Download New ESRC Social Science Studentships

‘Biosciences and Society’: New ESRC Social Science Studentships
The ESRC has awarded the White Rose DTC Science, Technology and Society network three
new studentships to begin in October 2013. The studentships provide 4 years of funding,
including all PhD fees and an enhanced stipend of £2000 per annum, in addition to the
normal stipend of £13,726 p.a. and research support grant of £750 p.a.
The studentships involve joint-supervision by sociologists and bio-scientists and selected
periods working alongside bioscience students as a single group for specific training,
networking and collaboration purposes. Individually-tailored training relating to the
proposed PhD projects will also be provided. The vision is to create a community of
researchers – regardless of disciplinary background – capable of engaging with future
research questions relating to biosciences and biotechnology in society. By working in this
way, the social science researchers will be better placed to understand and find ways to
address societal challenges that arise in relation to emerging bioscience and
biotechnological developments.
Applications are invited for a studentship in Sociological Studies in the following area:
New methodologies for knowledge production in biosciences
Supervisors: Dr Kate Reed (Department of Sociological Studies), (Dr. Susan MolyneuxHodgson (Department of Sociological Studies) and Professor Simon Foster (Department of
Molecular Biology and Biotechnology), University of Sheffield
The project will explore aspects of imaging and the visual within biological research and the
possibility of novel routes to knowledge production that images and imagining play in
science. The advent of new technologies (e.g. novel microscopes, large datasets) is opening
up avenues for the development of innovative data analysis tools and novel approaches to
the way data can be understood and given meaning by different groups participating in
research. The project will explore the value of these new visual methods in the production
of biological knowledge and the implications for society.
Associated projects will be based at Leeds and York and the 3 students appointed will form a
Network, alongside the supervisors, to pursue an innovative research agenda on biosciences and
society.
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