ESRC PhD funding available

The Department of Sociology holds funding for PhD's to begin 2016/17. 

Check out the link to the department website for more information.

Regenerative Medicine and Sociology

Sociology has always had a strong interest in medicine, and more recently, in the impact of the new biomedical sciences on medicine. An emerging area for sociological inquiry is Regenerative Medicine (RM) which Andrew Webster has already published on. Its distinctive feature is the use of live cells and tissues to treat disease, replacing diseased tissue and organs with new, healthy and specially-grown tissue. There has been considerable social and political controversy surrounding the use of cells, especially embryonic stem cells, but these debates have largely subsided, and now RM is widely heralded as potential source of cures for a range of illnesses.

The field of RM, however, is still very much in its infancy, and there are very few therapies available in the present day. Clinicians and investigators working on new RM therapies are encountering many significant challenges relating to financing, manufacturing, regulation, and organisational inertia. These pose important questions that sociology can address, especially in terms of how healthcare systems such as the NHS may – or indeed, may not – embrace and embed biomedical innovation. 

Equally importantly, RM raises questions about ‘Life’, in the form of tissues and cells, and how this is being manipulated, harnessed and in some cases commercialised in the name of ‘health and wealth’. Simultaneously, new social groups and agencies are forming to govern and facilitate this harnessing of life. From a sociological standpoint, we may ask: how do these novel forms of life reflect their cultural context? How do they change the boundaries of what is seen as ‘life’ itself? What discourses are being mobilised to promote innovation? What novel social organisations are emerging, and how do these upset or reaffirm traditional professional divisions?  Whose viewpoints and interests are being heard, and whose are being ignored? And more broadly: how exactly are social concerns and technological developments intertwined and shaping one another?

John Gardner

Andrew Webster

It is these types of questions that are being addressed by our ESRC-fundedREGenableMED project.  The project team comprises ten researchers from the Universities of York (Andrew Webster, Graham Lewis and John Gardner), Edinburgh, Birmingham and Sussex, with specific expertise in science and technologies studies, law, commercialisaiton, and technology horizon scanning.  The three year project is now into its second year, and we have been interviewing a range of stakeholders in the RM field, as well as collecting reams of secondary data on clinical and commercial activity, much of which is being collated in an extensive database. Our first paper, which explores the perceived novelty of RM will soon be published in RegenerativeMedicine in September. Ultimately, we hope that our broad, sociological perspective on the field will enable us to inform and guide responsible innovation in the area.    

ESRC Studentship, Nurse/Patient Interactions and Conversation Analysis

The Department of Sociology at York is delighted to announce that one of our recent graduates - Hannah Wright - has been awarded an ESRC DTC 1+3 PhD studentship to undertake a conversation analytic study investigating 'dignity and compassion in practice' at the University of Nottingham.  This will involve recording and analysing senior nurse/patient interactions in an acute hospital.  

Hannah will be supervised by Dr Ruth Parry and Dr Alison Pilnick at the University of Nottingham, and Dr Joanne Cooper at the Nottingham University NHS Trust.

We wish Hannah many congratulations on this excellent achievement and all the very best for her future research career.

Professors Celia and Jenny Kitzinger - ESRC 1st prize for Outstanding Impact in Society

Professor Celia Kitzinger, Co-Director of the Coma and Disorders of Consciousness Research Centre, won the award alongside her colleague and sister Professor Jenny Kitzinger, Cardiff University.  The award recognises their work conducted on family experiences of coma, and the vegetative and minimally conscious states.

Prompting public debate, discussions of medical ethics and informing policy documents including new National Clinical Guidelines on prolonged disorders of consciousness, the two researchers also worked with Oxford University and the DIPEx charity to create a multi-media, online resource providing information and support for families and practitioners.

Launched in September 2014, the resource on healthtalk.org has reached over 4,000 people and is also being used in training healthcare and legal practitioners.

