David M. Secko, Ph.D. Postdoctoral Research Fellow The W. Maurice Young Centre for Applied Ethics University of British Columbia L.S. Klinck Building, 227-6356 Agricultural Road Vancouver, B.C., Canada, V6T 1Z2 Tel. 604.827.4553 dmsecko@interchange.ubc.ca

Research Interests

My research interests involve the intersection between science, social and ethical issues, and the media. In particular, I’m interested in the responsibilities democratic values place on a science journalist.

(1) cGRASP GE³LS Project

My current postdoc is at UBCs’s Centre for Applied Ethics with Michael Burgess and Peter Danielson on the Centre’s ‘GE³LS’ (Genomic ethical, environmental, economic, legal and social issues) programme. My work involves collaborating with the consortium for Genomics Research on All Salmonid Project (cGRASP) and studying GE³LS issues related to salmon genomics.

(2) The Democratic Role of Science Journalism

I was previously a graduate student at the UBC’s School of Journalism where I worked with Stephen Ward. During this time, I was a recipient of Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Health Communication Award, and studied the democratic role of the media as it relates to ethical reporting on salmon in British Columbia.

(3) Science Journalism

I am also a working science journalist. You can find some of my writing at The Scientist magazine, Vancouver’s Tyee and the Science Creative Quarterly.

(4) Previous Scientific Research

Before turning to journalism and GE³LS research, I completed my Ph.D. with Gerald Weeks at the UBC’s Department of Microbiology and Immunology. I focused on the soil amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum and efforts to understand how it was capable of living a solitary life until starved, where upon it signaled to its kin to organize into a multicellular organism and crawl together to a new source of food. This research was largely proteomics based.

Selected Publications

Secko, D. M., “Learning to swim with salmon: Pilot evaluation of journalism as a method to create information for public engagement,” Health Law Review, 15(3): 32-35, 2007.

Secko, D. M., Burgess, M., “Smarter Democracy,” The Tyee, December 20, 2006.

Secko, D. M., “What’s Good, What’s Bad, and Who Decides,” TREK magazine, November 2006.

Selected Presentations

Ilves, K. L., Secko, D. M., Danielson, P. A., Burgess M., "The role of public consultation in salmon genomics: exploration using an experimental web-based survey platform," poster presented at Genomics Forum 2007, Vancouver, Canada, April 13, 2007.

Secko, D. M. "One Story, Two Articles, and Democracy: Bridging Journalism Theory and Practice with a Fish's DNA," invited presentation at the Department of Journalism, Concordia University, Montreal, QC, January 10, 2007.

Secko, D. M., “Detecting currents: where can expert perspectives on GE3LS issues over a fish's DNA lead us?” invited presentation at the Genome BC GE³LS Initiative Workshop, Vancouver, BC, November 15, 2006.

Secko, D. M., “It’s Charismatic Fauna: Assessing Moral Perspectives on the Technical Applications of a Fish’s DNA” invited presentation at 2^nd Bi-Annual CAE Workshop, Vancouver, BC, November 15, 2006.

Secko, D. M., “Learning to Swim with Salmon: Embedding a Journalist in a Science Project,” presentation at 2nd Annual Student Joint Biotechnology Workshop, Victoria, Canada, September 14 - 16, 2006.

Secko, D. M., “Journalist-educator duality: Perspectives from a fish’s DNA,” Poster presented at the Annual Genome BC Research Community Poster Session, Vancouver, BC, Canada, July, 2006.

Secko, D. M., “The cGRASP GE3LS project: An overview," invited presentation at 1st bi-annual CAE/GE3LS Arch Workshop, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada, May 18, 2006.

Secko, D. M., “Information over Education: Alternative Reporting on Salmon Genomics,” invited presentation at Genomics Forum 2006, Vancouver, BC, Canada, April 7, 2006.