Current Members:

Academic Members
Kate Burningham, Geoff Cooper, Jane Fielding, Nigel Gilbert, Nicola Green, Christine Hine, Paul Hodkinson, Paul Johnson, Jo Moran-Ellis, Katharine Tyler

Research Staff
Susan Venn

Research Student
Sandeep Chandra Ashwath, Catherine Bottrill, Nicole Boyce, Alexia Coke, Owen Daly-Jones, Philip Ely, Richard Fletcher, Connie Golsteijn, Yijin He, Peter Johnson, Elio Marchione, Sangita Srestha, Jane Vincent

The departmental interest in Science and Technology Studies (STS) exemplifies our aim to develop theoretically informed and sociologically robust analyses, whilst also demonstrating that novel scientific and technological developments can provide the occasion for theoretical development and the explication of new methodological approaches. Our research on science, environment and technologies represents an extensive portfolio of projects funded by research councils, EU, Foresight LINK, Wellcome Trust, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Environment Agency and commercial support. The department also plays a significant role on the international STS scene, Christine Hine having been president of the European Association for the Study of Science and Technology (EASST) from 2004 to 2008.

Current and recent research:

New media and communications technologies are a major focus within the department’s STS research. This focus includes both conventional sociological approaches and innovative engagements with new media practice. Nigel Gilbert’s EU project ‘European Indicators, Cyberspace and the Science-Technology-Economy System (EICSTES) developed indicators to measure the new economy within Europe and the relationships between academic, government and business as evidenced by internet activity, working closely with Eurostat, the European Statistical Agency. The Surrey part of the project mapped users’ routes through web sites with the aim of explaining the role of ‘infomediaries’ that broker between users of the web.

One key theme of our new media work is the examination of cultural specificity and the processes of appropriation of new media technologies. Nicola Green pursues interests in technology, culture, gender and embodiment and conducted Intel-funded research on risk, trust, privacy and accountability in personal and location-based technologies. Christine Hine has both developed a specific expertise in the implications of new media technologies for science policy and practice, and contributed to innovative ethnographic methodologies for understanding new media. In an ESRC-funded research fellowship she conducted an ethnography of the emergent cyberscience resulting from increasing use of information and communications technologies within biology. Paul Hodkinson also explores new communications media in situ in relation to cultural identity, focusing on young people and new technologies, and the appropriation of new media within subcultural groups. Jo Moran-Ellis has conducted work on children’s appropriation of new technologies. Research in the group is linked to the Digital World Research Centre, with a number of doctoral students co-supervised with DWRC.

The group is also at the forefront of innovations in the use of computational technologies for the production and dissemination of academic research. (See also the Developments in Methodology group). Nigel Gilbert’s work on the application of computer simulation to computer science issues, especially using techniques derived from artificial intelligence, is at the cutting edge of this field. His ‘Centre for Research in Social Simulation’ (CRESS) provides resources to help researchers use simulation methods. A series of EU funded projects have developed simulation methods to help in understanding policy issues in application areas as diverse as tax reforms, business strategy, the housing market and the management of drinking water. The Centre currently participates in three EU funded projects, is the lead in the SIMIAN project and will coordinate a large European Integrated Project, QLectives starting in 2009.

Nigel Fielding has taken a lead role in shaping the emerging field of e-social science, authoring a consultation document commissioned to inform the ESRC’s e-social science strategy in the qualitative domain, and pioneering the use of Access Grid technologies for social science research through research funded by ESRC’s National Centre for E-Social Science. The department is home to the journal ‘Sociological Research Online’ and to epress (Electronic Publishing Resource Service), which has developed a series of online tools to help with the running of electronic journals.

Our work on sociology of the environment and on the public understanding of science explores the social dynamics of problem identification and the diverse modes of engagement with issues in science and science policy. Work on sociology of the environment by Kate Burningham explores the social construction of environmental problems. She has conducted research funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation on the environmental perspectives of disadvantaged groups, and a study of women's participation in environmental groups. In addition, in collaboration with Jane Fielding, she has explored the public's response to flood warning and public awareness of flood risk. Jane and Kate have been involved with other Environment Agency funded research including an assessment of environmental inequality and flood hazard and are currently working on a project which considers the long term collection of social data by the Environment Agency. Kate is currently working with colleagues in the centre for Environmental Strategy and Psychology on a project entitled ELiCiT:  Exploring Lifestyle Changes in Transition, part of the SLRG (Sustainable Lifestyles Research Group) funded by Defra, the ESRC and the Scottish Government.   She has recently completed a project working with colleagues in five other universities entitled ‘Beyond NIMBY: A Multidisciplinary Investigation of Public Engagement with Renewable Energy Technologies’ funded under TSEC (Towards a Sustainable Energy Economy, a cross-disciplinary fund administered by the ESRC).

Kate Burningham , Nicola Green and Geoff Cooper are co-investigators in RESOLVE (Research on Lifestyles, Values and Energy consumption). RESOLVE is a five year cross-disciplinary study, funded under TSEC, involving staff in the Centre for Environmental Strategy, Sociology, Psychology and Economics. 

ESRC-funded work on public attitudes and behaviours towards genomics was carried out by Jo Moran-Ellis and former colleague Patrick Sturgis in collaboration with colleagues in Psychology. Jo Moran-Ellis has also been commissioned by the Wellcome Trust to carry out research with Psychology colleagues on public attitudes towards the governance of biomedical research. Mary Ebeling's research with Geoff Cooper, funded by the ESRC under the Science in Society programme, looked at the emergence of one very particular area of science into the public arena. This project investigated the relationship between financial news sources (the scientists and public relations agents who work in the nanotechnology area) and journalists who cover financial news in this emerging sector.

Paul Johnson's work on the salience of genetic technologies in criminal investigations has sought to explore the increasing 'scientification' of policing within the UK and across the European Union. With colleagues at the universities of Durham and Nottingham he produced the Wellcome Trust funded report Genetic Information & Crime Investigation which explores the social, ethical and legal implications arising from the use of the National DNA Database of England & Wales. He has published a range of articles which explore the ways in which DNA profiling and databasing have become embedded within, and supportive of, contemporary policies, strategies and practices of crime control.

Doctoral research

PhD students focus on a range of topics related to the STS expertise of the group, including: ethnography of myth in India; popular music and sustainability; the Internet and women’s human rights; community based collective action and sustainability; digital DIY; new communication technologies and travel; agent-based simulation and emergent behaviour; mass media and biodiversity conservation in Nepal; emotional attachment to mobile phones; and social aspects of computer games.

To find out more, contact members of the group at the:

Department of Sociology
University of Surrey
Guildford
Surrey GU2 7XH
England
Tel. 01483 686986
Fax 01483 689551
E-mail: Christine Hine

Page last updated: May 2011