Neurotechnology for Health and Wellbeing: Ethics, Implementation, and Societal Impact

The focus on real-world applications and evaluations of neurotechnology is both timely and important. This is particularly pertinent to areas such as healthcare, mental health, wellbeing, cognitive development, creative therapies, and cross-cultural health equity. We would like to hear from anyone researching or working in these or related fields, as well as people using neurotechnology in innovative clinical and community health settings.While advances in neurotechnologies, from portable scanning devices to brain-computer interfaces, implantables, wearables and other stimulatory devices, present many positive opportunities for patient and personal care and health monitoring, they also bring risks such as harmful or addictive designs. The integration of neurotechnology into clinical and everyday health contexts raises important questions about ethics, societal impact, and the need for regulation. The ethical implications extend to data protection, privacy concerns, cybersecurity threats, and other potential misuses of sensitive neurodata. Advancements in biomedical engineering and neuroenhancement raise serious ethical questions. We would like to hear from people exploring how these technologies may or may not align with different human values and belief systems.Neurotechnologies must not only address technical and analytical challenges, but also resonate with people’s diverse lived experiences, within and across different cultures and health settings. We would like to hear from people exploring how neurotechnology can be used to empower communities, especially the most vulnerable, and foster meaningful public engagement and healthy promotion of neuroliteracy.This Research Topic seeks to explore these themes through a multidisciplinary lens, emphasizing the interplay between neurotechnology, health outcomes, and sociocultural values. This topic will also highlight the importance of balancing innovation with ethical considerations, ensuring that these tools serve to improve health and wellbeing rather than exploit people.Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:1. Neuroethics, consent, and emotional and cognitive liberty: Ethical frameworks governing the clinical and commercial use of neurotechnology, including informed consent, emotional and cognitive liberty, and the protection of vulnerable groups.2. Mental health and wellbeing: Personal, community, and clinical applications of neurotechnology for mental health monitoring, diagnosis, and intervention, including digital therapeutics, biofeedback, and remote patient monitoring, as well as areas related to wellbeing, such as personal self-reflection, affirmation, and resilience.3. Global health equity and cross-cultural implementation: Barriers and enablers to deploying neurotechnology in under-resourced settings, including community co-design, cultural competency, and equitable access across low- and middle-income countries and settings.4. Neurorehabilitation and cognitive therapies: Use of neurotechnology in cognitive rehabilitation, creative arts therapies, and neurodevelopmental support, spanning stroke recovery, ADHD, dementia care, and related conditions.5. Patient and personal data governance and cybersecurity: Protection of sensitive neurodata within digital health systems and settings, covering data privacy, cybersecurity risks, regulatory compliance, and responsible AI in clinical neurotechnology. Topic editors: Becky Inkster, Mark Sheppard, Edmund Terem Ugar Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/82643/neurotechnology-for-health-and-wellbeing-ethics-implementation-and-societal-impact