Institute for Science and Society

Role(s): Postgraduate Student

Qualifications

MA Research Methods in Science and Society, (2006) The University of Nottingham
BSc. (Hons) Biology, (2005) The University of Nottingham

Past research

During an internship at the Institute of Science and Society I undertook research into the ethical, legal and social status of neuroscience as a research assistant to Dr. Paul Martin who, in collaboration with Dr. Richard Ashcroft, produced a report to the Wellcome Trust for their Summer School on Neuroscience, Ethics and Society.  Other research conducted has been on the development and present use of protein therapeutics and stem cell therapies. 

I co-authored a report, commissioned by the BSSRC , on the ethical and social challenges posed by the emerging science of synthetic biology. I continue to conduct research, give presentations and write papers in this field (see publications below).

Current research

My present research is undertaken for award of PhD in Science and Technology Studies.  It sits in the broad fields of social, philosophical, ethical and legal analysis, with the focus on contemporary lie detection technologies in the United Kingdom and United States.  It aims to delineate their construction as technologies of truth in the context of political, legal and scientific discourses. STS, surveillance and critical theories are drawn upon to characterize and critique their development and deployment through this history of deceit and its detection.  Of particular interest are the neuroscientific technologies, previously medical and diagnostic, such as fMRI and EEG, that are being repositioned as agents in litigation, eyes of the panopticon and soldiers in the war on terror.  

More generally I am interested in neuroscience findings and how they are dispersed throughout society, where they find root and how they change their environment.  The proliferation of fields reveals fMRI increasingly in cultural contexts where it supplements or supplants previous understandings, e.g. neuroeconomics, neuromarketing etc. These new disciplines and their corresponding ethical discourses (i.e. neuroethics) are of significant interest.  

Publications

Balmer, A.S. and Herreman, C. (in press 2009) Craig Venter and the Re-programming of Life: How metaphors shape and perform ethical discourse in the media presentation of synthetic biology. In Nerlich, B., Elliott, R. and Larson, B. (eds.) Communicating biological sciences: ethical and metaphorical dimensions. London: Ashgate.

Goulden, M. and Balmer, A.S. (in press 2009) Boundary Working the Human-Animal Binary in “Contested Categories: Studies of the Life Sciences in Society”, (eds.) Bauer, S., Jessen, H. and Wahlberg, A., Hampshire, Ashgate

Balmer, A.S. and Martin, P.M. (2008) Synthetic Biology: life, but not as we know it? Report commissioned by the BBSRC available here: http://www.synbioethics.org 

Smart, A., Tutton, R., Ashcroft, R., Martin, P., Balmer, A., Elliot, R., and Ellison, G.T.H. (2008) Social Inclusivity vs. Analytical Acuity? A Qualitative Study of UK Researchers Regarding the Inclusion of Minority Ethnic Groups in Biobanks in Special Issue: Implementing Genetic Database Governance Medical Law International  9 (2): 169-190

Presentations

Invisibilities: the Politics, Practice and Experience of Surveillance in Everyday Life (2008) Sheffield "Reading Minds: the development of neurotechnologies for lie detection"

British Sociological Association Medical Sociology Group (2007) Liverpool "Polygraphing Paedophiles: lie detection technology and the management of sex offenders"

ISS, The University of Nottingham, Seminar Series (2007) "From Lies to Lying/From God to Machines"

Law School, The University of Nottingham, Graduate Seminar (2007) "The development of neurotechnologies for lie detection"

Media Interviews/Articles/Public Engagement

Spring 2009, Issue 3.1, Culture Magazine
“Where the Truth Lies” excerpts from an invited seminar

Miscellaneous Professional Activities

2008-2009 Chair and Co-founder Postgraduate STS Conference

2007-2008 Chair and Coordinator Institute for Science and Society Seminar Series

2008-2009 Coordinator Craft of Writing Group

2008-2009 Chair Institute for Science and Society Reading Group