuesday 27 February on neurotechnologies. This activity consists of closed-door meetings to present the reports to congressional staff who are interested in resolving doubts about the documents presented, with the aim of assessing future regulations.
