School of Social and Political Science

Research interests

Academic Profile

I am a sociologist trained at the Universities of Coimbra (Portugal) and York (UK), with research focused on public participation in science and technology, the role of expertise, and the democratisation of knowledge. Much of my work examines how these dynamics unfold around pressing environmental and climate issues.

I am particularly interested in developing new ways to connect citizen participation, knowledge production, and policy implementation, with the aim of identifying innovative responses to major societal challenges.

I joined the University of Edinburgh in 2010 as Research Fellow at the ESRC Genomics Forum. 

My PhD, at the University of York (UK), examined citizen engagement in environmental monitoring, developing a framework for analysing public participation in sociotechnical contexts and advancing the sociology of monitoring.

Prior to relocating to the UK, I was a Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Minho (Braga, Portugal) and a Junior Researcher at the Centre for Social Studies, University of Coimbra.

Research

I am developing research on emerging practices and concepts of public participation, digital engagement, citizenship, and democracy. This work builds on previous projects exploring citizen science, knowledge production, monitoring, and public participation. 

Infrastructures of knowledge-making and participation in nature conservation (ongoing). This project investigates the sociotechnical dynamics that underpin current conservation efforts in the UK, focusing on the practices of a range of actors and organisations.

Scottish Parliament People’s Panels evaluations (15/01/24 → 28/02/25), Scottish Parliament. Co-PI with Iñaki Goñi and Elisabet Vives. This project evaluated two People’s Panels run by the Scottish Parliament and offered recommendations for advancing deliberative democracy as part of its blueprint for deliberative processes.

Scoping Impact: Mapping, Evaluating and Learning from Contemporary Trends in Research Impact Definition (20/03/23 → 20/09/23), ESRC. Co-PI with Nathan Coombs. This ESRC-commissioned project surveyed contemporary trends in how research impact is defined in the social sciences. Conducted under the remit of SKAPE.

The Politics of Monitoring: Information, Indicators and Targets in Climate Change, Defence and Immigration Policy (1/04/13 → 30/06/16), ESRC. Co-I with Steve Yearley and Graham Spinardi, PI Christina Boswell. This project examined both the determinants and the implications of monitoring policies across three key policy areas: climate change, immigration control and defence procurement over a 20-year period (1994-2014).

PhD Supervision

I work at the intersection of environmental sociology and science and technology studies, and I am keen to support research that connects these fields. I welcome proposals on themes such as citizen participation and democracy, technology and participation, monitoring and the politics of knowledge-making, and open knowledge, politics, and participation. If in doubt about the suitability of your idea, please get in touch.

• PhD in Science and Technology Studies

• MSc (R) Science and Technology Studies

  Current PhD students

  Sen Dai (Science, Technology and Innovation Studies): Creating a Socialist Ecological Utopia Effectively: knowledge production in the local practice of China's Ecological Civilization Policy [working title].

  Iñaki Goñi (Science, Technology and Innovation Studies): Dialogue as a public technology: Towards a framework for public participation design in science and technology. [working title]. SGSSS/ESRC scholarship.

  Completed PhD Students

  2024 - Sofie Thoft Illemann Jaeger (Science, Technology and Innovation Studies): “No one will protect what they don't care about”: Exploring conflict and collaboration in public climate engagement. SGSSS/ESRC scholarship.

  2022 - Antonio Ballesteros Figueroa (Science, Technology and Innovation Studies): Contested Environmental Futures: Rankings, Forecasts and Indicators as Sociotechnical Endeavours. CONACYT scholarship.

  2020 - Stuart Dunbar (Education): Young People’s Perspectives of Public Engagement with Science: a collaborative, intergenerational case study. 

  2019 - Daniel Thorpe (Science, Technology and Innovation Studies): Unbundling 'Indigenous Space Capability' - Actors, Policy Positions and Agency in Geospatial Information Science in Southwest Nigeria. ESRC scholarship.

Current Teaching

My teaching is research-led, spanning undergraduate and postgraduate levels with a focus on examining public participation in sociotechnical issues, and the epistemological and methodological foundations that shape science, technology, and innovation studies.

• Citizens and Science: public participation in science and technology (STIS 10018); semester 2 (honours)
• Research Design for Science, Technology and Innovation Studies (STIS 10014); semester 2 (honours).
• Research Design for Science, Technology and Innovation Studies (STIS 11006), semester 2 (postgraduate).

In addition to these, I contribute to the delivery of several other courses, including:

• Knowledge, Expertise and Policy (STIS 10010)
• Controversies in Medicine, Technology and the Environment (STIS10009)
• Sustainable Development 1a: Introducing Sustainable Development (SCIL08008)

Selected publications (full list can be found here)

Goñi, J. “Iñaki,” Rodrigues, E., Parga, M. J., Illanes, M., & Millán, M. J. (2024). Tooling with ethics in technology: a scoping review of responsible research and innovation tools. Journal of Responsible Innovation, 11(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/23299460.2024.2360228

Coombs, N., MacDonogh, H. & Rodrigues, E. (2024), Scoping Impact: An International Study of Contemporary Definitions and Conceptualisations of Impact by Funders of Social Science Research. Edinburgh: SKAPE, Centre for Science, Knowledge and Policy. 37 p.

Rodrigues, E (2018) ‘On SSK and Conversing with Scientists: Eugénia Rodrigues Talks with Michael J. Mulkay’ Engaging Science, Technology, and Society 4: 408-422.

Boswell, C and Rodrigues, E (2016) 'Policies, Politics and Organizational Problems: Multiple Streams and the Implementation of Targets in UK Government', Policy & Politics (44:4), 507-524. http://dx.doi.org/10.1332/030557315X14477577990650.

Wienroth, M and Rodrigues, E (2015) (eds) Knowing New Biotechnologies. Social Aspects of Technological Convergence. Oxford: Routledge. http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9781138022935/

Rodrigues, E (1995) Os novos movimentos sociais e o associativismo ambientalista em Portugal. Oficina do CES 60, 36.

Management and Leadership

Since 2024, I have served as Subject Area Research Ethics Lead (SAREL) for STIS. I am also a member of the Research Steering Committee of the Centre for Adapting to Changing Environments (ACE) and sit on the Learning and Teaching Research Committee of the Forest and Peatland Programme (FPP), both at the University of Edinburgh.

From 2022 to 2025, I was Co-director of the Centre for Science, Knowledge and Policy (SKAPE), University of Edinburgh, of which I am a founding member. Between 2021 and 2025, I was the Programme Director of the MSc in Science and Technology in Society (SaTiS).

As part of the core team delivering the MA in Sustainable Development, I have taken on a range of roles — including Personal Tutor, Cohort Lead, and responsibilities in teaching delivery and development.

I was a member of the Ethics Committee of the Portuguese Sociological Association from 2021 to 2025.