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Qualifications 

• BA Hons (Social and Cultural Studies, University of Derby)
• MA (International Cultural Studies, Nottingham Trent University)
• PhD (Science and Technology Studies, University of Edinburgh)

Biographical Statement and Research Interests

In 2003 I joined STIS/Innogen as a lecturer in Sociology. My academic roots are in sociology, cultural studies and science and technology studies - a path that began with an inspirational and gifted A Level Sociology teacher called Margaret Tedde. As part of previous and current work, I am interested in:

 

• The construction and negotiation of knowledge and expertise

• Classifications and understandings of nature

• Reproductive technologies/reproductive genetics

• The promises and limitations of public engagement in wider governance processes

• 'Public Sociology' and the role of social science & critique in society

• Issue framing (as technical, social, ethical, political etc.) in decision-making processes relating to science, technology and medicine

PhD Supervision

I am happy to receive applications for doctoral research in areas related to those listed above. At present, I supervise three students:

Felicity Bulmer: Tracing Epstemological Histories of the Disordered Body (2009-2013).

Samantha Foster: Embryonic Stem Cell Research; Exploring the Mutual Shaping of Science, Regulation and Society - A Real Time Study (2007-2013, part-time).

Meritxell Ramirez Olle: Science Production and Consumption of the 'Climategate' Controversy (2010 - 2014).

Completed

Sian Beynon-Jones: Expertise and Scottish Abortion Practice: Understanding Healthcare Professionals' Accounts (2006-2009)

Nicola Marks: Opening Up Spaces for Reflexivity? Scientists’ Discourses about Stem Cell Research and Public Engagement (2003-2007)

 

Teaching

I convene and/or teach on the following courses at the University of Edinburgh:

Genetics, Nature and Society  which is part of the Postgraduate Programme in Science and Technology Studies. This course is also offered as an Honours course in Sociology.

Research Design

Social and Economic Perspectives of Technology

Politics of Science and Technology

Sustainable Practices Research Group (2010 - 2013)

I am principle investigator for the 'Engagement, Interaction and Influence' work-package for the Sustainable Practices Research Group (SPRG), funded by ESRC, DEFRA and Scottish Government. The SPRG aims to develop fresh understandings about how social practices change and how to encourage more sustainable behaviours. Particular emphasis will be placed on consumption - on the grounds that changing the consumption practices of billions of individuals poses the greatest challenge to the achievement of sustainability. The SPRG takes its cue from social theories that emphasize the importance of collective understandings and everyday practices and on the material and social circumstances that constrain behaviour in order to find levers for intervention.

Taking my previous research on public engagement into this new empirical area, this project has both a research and an engagement component. The aim of the research element is to further our understanding of the way that policy processes draw on ideas from social science leading to their inclusion in/exclusion from public policy and politics. The aim of the engagement element is to identify opportunities for opening up existing debates in such a way that insights from social practices research on  behaviour, environment and sustainable consumption can be taken up. My collaborators on this project are Joseph Murphy (co-I) and Fraser Stewart (Research Fellow).

 

Eurostemcell (2010 - 2014)

I am involved in a European consortium for communicating stem cell research. This project brings together the major EU-funded large-scale stem cell projects and aims to create a coordinated platform for widespread dissemination of scientific knowledge spanning the research fields of stem cell biology and regenerative medicine. My role is to lead on the evaluation of the communication and engagement activities generated as part of this project.

 

Previous Research

Meanings of nature (2008 - 2010)

I coordinated a network of scholars to explore the relationship between developments in genomics and our knowledge and understanding of 'nature'. I subsequently co-edited a book (with John DuprÉ) on the same topic which was published in July 2010 (see below).

