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A Lancaster – Cardiff Centre

A Lancaster – Cardiff Centre. Plant Genomics, Commercialisation and Scientific Knowledge: Shifting Cultures of Scientific Research. Katrina Stengel (CESAGen) Mercy Kamara (CESAGen) Jane Taylor (Biology, Lancaster) Claire Waterton (Sociology, Lancaster) Brian Wynne (CESAGen).

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A Lancaster – Cardiff Centre

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  1. A Lancaster – Cardiff Centre

  2. Plant Genomics, Commercialisation and Scientific Knowledge: Shifting Cultures of Scientific Research Katrina Stengel (CESAGen) Mercy Kamara (CESAGen)Jane Taylor (Biology, Lancaster)Claire Waterton (Sociology, Lancaster)Brian Wynne (CESAGen)

  3. Aim and methods of project • Main aim: to throw light on the epistemic implications of commercialisation processes within plant genomics • Methods: interviewing/participant observation with academic plant scientists, research institute plant scientists, Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council

  4. Interdisciplinary working: a typology of relationships (Wynne 2000) • 1. ‘Projects in which a common problem is defined which requires as-yet ill-defined social and natural sciences inputs, and negotiation over the precise intellectual problem’ • e.g. disease risks - do genetic or environmental factors cause them? Under-determination of definitions of biological and social in specific cases.

  5. A typology of relationships (Wynne 2000) • 2. Projects in which natural scientists or clinicians may be important for informing the definition of valid and productive social science questions and choice of methods • E.g. may be important in the use of new technologies in science where few people have experience of issues

  6. A typology of relationships (Wynne 2000) • 3. ‘Projects where, conversely, social scientists may be important to help natural scientists or clinicians define better methods or approaches to their own disciplinary responsibilities’ • e.g. feminist research making explicit gendered assumptions in biology (molecular biology; primatology)

  7. A typology of relationships (Wynne 2000) • ‘Projects in which scientists or clinicians in a particular institutional role may be seen as stakeholders in some difficult policy or technical issue, typically involving conflict with others’. • Social scientists’ role to identify and render explicit implicit assumptions and meanings, making conflicts more tractable.

  8. A typology of relationships (Wynne 2000) • ‘Projects in which natural scientists, clinicians, or both, assume the role, by negotiation, of social science research ‘objects’ whose cultural practices, routines and assumptions (including the technical practices and reasoning processes) are themselves under study as part of an anthropological ethnographic project’. • E.g. Plant Genomics, Commercialisation and Scientific Knowledge: Shifting Cultures of Scientific Research

  9. Interdisciplinarity in ‘Plant Genomics, Commercialisation and Scientific Knowledge: Shifting Cultures of Scientific Research’ • ESRC urged the Lancaster/Cardiff team to link with natural scientists (in medical and environmental areas) • Research team consists of 4 social scientists and 1 plant biologist Katrina Stengel (CESAGen) Mercy Kamara (CESAGen) Jane Taylor (Biology, Lancaster) Claire Waterton (Sociology, Lancaster) Brian Wynne (CESAGen)

  10. Sites for in-depth interviewing and participant observation* • John Innes Centre (JIC), • Lancaster University* • York University • Rothamstead Research Station • IGER, Aberystwyth • Manchester University • Reading University • BBSRC

  11. A co-dependency • Why we need Jane Taylor (biologist)! • Plant genomics - a complex science • Jane’s knowledge of the UK community of plant scientists • Our framing of the study • What we find out • Jane as ‘sounding board’ • Jane helping us interpret results and steering future questions

  12. A co-dependency • What Jane Taylor gets out of the collaboration • Increasing interest of biological sciences in the social dynamics of their science • Research council-led? • Government/treasury led? • Crisis-led? (Strathern 2004) • Recognition for interdisciplinary working e.g. through RAE publications

  13. The practice of collaborating across natural and social sciences • Language and understanding • Contact • Communication of /openness to different framings of research • Communication of /openness to different methodologies • Interpretation

  14. Challenges • Knowledge as ‘culture-in-the-making’ • Knowledge as objective, determined by nature, allied to progress • Common ground? • Going against the ‘cultural’ grain of science? • Accountability • What does the research mean and to whom?

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