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Research

The Institute for Science and Society (ISS) is committed to producing excellent, innovative and engaged research. Since ISS was set up in 1998, we have:

  • attracted grants and contracts over £20m from various funding bodies including the Leverhulme and Wellcome Trusts, the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), the Medical Research Council (MRC), the European Science Foundation (ESF), the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), EU Horizon 2020, the European Research Council (ERC), the National Health Service (NHS)
  • undertaken world-leading research projects and commissions for government agencies and prominent organisations
  • taught and supervised over 50 postgraduate and PhD students
research
 

Selected research projects

  • 2022-2024, No Carbon Lost - Eliminating Co2 Production from Fermentation Processes, . BBSRC. £1,875,000. CI: Dimitris Papadopoulos
  • 2022-2024, Arid ethno-forestry food systems: a wellbeing alternative for communities living in drylands of the world. GCRF-AHRC. £199,989. CI: Dimitris Papadopoulos.
  • 2021-2024, VAX-TRUST: Addressing vaccine hesitancy in Europe. EU Horizon 20/20. €2,970,000. CI: Pru Hobson-West.
  • 2020-2022 Constructing and contesting veterinary expertise. British Academy/Wellcome Trust Conference Award. In kind contribution. PI: Pru Hobson-West. CI: Alistair Anderson and Kate Millar. Conference details are View conference details
  • 2020-2024, Trustworthy Autonomous Systems Hub. UKRI. £11,900,000. CI: Murray Goulden.
  • 2020-2023, Politics of Matter: Food Sovereignty and Agroecological Farming Between Science and Society. Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship. £127,790. PI: Dr Andrea Ghelfi. Mentor: Dimitris Papadopoulos.   
  • 2020-2023, Is 'elderspeak' always inappropriate? An empirical investigation of the use of elderspeak in dementia care. ESRC DTP Collaborative Studentship. PI: Alison Pilnick.
  • 2020-2022, Synthetic Biology Research Centre: Sustainable Routes to Platform Chemicals. BBSRC. £2,380,595. CI: Dimitris Papadopoulos; PI: Nigel Minton.
  • 2020-2022, Controversies in human and animal vaccination. Wellcome Trust Prime Scholarship. £24,531. PI: Pru Hobson-West.
  • 2019-2028, CDT Sustainable Chemistry: Atoms-2-Products an Integrated Approach to Sustainable Chemistry. EPSRC. £6,235,044. CI: Dimitris Papadopoulos; PI: Pete Licence.
  • 2019-2023. Ensuring animal research is ethical: Comparing public and policy expectations. ESRC DTP Collaborative Studentship with RSPCA. £80,000. PI: Pru Hobson-West; CI: Dimitris Papadopoulos.
  • 2019-2021, Academy of Medical Sciences Future Leaders in Innovation, Enterprise and Research award. PI: Alison Pilnick.
  • 2019-2020, Talking about gene drive: An exploration of language to enable understanding and deliberation in Africa, Europe, North America and Australasia. Wellcome Trust. CI: Brigitte Nerlich; PI: Sarah Hartley.
  • 2018-2021, A three-year project investigating potential challenges posed by the connections between cloud-based services and the Internet of Things in the workplace and home. EPSRC. CI: Murray Goulden.
  • 2018-2020, Mending the New: A Framework for Reconciliation Through Testimonial Digital Textiles in the Transition to Post-Conflict Rural Colombia. AHRC/UKRI Newton Fund ODA. £524,733. PI: Dimitris Papadopoulos.
  • 2018-2020, A two-year project on the implementation of bio-rural energy scheme in Ghana. University of Nottingham. CI: Alison Mohr.
  • 2018-2020, Benign by Design: The Emergence of Ecologically Sustainable Chemical Innovation. Leverhulme Research Fellowship. £62,051. PI: Dimitris Papadopoulos.
  • 2018-2019. A discourse analytic study of genetic counselling in Hong Kong. General Research Fund of Hong Kong. CI: Alison Pilmick. 
  • 2017-2022, Animal Research Nexus: Changing Constitutions of Science, Health and Welfare. Wellcome Trust Collaborative Award. £1.6 Million. CI: Pru Hobson-West.
  • 2017-2020, Murray Goulden is a Nottingham Research Fellow working on the role of digital technologies within social practices.
  • 2017-2018, A project on governing rights and access to community energy for development. ESRC. PI: Alison Mohr.
  • 2016-2019, A three-year research programme on antimicrobial resistance in farms. NERC. Co-I: Sujatha Raman.
  • 2016-2019, A three-year research project on 3D printing with atoms. PI: Philip Moriarty; Co-I: Brigitte Nerlich.
  • 2015-2020, A five-year programme exploring sustainability in urban habitats. Leverhulme Trust. Co-I: Reiner Grundmann.
  • 2014-2020, A five-year Synthetic Biology Research Centre. BBSRC/EPSRC. Co-I: Brigitte Nerlich, social science lead: Carmen McLeod
  • A five-year programme exploring the challenges in making science more public. Leverhulme Trust. PI: Brigitte Nerlich and Sujatha Raman, 2012-2018
  • A Project on promotion of long-term sustainability of charcoal as fuel in Ghana. ESRC Nexus Network and the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF). PI: Sujatha Raman, 2015-2018
  • Participation in the RCUK Supergen Bioenergy Hub. Lead: Alison Mohr. Started in 2017
  • A five-year programme exploring synthetic biology and responsible research and innovation, funded by the BBSRC/EPSRC, 2013-2017
  • A three-year project examined climate change as a complex social issue. ESRC/ORA. 2011-2014

Postdoctoral and PhD research

If you are interested in conducting research at ISS, please contact Professor Pru Hobson-West.

Contact us

pru.hobson-west@nottingham.ac.uk

Institute for Science and Society
School of Sociology and Social Policy
Law and Social Sciences
University of Nottingham
University Park
Nottingham, NG7 2RD