 

Public engagement and stem cell research (2005 - 2008)

Funded under the ESRC's programme, "Stem Cell Research: The Economic and Social Agenda", I recently completed a three year project: "The Social Dynamics of Public Engagement in Stem Cell Research". This was a collaborative project with Sarah Cunningham-Burley (Public Health Sciences & CRFR), Wendy Faulkner (Science Studies Unit) and Austin Smith (Institute for Stem Cell Biology, University of Cambridge). We also had a research fellow and a science communications officer working as part of the research team. The project had two aims: first, to explore the views of a wide range of publics and experts in Scotland and, second, to develop engagement methods for establishing a dialogue between different groups. We are currently analyzing the data and working on a number of articles.

Publications

Bates, S., Faulkner, W., Parry, S. and Cunningham-Burley, S. (2010) ''How Do We Know It's Not Been Done Yet?!' Trust, Trust Building and Regulation in Stem Cell Research', Science and Public Policy, 37(9): 703 - 718. 

Hallowell, N., Parry, S., Cooke., S., Crawford, G., Lucassen., A., and Parker, M. (2010) 'Lay and Professional Understandings of Research and Clinical Activities in Cancer Genetics and their Implications for Informed Consent', American Journal Of Bioethics Primary Care, 1(2): 25-34.

Parry, S. and DuprÉ, J. (eds) (2010) Nature After The Genome, Oxford: Blackwell/Sociological Review. 

Parry, S. (2010) 'Interspecies Entities and the Politics of Nature’ in S. Parry and J. DuprÉ (eds) Nature After The Genome, Oxford: Blackwell/Sociological Review.

Parry, S. (2009) 'Stem cell scientists’ discursive strategies for cognitive authority', Science as Culture, 18(1):89 - 114.

Haddow, G., Cunningham-Burley, S., Bruce, A. and Parry, S. (2008) 'Generation Scotland: consulting publics and specialists at an early stage in a genetic database's development', Critical Public Health, 18(2):139 - 149. 

Parry, S. (2006) ‘(Re)Constructing embryos in stem cell research: Exploring the meaning of embryos for people involved in fertility treatments’, Social Science & Medicine, 62(10): 2349 - 2359. 

Parry, S. (2003) 'The politics of cloning: Mapping the rhetorical convergence of embryos and stem cells in parliamentary debates', New Genetics and Society, 22(2): 177 - 200.

Recent Invited Talks

Parry, S. (2009) ‘Public Engagement:Developing an Understanding of Heterogeneous Agendas’ Keynote at Nordic Network for the Study of the Dialogic Communication of Research, LuleÅ University of Technology, Sweden, 21-22 September.

Parry, S. (2008) ‘Public engagement as a boundary object: Developing an understanding of heterogeneous agendas’, Public engagement: Promise and perils, The ESRC Genomics and Policy Research Forum, Edinburgh, 17th July.

Parry, S. and Cunningham-Burley, S. (2008) ‘Doing and studying public engagement in stem cell research’, The Role of Social Science in Public Dialogue on Science and Technology, London School of Economics, London, 4th July.

Parry, S. (2007) ‘Creating animal-human hybrids and chimeras for stem cell research: Analysing a public debate’, Transpecies embryos workshop, The ESRC Genomics and Policy Research Forum, Edinburgh, 27 November.

Parry, S. (2007) `Cloning and stem cell research: Constructing boundaries in the UK stem cell debates', The times of cloning: Historical and cultural aspects of biotechnological research field, Max-Planck-Institut FÜr Wissenschaftsgeschichte, Berlin, 1-4 March.

 

Research Dissemination Activities

Parry, S., Cunningham-Burley, S., Faulkner, W., and Bates, S. (2007) ‘The perils of public engagement’, Genomics Forum Newsletter, Issue 6.

Cunningham-Burley, S., Haddow, G. and Parry, S. (2006) ‘‘Talking the talk’ and ‘walking the walk’: The challenges of public engagement research’, Genomics Forum Newsletter, Issue 4.

Written evidence provided to Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority consultation on Donating Eggs for Research: Safeguarding Donors, December 2006.

Oral evidence given to the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee's Inquiry into Human Reproductive Technologies and the Law, November 10, 2004

Interviewed by US National Public Service Radio, January 2006.