School of Social and Political Science

Background

I joined the University of Edinburgh as a research fellow at the ESRC Genomics Policy & Research Forum in 2006. After spending the 2011-2012 academic year as a Fellow in the Program on Science, Technology & Society at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, I returned to STIS as a Lecturer in 2012. My research focuses on contemporary life sciences, with a particular interest in synthetic biology.

My academic background is in natural sciences. I have an undergraduate degree in Neuroscience from Cambridge University. I stayed there to pursue a PhD in the Department of Medicine, in a laboratory focused on signalling pathways involved in chronic inflammatory disorders. After finishing my PhD, I was keen to explore options away from the lab bench, and spent two years as a subeditor for the scientific journal Nature, in London. I discovered Science and Technology Studies (STS) when I moved to the Genomics Forum in Edinburgh, and completed the MSc programme in STS at Edinburgh in 2009.

Teaching and supervising

I am on research leave in 2014-2015. I am happy to receive applications for doctoral research in areas related to those listed above. At present, I supervise two students:

• Meritxell Ramirez-Olle: 'Climategate' as a problem for the sociology of scientific knowledge (2010-2014)
• Natalia Nino Machado: Growing Right. WHO Child Growth Standards in Colombia (2012-2016)

Courses I have convened and taught include the undergraduate survey course 'Science & Society 1b: Nature and Environment' as well as a postgraduate course on 'Social Dimensions of Systems and Synthetic Biology'. I also teach on an number of other undergraduate and postgraduate courses, and have served as the Programme Director for the MSc in Science and Technology in Society.

Publications

Macnaghten, P. et al (2014) ‘Responsible innovation across borders: tensions, paradoxes and possibilities’, Journal of Responsible Innovation, 1(2): 191-199.

Frow, E.K. (2014) 'In images we trust? Representation and objectivity in the digital age,' in Representation in Scientific Practice Revisited, eds C. Coopmans, J. Vertesi, M. Lynch & S. Woolgar. Cambridge: MIT Press, pp. 249-268.

Calvert, J. & Frow, E.K. (2013) ‘Social dimensions of microbial synthetic biology,’ in Methods in Microbiology, Vol. 40, eds C. Harwood & A. Wipat. Burlington: Academic Press, pp. 69-86.

Frow, E.K. (2013) Making big promises come true? Articulating and realizing value in synthetic biology. BioSocieties 8: 432-448.

Davies, G., Frow, E. & Leonelli, S. (2013) Bigger, faster, better? Rhetorics and practices of large-scale research in contemporary bioscience. BioSocieties 8: 386-396.

Mackenzie, A., Waterton, C., Ellis, R., Frow, E.K., McNally, R., Busch, L. & Wynne, B. (2013) Classifying, constructing, and identifying life: Standards as transformations of 'the biological'. Science, Technology, & Human Values 38: 701-722.

Frow, E. & Calvert, J. (2013) Opening up the future(s) of synthetic biology. Futures 48: 32-43.

Frow, E. & Calvert, J. (2013) 'Can simple biological systems be built from standardized interchangeable parts?' Negotiating biology and engineering in a synthetic biology competition. Engineering Studies 5(1): 42-58.

Schyfter, P., Frow, E. & Calvert, J. (2013) Synthetic biology: Making biology into an engineering discipline. Engineering Studies Guest Editorial 5(1): 1-5.

Frow, E.K. (2012) Drawing a line: Setting guidelines for digital image processing in scientific journal articles. Social Studies of Science 42(3): 369-392.

Wiek, A., Guston, D., Frow, E. & Calvert, J. (2012) Sustainability and anticipatory governance in synthetic biology. International Journal of Social Ecology and Sustainable Development 3(2): 25-38.

Frow, E. & Yearley, S. (2010) People, Policy and Plant Genomics. In Principles and Practices of Plant Genomics - Volume 3: Advanced Genomics, edited by C. Kole and A. Abbott. New Hampshire: Science Publishers, Inc.

Frow, E.K. (2009) Making BioBricks: The dynamics of standardization and community formation in synthetic biology. MSc Dissertation, The University of Edinburgh [available upon request]

Frow, E.K., Ingram, D., Powell, W., Steer, D., Vogel, J. & Yearley, S. (2009) The politics of plants. Food Security  1(1):17-23.

Frow, E.K. (2009) A Forum for 'Doing Society and Genomics'. EMBO Reports 10(4):318-321.

Frow, E.K., Reckless, J. & Grainger, D.J. (2004) Tools for anti-inflammatory drug design: in vitro models of leukocyte migration. Medicinal Research Reviews 24(3): 276–298.

Grainger, D.J. & Frow, E.K. (2000) Thrombospondin 1 does not activate transforming growth factor beta-1 in a chemically defined system or in smooth-muscle-cell cultures. Biochemical Journal 350: 291–298.

Selected recent talks

‘Taking care of synthetic biology,’ Science and Democracy Network meeting, Vienna, 30 June-2 July 2014

‘Disciplining the social sciences in synthetic biology,’ Medicine and Environment: What Kind of Interdisciplinary Collaborations for Synthetic Biology? Paris, 23-24 June 2014

‘Transatlantic governance of synthetic biology,’ UK-Brazil workshop on Responsible Innovation, Sao Paolo, 19-21 March 2014

'Shaping matters of (non-)concern in synthetic biology,' Issues and Non-issues in Science and Medicine Symposium, University of Exeter, 27-28 September 2013

'The social life of standards,' SB6.0: The Sixth International Meeting on Synthetic Biology, Imperial College London, 9-11 July 2013

‘Social and technical dimensions of standards development in synthetic biology,’ Autumn Symposium of the Centre for Systems & Synthetic Biology, Imperial College London, 14-15 November 2012

‘Synthetic biology and the order of things,’ Annual Meeting of the Society for the Social Studies of Science, Copenhagen, 17-21 October 2012

'A sustainable future for synthetic biology?', Cambridge BioDesign Forum, Cambridge, 25-26 September 2012