# BCI-DEF: Brain Computer Interfaces and Disability: Developing an Inclusive Ethical Framework

> **NIH NIH R01** · STANFORD UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $379,819

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
The objective of “Brain Computer Interfaces and Disability: Developing an Inclusive Ethical Framework (BCI-
DEF)” is to use structured vignettes, video-supported interviews, and a deliberative democracy approach to
assess and analyze diverse, critical stakeholder perspectives about the benefits, risks, and ethical challenges
of Brain Computer Interface (BCI) technology. BCIs measure and interpret brain signals and interface with a
device to allow users to perform a task, such as communication or movement. BCIs hold great promise,
especially for end users with disability due to neurologic deficits in communication or motor function, but this
potential may be limited by unaddressed ethical challenges. Issues of concern include stigma, autonomy,
privacy, safety, impacts to personhood, responsibility and justice. Through the innovative approach in this
project, we will focus on input from a primary group of potential end users (patients with neurologic disability
and their family/caregivers) and clinicians who care for patients with acute neurologic injury to obtain critical
and heretofore absent information about important focus areas related to ethics of BCI. The inclusion of
additional key stakeholders including BCI engineers and research teams will further inform the deliberative
democracy approach. Issues we will further investigate through this project include weighing the potential
benefits and risks of BCI; evaluating ethical challenges surrounding BCI and disability including those around
autonomy, stigma, and justice; impact of BCI on perceptions of disability and clinical decision making in acute
brain injury; and defining critical information needed by end users, families, and clinicians to make future
informed decisions about BCI use. This work is critical to ensure seamless, equitable, and ethical adaptation of
innovative and cutting edge BCI technologies being developed through BRAIN Initiative projects.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10841680
- **Project number:** 5R01MH130518-03
- **Recipient organization:** STANFORD UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** KAREN G HIRSCH
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $379,819
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2022-07-08 → 2026-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10841680

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10841680, BCI-DEF: Brain Computer Interfaces and Disability: Developing an Inclusive Ethical Framework (5R01MH130518-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10841680. Licensed CC0.

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