Claire Marris
Biographic Data
| ID | 77665 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Claire Marris |
| GIVEN NAMES | Claire |
| FAMILY NAME | Marris |
| SIGNATURE | MARRIS C |
| AFFILIATIONS | King's College London |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-9366-5567 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 15 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 50 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 14 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1998 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2020 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Science and Technology Studies in Policy: The UK Synthetic Biology Roadmap
In this paper, we reflect on our experience as science and technology studies (STS) researchers who were members of the working group that produced A Synthetic Biology Roadmap for the UK in 2012. We explore how this initiative sought to govern an uncertain future and describe how it was successfully used to mobilize public funds for synthetic biology from the UK government. We discuss our attempts to incorporate the insights and sensibilities of …
The co-production of what? Knowledge, values, and social relations in health care
"Co-production" is becoming an increasingly popular term in policymaking, governance, and research. While the shift from engagement and involvement to co-production in health care holds the promise of revolutionising health services and research, it is not always evident what counts as co-production: what is being produced, under what circumstances, and with what implications for participants. We discuss these questions and propose that co-produc…
Five rules of thumb for post-Elsi interdisciplinary collaborations
In this paper we identify five rules of thumb for interdisciplinary collaboration across the natural and social sciences. We link these to efforts to move away from the ‘ethical, legal and social issues’ framework of interdisciplinarity and towards a post-ELSI collaborative space. It is in trying to open up such a space that we identify the need for: collaborative experimentation, taking risks, collaborative reflexivity, opening-up discussions of…
Taking Roles in Interdisciplinary Collaborations: Reflections on Working in Post-Elsi Spaces in the UK Synthetic Biology Community
Based on criticism of the “ethical, legal and social implications” (ELSI) paradigm, researchers in science and technology studies (STS) have begun to create and move into “post-ELSI” spaces. In this paper, we pool our experiences of working towards collaborative practices with colleagues in engineering and science disciplines in the field of synthetic biology. We identify a number of different roles that we have taken, been assumed to take, or ha…
Negotiating the dynamics of uncomfortable knowledge: The case of dual use and synthetic biology
Institutions need to ignore some knowledge in order to function. This is “uncomfortable knowledge” because it undermines the ability of those institutions to pursue their goals (Rayner, 2012). We identify three bodies of knowledge that are relevant to understandings of the dual use threat posed by synthetic biology but are excluded from related policy discussions. We demonstrate how these “unknown knowns” constitute uncomfortable knowledge becaus…
The Construction of Imaginaries of the Public as a Threat to Synthetic Biology
Scientific institutions and innovation-focused government bodies have identified public attitudes to synthetic biology as an obstruction to the field. This view is based on a perception that the public is (or will likely become) fearful of synthetic biology and that a ‘public scare’ would impede development of the field. Fear of the public's fear of synthetic biology, which I characterise as ‘synbiophobia-phobia’, has been the driving force behin…
The cut that makes a part
The contributions to this special issue explore some conjunctions between synthetic biology and intellectual property (IP). For the most part, practitioners of synthetic biology frame these conjunctions instrumentally, in terms of how law might facilitate science: how might one draft a commodity constitution that fosters an ethos of openness, builds community and advances the conceptual agenda of biology, while at the same time, perhaps, allowing…
Disentrenching Experiment: The Construction of GM-Crop Field Trials As a Social Problem
The paper investigates how field experimentation of genetically modified crops became central to the French controversy on genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in recent years. Initially constructed in the 1980s as a cognitive endeavor to be preserved from lay interference, field trials of genetically modified crops were reconceived as "an intrusion in the social space," which had to be negotiated with actors from that space. In order to analyze…
Interactive Technology Assessment in the Real World: Dual Dynamics in an iTA Exercise on Genetically Modified Vines
Participatory Technology Assessment (pTA) initiatives have usually been analyzed as if they existed in a social and political vacuum. This article analyzes the linkages that occur, in both directions, between the microcosm set up by a pTA exercise and the real world outside. This dual-dynamics perspective leads to a new way of understanding the function and significance of pTA initiatives. Rather than viewing them as a means to create the ideal c…
How the French GM controversy led to the reciprocal emancipation of scientific expertise and policy making
This paper examines the role of the precautionary principle (PP) in transforming the French regulatory landscape for genetically modified organisms used in food and agriculture over the last decade. Despite few explicit references to the PP, we argue that it has been instrumental. The changes do not result from a linear top-down process, as in the application of a new law. Instead, the PP has acted as a point of articulation for debates in differ…
La participation contre la mobilisation: Une analyse comparée du débat sur les OGM en France et au Royaume-Uni
