Communicative patterns and social networks between scientists and technicians in a culture of care

Discussing Morality Across a Hierarchy of Occupational Spaces

Bibliographic Data

ID3978062
AuthorsNathalie Nuyts (0000-0002-0522-5212, London School of Economics and Political Science), C Friese (0000-0001-7144-8046, London School of Economics and Political Science, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume24
Issue1
Pages11-30
Publication date2023-01-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSocial & Cultural Geography (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1464-9365 • E-ISSN: 1470-1197
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/14649365.2021.1901976
PMID36712289
OpenAlexW3130108412
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited40

Communication between scientists and animal technicians is considered important for creating a 'culture of care' in facilities that use animals in scientific research. For example, the Brown report, which investigated alleged failures of animal care at Imperial College London, noted the physical and social separation between animal technicians and scientists as a problem that delimited a culture of care. This paper seeks to better understand the communicative relationships between scientists and animal technicians in this context. We conducted a survey of scientists working in the UK who use animals in their research (n = 230), asking who they spoke with about various aspects related to using animals in research. We found that scientists communicated with technicians about operational issues, while they spoke with other scientists about experimental design as well as moral questions and concerns. We probe the meaning of these communicative relationships using narrative analysis of semi-structured, qualitative interviews conducted with consenting survey respondents (n = 14). Analytically, this paper seeks to bridge social network analysis with geographies of care through a shared concern with relations of power

Art · Context (archaeology · Geography · Hierarchy · Humanities · Meaning (existential · Morality · Political science · Sociology · Animal testing and alternatives · Law · Psychology · Zoonotic diseases and public health

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access