Eva Gray
Job Title
PhD Student
Research interests
Research interests
My research interests center around social construction of technology, namely the masculinization of car culture(s) and their evolution over time. I study the car as both a cultural and technological artifact, and the identity constructions that it enables, as masculinities and femininities can be defined in relation to technical objects and the actions that surround them.
At the moment, I am examining the role of new electric car racing leagues in facilitating electric vehicle (EV) adoption in the general public, as both a technological testbed and a progression of car culture. My current ESRC-funded project, Adopting the Electric Vehicle: Racing, Culture, and the Transition to Sustainable Mobility, will examine the new socio-technical identity of the EV, as it has not yet become as firmly entrenched in modern societies as its combustion-engine counterpart.
Background
My background has been in Science and Technology Studies since I was an undergraduate at Vassar College in New York. I studied STS, Sociology and Women's Studies, and wrote my senior thesis on female race car drivers based on my employment and field work for four years at Lime Rock Park, a historic car racing track in Northwestern Connecticut.
I came to the University of Edinburgh as a Vassar Maguire Fellow for my Masters by Research, and am continuing this work for my PhD on electric car racing, changing gendered narratives around driving, and sustainable automotive development.
I also currently tutor in Sociology and Social Theory, and Technology in Society for the School of Social and Political Science.