À partir d’une approche comparative du débat public sur les OGM en France et au Royaume-Uni, ce texte analyse les interactions entre mobilisations associatives et dispositifs participatifs. De tels dispositifs (conférences citoyennes, jurys de citoyens, évaluation technologique interactive, ...) se nourrissent du travail critique des collectifs qui interviennent pour construire un problème public et développent des alternatives aux visions domina…
Science and governance in Europe: Lessons from the case of agricultural biotechnology
Amid a wider debate over the European Union's democratic deficit, ‘science and governance’ has attracted particular attention. Science and technology have become a special problem because they are routinely cited as an objective basis for policy. Through dominant models of science and technology, policy frameworks serve to promote and conceal socio-political agendas, while pre-empting debate on alternative futures. Technological-market imperative…
La perception des OGM par le public: Remise en cause de quelques idées reçues
Cet article présente deux types de résultats concernant la perception des OGM par le public. D'une part, les perceptions de «citoyens ordinaires» ont été étudiées par la méthode de groupes de discussions. Parallèlement, la façon dont les acteurs impliqués dans la controverse sur les ogm appréhendent leur perception par le public a été analysée par entretiens, observation participante et analyse de documents. Au-delà de l'intérêt des résultats obt…
Between Consensus and Citizens
No abstract
A Quantitative Test of the Cultural Theory of Risk Perceptions: Comparison with the Psychometric Paradigm
This paper seeks to compare two frameworks which have been proposed to explain risk perceptions, namely, cultural theory and the psychometric paradigm. A structured questionnaire which incorporated elements from both approaches was administered to 129 residents of Norwich, England. The qualitative risk characteristics generated by the psychometric paradigm explained a far greater proportion of the variance in risk perceptions than cultural biases…
The Construction of Imaginaries of the Public as a Threat to Synthetic Biology
Scientific institutions and innovation-focused government bodies have identified public attitudes to synthetic biology as an obstruction to the field. This view is based on a perception that the public is (or will likely become) fearful of synthetic biology and that a ‘public scare’ would impede development of the field. Fear of the public's fear of synthetic biology, which I characterise as ‘synbiophobia-phobia’, has been the driving force behin…
Disentrenching Experiment: The Construction of GM-Crop Field Trials As a Social Problem
The paper investigates how field experimentation of genetically modified crops became central to the French controversy on genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in recent years. Initially constructed in the 1980s as a cognitive endeavor to be preserved from lay interference, field trials of genetically modified crops were reconceived as "an intrusion in the social space," which had to be negotiated with actors from that space. In order to analyze…
La participation contre la mobilisation: Une analyse comparée du débat sur les OGM en France et au Royaume-Uni
À partir d’une approche comparative du débat public sur les OGM en France et au Royaume-Uni, ce texte analyse les interactions entre mobilisations associatives et dispositifs participatifs. De tels dispositifs (conférences citoyennes, jurys de citoyens, évaluation technologique interactive, ...) se nourrissent du travail critique des collectifs qui interviennent pour construire un problème public et développent des alternatives aux visions domina…
Interactive Technology Assessment in the Real World: Dual Dynamics in an iTA Exercise on Genetically Modified Vines
Participatory Technology Assessment (pTA) initiatives have usually been analyzed as if they existed in a social and political vacuum. This article analyzes the linkages that occur, in both directions, between the microcosm set up by a pTA exercise and the real world outside. This dual-dynamics perspective leads to a new way of understanding the function and significance of pTA initiatives. Rather than viewing them as a means to create the ideal c…
Science and Technology Studies in Policy: The UK Synthetic Biology Roadmap
In this paper, we reflect on our experience as science and technology studies (STS) researchers who were members of the working group that produced A Synthetic Biology Roadmap for the UK in 2012. We explore how this initiative sought to govern an uncertain future and describe how it was successfully used to mobilize public funds for synthetic biology from the UK government. We discuss our attempts to incorporate the insights and sensibilities of …
A Quantitative Test of the Cultural Theory of Risk Perceptions: Comparison with the Psychometric Paradigm
This paper seeks to compare two frameworks which have been proposed to explain risk perceptions, namely, cultural theory and the psychometric paradigm. A structured questionnaire which incorporated elements from both approaches was administered to 129 residents of Norwich, England. The qualitative risk characteristics generated by the psychometric paradigm explained a far greater proportion of the variance in risk perceptions than cultural biases…
Between Consensus and Citizens
No abstract
Science and governance in Europe: Lessons from the case of agricultural biotechnology
Amid a wider debate over the European Union's democratic deficit, ‘science and governance’ has attracted particular attention. Science and technology have become a special problem because they are routinely cited as an objective basis for policy. Through dominant models of science and technology, policy frameworks serve to promote and conceal socio-political agendas, while pre-empting debate on alternative futures. Technological-market imperative…
La perception des OGM par le public: Remise en cause de quelques idées reçues
Cet article présente deux types de résultats concernant la perception des OGM par le public. D'une part, les perceptions de «citoyens ordinaires» ont été étudiées par la méthode de groupes de discussions. Parallèlement, la façon dont les acteurs impliqués dans la controverse sur les ogm appréhendent leur perception par le public a été analysée par entretiens, observation participante et analyse de documents. Au-delà de l'intérêt des résultats obt…