The work has also been translated into a Radio 3 programme, 'Coma Songs' which challenges common cultural misrepresentations of comas and reached around 59,000 people.

In addition to the ESRC award, the research received national recognition earlier this year coming joint runner-up in the Guardian University Awards 2015 and winning Cardiff University’s Innovation Policy Award earlier this month.

Celia Kitzinger said: “The ESRC impact awards show the importance of social science research in creating positive social change – from challenging forced marriage and domestic violence to helping families whose relatives have disappeared.  We are delighted that our own research on coma and disorders of consciousness has been recognised for its impact on practice and policy.”

-          For further information on the Coma and Disorders of Consciousness Research Centre, visit: http://cdoc.org.uk/

-          To view the online resource on family experiences of coma, and vegetative and minimally conscious states, visit: http://www.healthtalk.org/peoples-experiences/nerves-brain/family-experiences-vegetative-and-minimally-conscious-states/overview

There is a YouTube video about their work available at: Youtube video about their work is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RLt3P42Fzk

Prof Celia Kitzinger - Shortlisted for ESRC Celebrating Impact Awards

Research by Celia Kitzinger and Jenny Kitzinger has been shortlisted for the ESRC Celebrating Impact Awards. 

Based on their interview research with 65 family members of people in long-term 'coma' (the vegetative and minimally conscious states), they created an online resource for families and practitioners working in this area: http://www.healthtalk.org/peoples-experiences/nerves-brain/family-experiences-vegetative-and-minimally-conscious-states/topics

In its first 2 months the module has been viewed by over 2000 unique users. The research was supported by an ESRC grant and matched funding from the Health Experiences Research Group at Oxford University and the DIPEx charity. 

The academic research underpinning the new resource can be downloaded here http://cdoc.org.uk/recent-publications/academic-articles/)

Murderabilia Data Gathering in the US

Jack has recently returned from a data gathering trip to the U.S.A at the end of the first year of his PhD. Observations and interviews were carried out over a period of two weeks in September, assisted by a grant from the ESRC overseas fieldwork fund. 

Museum observations and interviews yielded some high quality data supporting Jack’s PhD in morbid culture and the collecting of Murderabilia respectively. Many good connections were also made that are currently being followed up. This data will be complimented by a similar approach carried out in the UK in the months up until Christmas, as well as data gathered online from forums and fan-sites.

Whilst the interviews will mark the beginning of the data collection phase of Jack’s PhD, a preliminary analysis of the observations will be presented much sooner at the Museum’s Alive conference at the University of Leicester, November 2014.

York and Cardiff academics launch new resource for family members of people in vegetative or minimally conscious states

Media Information: Saskia Angenent +44 (0)1904 323918

York and Cardiff academics launch new resource for family members of people in vegetative or minimally conscious states

A unique online resource for family members and others involved in the care of people with severe forms of brain injury is to be launched this week.

Featuring over 250 in-depth interview film clips, the resource explores family experiences of having a relative in a vegetative or minimally conscious state. It explains key terms, reflects on the challenging choices families confront and outlines the clinical and legal context of decision-making about medical treatment.

Compiled by Professor Celia Kitzinger and Professor Jenny Kitzinger, Co-Directors of the York-Cardiff Chronic Disorders of Consciousness Research Centre, the research has been made into a new section on the award-winning charity website healthtalk.org, due to launch in London on 17 September.

Funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the Health Experiences Research Group (HERG), Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford, the resource presents findings from nearly four years’ research, featuring interviews with 65 different family members as well as talks from leading medical practitioners in the field of serious brain injury.

Admission

An exhibition featuring artwork, poems and postcards from family members will also be on display during a drinks reception. Entry is free but strictly by ticket only. For further details and to register for the event, visit: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/family-experiences-of-vegetative-and-minimally-conscious-states-tickets-12508771071.

