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Alison Mohr

Senior Research Fellow, Faculty of Social Sciences

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Expertise Summary

My research expertise includes international comparative work of different governance approaches and tools for opening up innovation processes to public scrutiny and debate. Of particular interest is the combination of perspectives from Science and Technology Studies (STS) with concepts from the literature on governance (in the context of wider democratic theory) to explore the ways in which 'new modes of governance' are perceived and experienced by various publics. The construction of actor- and policy-networks around emerging technologies, their socio-political organisation and the negotiated relationships between participants are also of interest.

Research Summary

BBSRC-funded project on the 'social, ethical and policy dimensions of bioenergy' that will provide a social science perspective within one of the main BBSRC Sustainable BioEnergy Centre (BSBEC) hubs… read more

Selected Publications

Current Research

BBSRC-funded project on the 'social, ethical and policy dimensions of bioenergy' that will provide a social science perspective within one of the main BBSRC Sustainable BioEnergy Centre (BSBEC) hubs at the University of Nottingham. This research project aims to identify the challenges and opportunities to the adoption of use of new energy crops by embedding awareness of the social and ethical dimensions throughout the research and technology development (RTD) process through the integration of social and natural scientists.

Bioenergy RTD could substantially change current agriculture and land use practices and policies. The development of biofuels raises numerous social and ethical issues, as exemplified by the increasing controversy surrounding the use of arable land for fuel production and its implications for food provision and prices. As the GMO experience showed, it has become increasingly important for bioscientists to engage with social and ethical concerns early in the RTD process. Such wider awareness and reflection can also assist the search for new scientific ideas and solutions.

Past Research

  • Pilot work funded by the Wellcome Trust that involved an overview of public-private partnerships (PPPs) in biomedical research in the UK, the identification of norms considered by partners to be important to the successful functioning of the partnership, how these may be in conflict and the identification of possible areas for policy intervention and future research.
  • Awarded funding by the BBSRC/MRC to conduct an evaluation of the UK Stem Cell Dialogue on the science, and the social and ethical issues, of stem cell research .
  • ESRC-funded project that used the European Group on Ethics (EGE) as a case study to map the perspectives of 'official bioethics' in the EU, track the impact of bioethics advice in parliamentary and legislative processes, and contribute to a wider analysis of the role and influence of expert bioethics advice on the governance of biotechnologies in the EU. This research highlighted the ethical tensions between consumerism and solidarity posed by commercial cord blood banking and revealed a number of salient social, political, and normative concerns that formed the basis of the EGE's considerations in developing its opinion on cord blood banking.
  • MOHR, A., 2011. Publics in the making: Mediating different methods of engagement and the publics these construct Science and Engineering Ethics: Special Issue: Science and Technology Policy in the Making: Observation and Engagement. 17(4), 667-672
  • MOHR, A and RAMAN, S. AND ELLIOTT, R., 2009. An independent evaluation of the BBSRC and MRC Stem Cell Dialogue Project 2008 Institute for Science and Society, University of Nottingham.
  • BUSBY, H and HERVEY, T. AND MOHR, A., 2008. Ethical EU law?: the constitutional position of the European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies European Law Review. 33(6), 803-842
  • MOHR, A. and NG, K., 2007. Citizens' Feedback Assessment: NanoDialogue-Enhancing dialogue on nanotechnologies and nanosciences in society at the European level European Commission.
  • MOHR, A., 2007. Against the stream. Moving public engagement on nanotechnologies upstream. In: FLYNN, R. and BELLABY, P., eds., Risk and the Public Acceptability of New Technologies Palgrave Macmillan. (In Press.)
  • ROGERS-HAYDEN, T and MOHR, A. AND PIDGEON, N. (EDS.), 2007. Special Issue: Engaging with Nanotechnologies – Engaging Differently? NanoEthics. 2(August),
  • ROGERS-HAYDEN, T and MOHR, A. AND PIDGEON, N., 2007. Introduction: Engaging with nanotechnologies – engaging differently? NanoEthics. 2(August), 123-130
  • MOHR, A., 2006. Meeting of Minds, European Citizens’ Discourse on Brain Science, Internal Evaluation Report King Baudouin Foundation/European Commission.
  • WALLS, J., ROGERS-HAYDEN, T., MOHR, A. and O’RIORDAN, T., 2005. Seeking citizens’ views on GM crops. Experiences from the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand Environment. 47(7), 22-36
  • JOSS, S. and MOHR, A., 2004. Analysing Public Accountability Procedures in Contemporary European Contexts European Commission. (HPSE-CT2001-0076)
  • MOHR, A., 2003. A New Policy-making Instrument? The First Australia Consensus Conference.: PhD Thesis Griffith University. Available at: <http://www4.gu.edu.au:8080/adt-root/public/adt-QGU20030707.075312/index.html>
  • MOHR, A., 2002. Consensus conferences as heterogeneous policy networks: the due consideration of public perceptions Australian Biologist. 15(2), 1-15
  • MOHR, A., 2002. Of being seen to do the right thing: Provisional findings from the first Australian consensus conference on gene technology in the food chain Science and Public Policy. 29(1), 2-12

Faculty of Engineering

The University of Nottingham
University Park
Nottingham, NG7 2RD


telephone: +44 (0) 115 951 4163
email:engineering@nottingham.ac.uk