Knowledge of UN SDGs. Understanding of the processes constituting the given global challenges (environmental costs, circular health, ecosystem services and biodiversity, technological solutions). Acquisition of the basic elements of the scientific method (falsifiability, repeatability, models, science dissemination). General knowledge of major technical elements related to the challenge circular health. NEUROENGINEERING AND ACTIVE AGING The student will acquire a multi-faceted understanding of the interplay of neurotechnologies and ageing processes, both in terms of the knowledge of currently available and emerging technologies for interfacing with the human brain and of their application to support elderly individuals, as well as their social impact on elderly people’s lives and their implications in the construction of ideas of appropriate ageing. Soft skills will also be developed such as: the ability to work in a team; the competence to analyze and intertwine different epistemological perspectives addressing a same issue.

Basic scientific culture, such as that developed attending the courses of the first year master of science in engineering or architecture.

1. Neuroengineering: challenges and opportunities for elderly patients 2. Developing a social understanding of neurotechnologies and ageing 3. Social history of neurosciences 4. The impact of neuroscience and neurotechnologies on ageing experiences 5. Questioning notions of active and healthy ageing: lay perspectives and their diversity. 6. Socio-gerontechnologies: integrating interdisciplinary knowledge on ageing and technology

A first introduction to all the “Big Challenges” courses (11,5 hours) will consist of: - the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) - four samples of global challenges needing an integrated approach: 1) Climate Change and the definition of Anthropocene; 2) One Health (i.e.: pandemics and ecology); 3) Biodiversity crisis (Sixth Extinction model); 4) Beyond Problem Solving: global crisis and the evolution of technologies. The specific challenge 2) will then be detailed analysing the technical elements of greatest social relevance (3 hours); the following 48 hours of lectures will be structured as follows: NEUROENGINEERING AND ACTIVE AGING (NAG) - 27 total hours of lessons - 21 hours of lab LAB PROJECT: The students will be grouped in teams of 5 persons and will actively co-operate in the development of an essay, focusing on a topic proposed by the team itself, supervised by the teacher(s). The lab work will progress with the aim of critically analysing devices and experiments on neurotechnologies applied to ageing, identifying their underlying social assumptions, and development of proposals for a stronger integration of elderly people’s perspectives on healthy ageing in the projects themselves.

PIEVANI: Books: - Jared Diamond, 1997, Armi, acciaio e malattie, Einaudi, Torino, 1998 (+ nuove edizioni) - Simon L. Lewis, Mark A. Maslin, 2018, Il pianeta umano, Einaudi, Torino, 2019. Articles (available on Politecnico Library System website, https://www.biblio.polito.it/): - David Morens, Anthony Fauci, 2020, “Emerging Pandemic Diseases: How We Got to COVID-19”, in Cell, 182: 1077-1092. - Emily Elhacham, Liad Ben-Uri, Jonathan Grozovski, Yinon M. Bar-On & Ron Milo, 2020, “Global human-made mass exceeds all living biomass”, in Nature, 588: 442-444. NEUROENGINEERING AND ACTIVE AGING (NAG) Slides, articles and laboratory assignments provided by the teachers. Required readings: - Rose, N., & Abi-Rached, J. (2014). Governing through the brain: Neuropolitics, neuroscience and subjectivity. The Cambridge Journal of Anthropology, 32(1), 3-23. - Katz, S., & Marshall, B. L. (2018). Tracked and fit: FitBits, brain games, and the quantified aging body. Journal of aging studies, 45, 63-68. - Kögel, J., Wolbring, G. (2020) What It Takes to Be a Pioneer: Ability Expectations From Brain-Computer Interface Users, Nanoethics 14, 227–239 - Lombi and Rossero (2023) How artificial intelligence is reshaping the autonomy and boundary work of radiologists. A qualitative study. Sociology of Health & Illness. Sociol Health Illn. 2023;1–19 Suggested readings: - J. Wolpaw and E. Wolpaw - "Brain-Computer Interfaces. Principles and Practice", Oxford University Press, USA, 2011.

Lecture slides;

Exam: Group essay; Computer-based written test in class using POLITO platform;

EXPECTED LEARNING OUTCOMES Knowledge of UN SDGs. Understanding of the processes constituting the given global challenges (environmental costs, circular health, ecosystem services and biodiversity, technological solutions). Acquisition of the basic elements of the scientific method (falsifiability, repeatability, models, science dissemination). General knowledge of major technical elements related to the challenge circular health. The student will acquire a multi-faceted understanding of the interplay of neurotechnologies and ageing processes, both in terms of the knowledge of currently available and emerging technologies for interfacing with the human brain and of their application to support elderly individuals, as well as their social impact on elderly people’s lives and their implications in the construction of ideas of appropriate ageing. Soft skills will also be developed such as: the ability to work in a team; the competence to analyze and intertwine different epistemological perspectives addressing a same issue. CRITERIA, RULES AND EXAM PROCEDURES The evaluation criteria refer to the expected learning outcomes declared above. In particular, the most important aspect will be demonstrating critical thinking and the ability to analyze and intertwine different epistemological perspectives (biomedical engineering and sociology) addressing a same investigational topic related to neurotechnologies developed for active aging. To obtain the final evaluation it will be necessary to actively participate in the lab team work during the course, collaborating effectively to the construction of the lab essay. The students' evaluation will be composed of 2 parts (team lab-project essay + individual evaluation): • TEAM LAB-PROJECT ESSAY. Score: up to 18/33 points. After choosing one of the neurogerontechnologies presented during the course, the team will define the aim of their investivation, the methods used to critically analyze the chosen topic (including strategies, keywords and concepts learnt during the lessons in order to recover appropriate sources of information in the bioengineering, medical and sociology fields), the results obtained and a discussion and interpretation of the results, including in the analysis potential gaps and biases found. The lab project will be discussed and revised by the teachers during the lab hours, throughout the course. The Lab-team will produce a final written essay with a textual and/or graphical description (e.g. conceptual mapping) of the critical analysis. (Language: English). • INDIVIDUAL EVALUATION ("Peer-grading" + 10 quizzes; duration: 1.5 h) Score: up to 15/33 points. - "Peer-grading": The student will evaluate the lab essay produced by other students guided by an evaluation grid. The teacher will score the appropriateness of the written peer-grading evaluation produced, including the comments justifying and supporting it. Score: up to 5/33 points. - 10 multiple-choice quizzes on the contents of the course: 2 quizzes on the common part (first 12 hours, introduction of the “Big Challenges”); 4 quizzes on NAG bioingineering; 4 quizzes on NAG social dimension. Score: up to 10/33 points. No material consultation is allowed during the exam. (Language: English). The final score will be obtained by adding the scores achieved in the 2 parts. If the final mark score is equal to or greater than 31.5 the Laude will be assigned.

In addition to the message sent by the online system, students with disabilities or Specific Learning Disorders (SLD) are invited to directly inform the professor in charge of the course about the special arrangements for the exam that have been agreed with the Special Needs Unit. The professor has to be informed at least one week before the beginning of the examination session in order to provide students with the most suitable arrangements for each specific type of exam.