La participation contre la mobilisation: Une analyse comparée du débat sur les OGM en France et au Royaume-Uni
À partir d’une approche comparative du débat public sur les OGM en France et au Royaume-Uni, ce texte analyse les interactions entre mobilisations associatives et dispositifs participatifs. De tels dispositifs (conférences citoyennes, jurys de citoyens, évaluation technologique interactive, ...) se nourrissent du travail critique des collectifs qui interviennent pour construire un problème public et développent des alternatives aux visions domina…
How the French GM controversy led to the reciprocal emancipation of scientific expertise and policy making
This paper examines the role of the precautionary principle (PP) in transforming the French regulatory landscape for genetically modified organisms used in food and agriculture over the last decade. Despite few explicit references to the PP, we argue that it has been instrumental. The changes do not result from a linear top-down process, as in the application of a new law. Instead, the PP has acted as a point of articulation for debates in differ…
Disentrenching Experiment: The Construction of GM-Crop Field Trials As a Social Problem
The paper investigates how field experimentation of genetically modified crops became central to the French controversy on genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in recent years. Initially constructed in the 1980s as a cognitive endeavor to be preserved from lay interference, field trials of genetically modified crops were reconceived as "an intrusion in the social space," which had to be negotiated with actors from that space. In order to analyze…
Interactive Technology Assessment in the Real World: Dual Dynamics in an iTA Exercise on Genetically Modified Vines
Participatory Technology Assessment (pTA) initiatives have usually been analyzed as if they existed in a social and political vacuum. This article analyzes the linkages that occur, in both directions, between the microcosm set up by a pTA exercise and the real world outside. This dual-dynamics perspective leads to a new way of understanding the function and significance of pTA initiatives. Rather than viewing them as a means to create the ideal c…
The cut that makes a part
The contributions to this special issue explore some conjunctions between synthetic biology and intellectual property (IP). For the most part, practitioners of synthetic biology frame these conjunctions instrumentally, in terms of how law might facilitate science: how might one draft a commodity constitution that fosters an ethos of openness, builds community and advances the conceptual agenda of biology, while at the same time, perhaps, allowing…
Negotiating the dynamics of uncomfortable knowledge: The case of dual use and synthetic biology
Institutions need to ignore some knowledge in order to function. This is “uncomfortable knowledge” because it undermines the ability of those institutions to pursue their goals (Rayner, 2012). We identify three bodies of knowledge that are relevant to understandings of the dual use threat posed by synthetic biology but are excluded from related policy discussions. We demonstrate how these “unknown knowns” constitute uncomfortable knowledge becaus…
The Construction of Imaginaries of the Public as a Threat to Synthetic Biology
Scientific institutions and innovation-focused government bodies have identified public attitudes to synthetic biology as an obstruction to the field. This view is based on a perception that the public is (or will likely become) fearful of synthetic biology and that a ‘public scare’ would impede development of the field. Fear of the public's fear of synthetic biology, which I characterise as ‘synbiophobia-phobia’, has been the driving force behin…
Taking Roles in Interdisciplinary Collaborations: Reflections on Working in Post-Elsi Spaces in the UK Synthetic Biology Community
Based on criticism of the “ethical, legal and social implications” (ELSI) paradigm, researchers in science and technology studies (STS) have begun to create and move into “post-ELSI” spaces. In this paper, we pool our experiences of working towards collaborative practices with colleagues in engineering and science disciplines in the field of synthetic biology. We identify a number of different roles that we have taken, been assumed to take, or ha…
Five rules of thumb for post-Elsi interdisciplinary collaborations
In this paper we identify five rules of thumb for interdisciplinary collaboration across the natural and social sciences. We link these to efforts to move away from the ‘ethical, legal and social issues’ framework of interdisciplinarity and towards a post-ELSI collaborative space. It is in trying to open up such a space that we identify the need for: collaborative experimentation, taking risks, collaborative reflexivity, opening-up discussions of…
The co-production of what? Knowledge, values, and social relations in health care
"Co-production" is becoming an increasingly popular term in policymaking, governance, and research. While the shift from engagement and involvement to co-production in health care holds the promise of revolutionising health services and research, it is not always evident what counts as co-production: what is being produced, under what circumstances, and with what implications for participants. We discuss these questions and propose that co-produc…
Science and Technology Studies in Policy: The UK Synthetic Biology Roadmap
In this paper, we reflect on our experience as science and technology studies (STS) researchers who were members of the working group that produced A Synthetic Biology Roadmap for the UK in 2012. We explore how this initiative sought to govern an uncertain future and describe how it was successfully used to mobilize public funds for synthetic biology from the UK government. We discuss our attempts to incorporate the insights and sensibilities of …
Political science (14 works) · Sociology (11 works) · Computer Science (7 works) · Biology (5 works) · Engineering (5 works) · Epistemology (5 works) · Law (5 works) · Economics (4 works) · Engineering ethics (4 works) · French Urban and Social Studies (4 works)