Alliance for Socially-acceptable & Actionable Plants (ASAP)
The four-year Alliance for Socially-acceptable & Actionable Plants (ASAP) is an international research project financed by the US National Science Foundation (NSF) together with other funding organizations of the partner countries through the Global Centers financial instrument. The Research Council of Finland funds the Finnish subproject, which the University of Vaasa is carrying out, with approximately 1.3 million euros. The University of Illinois, USA, leads the project's international research consortium. In addition to the University of Vaasa and the University of Illinois, the international research consortium gathers the University of Stony Brook in the United States, the University of Oxford and the University of Essex in Great Britain, and the University of Yamaguchi in Japan.
The research project develops transgenic plant species intended for the production of biofuels. The main goal of the project is to demonstrate the possibility of producing energy-dense and water-efficient plant species for industrial use. The project’s experts will also investigate the social acceptance and ethical issues surrounding genetically modified crops and the biofuels produced from them. The purpose of the research is to show how new ideas around synthetic plant biology can help promote the development of a sustainable, profitable, and flexible bioeconomy that is socially acceptable. In addition, the project will examine cultural and legal factors that influence public acceptance, including policies on genetic modifications and attitudes towards new technologies.
The University of Vaasa’s involvement in the project focuses on determining the social acceptance of genetically modified plants and the biofuels produced from them, alongside ethical issues on the topic. The University of Vaasa will be cooperating closely with the University of Essex on these themes. Moreover, the University of Vaasa will conduct research tasks related to the regulations, standardization, and monitoring of biofuels. We will collect the research materials from the United States, Great Britain, and Finland. The project and its research will result in recommendations for the monitoring and public control of genetically modified biofuel production.
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Read more: University of Vaasa receives significant funding from the Research Council of Finland for research related to genetically modified biofuels (4 Oct 2024)