More information on this resource is available at http://www.york.ac.uk/news-and-events/news/2014/research/new-healthtalk-resource/

Dr Nisha Kapoor wins ESRC Future Research Leaders Award

Lecturer in Sociology, Nisha Kapoor has recently been awarded an ESRC Future Research Leaders Award to look at ‘Race and Citizenship in the Context of the War on Terror’.

This will be a three-year project beginning in January 2015. The research will investigate the growing insecurity of citizenship in the context of the War on Terror with a particular focus on different forms of citizenship removal and exclusion and their racial dimensions. In the post 9/11 context the use of extradition, citizenship deprivation and charter flight deportations have been promoted, assisted in part by changes to the law, yet little is known about the full extent of these forms of removal; who it is that is being extradited, having their citizenship deprived and being deported en masse; what the conditions are in which these removals occur; and what the justifications are for their use. This research aims to address these issues.

Nisha Kapoor success

Nisha Kapoor has been successful in her application for a 3 year ESRC Future Leaders Award on 'Race and Citizenship in the Context of the War on Terror'.

Many congratulations to Nisha!

Postdoctoral Research Associate, Science and Technology Studies Unit

A 3 year full-time post-doc position is available in SATSU to work on a new ESRC-funded project on regenerative medicine. Click on the University Jobs page for more details.

The position will involve working closely with the Director of the Unit on a newly funded ESRC research project in the sociology of the biosciences, focusing on the field of regenerative medicine and stem cell therapies: ‘Regenerative medicine and its development and implementation: an analysis of emergent value systems and health’.

Jack Denham - Overseas Fieldwork Funding Success

Jack Denham (PhD student) has been awarded £1900.00 by the White Rose DTC on behalf of the AQC in order to undertake fieldwork in the USA.

The trip will start with a visit to America's biggest crime museum in Washington DC. Two days are set-aside for an ethnography of the museum and another for follow up interviews. The middle part of the trip is the longest accommodating a visit to America's biggest murderabilia convention, followed by one week set aside for interviews with contacts made at the event.

During this week, a trip to the 'Dime Museum', a popular murderabilia collection in Indianapolis, will also be made. Finally, the trip accommodates a visit to a crime museum in Hollywood boasting the largest murderabilia collection in the world over two days again. This trip has been arranged with the assistance of a gatekeeper with access to many interviewees during the week stopover in Indianapolis.

This trip will contribute a physical dimension to the networks addressed in Jack's proposal, providing valuable first-hand visual data as well as invaluable contacts in this industry. This exposure will also help with an understanding of the value of criminal culture to the consumer - data collected here will form the bulk of the research for his PhD.

Congratulations Jack!

£1.3m ESRC Research Grant awarded to SATSU

Andrew Webster, Director of  SATSU (the Science and Technology Studies Unit based in the Department), has recently been awarded a large research grant by the Economic and Social Research Council to undertake work in the sociology of science field which focuses on current developments in regenerative medicine and stem cells. This is pertinent research considering regular media coverage about patients seeking cell theapy treatment abroad as a last resort to cure terminal illness.

The grant is for £1.3m and will begin in late spring, so a number of postdoc job opportunities will appear soon. The research explores in particular developments in cell therapies, to track the interplay between corporations  clinics and regulators, especially in regard to perceptions of its clinical utility, and the patterns of regulatory oversight that are seen to be needed. We hope thereby to determine the current and potential impact of the field on health and healthcare systems and how these in turn shape its development. 

The work builds on previous work in SATSU - the REMEDIE project - funded by the European Commission and a national ESRC programme on stem cells that Andrew coordinated. Andrew recently gave a presentation to the All Party Parliamentary Group for Social Science and Policy on the issues raised for the NHS. Meanwhile SATSU's doctoral researcher, Ruchhi Higham, is also working in the area examining the ways the field disrupts conventional approaches to clinical trials. 

More generally, this research ties in with the European Commission-funded COST Action called 'Bio-objects', that Andrew also Chairs.