PhD in Social Sciences - Science, Technology and Risk

Cardiff University

Science and technology studies is a key area in British sociology and we are one of the leading centres of excellence in Europe. We have several programmes of work in science and technology studies The first, centring on the Centre for the Study of Knowledge, Expertise and Science (KES) has led to new ideas about expertise and to the development of an innovative research method - the Imitation Game – which has been the centre of extensive European Research Council funding. KES Staff have supervised a number of PhDs applying ethnographic and interview methods to scientific settings, including biotechnology, economics, technology transfer, climate change science and theoretical physics. Our second programme of work focuses on the sociological analysis of new biomedical technologies and builds on the legacy of the ESRC Centre for the Economic and Social Aspects of Genomics which ran from 2002-2012. Current work in this area explores: the clinical challenge of next generation sequencing technology, the development of reproductive technologies involving mitochondria transfer, the relationship of neuroscience to diagnoses like autism, and prenatal screening for Down's syndrome.