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Biography
Ashley Lewis holds a BA in Public Relations from the University of Texas at Austin (2006) and an MA in International Relations from the University of Westminster (2008). Her master's dissertation was a multi-disciplinary project combining economic interdependence theories, a linguistically-based discourse analysis and political conceptual frameworks. She investigated reactive US trade and environmental policy during negotiations with China. The commonly used discourse that rapid economic gains are fundamentally at odds with environmental preservation initiatives served as an underlying theme of her final project.
For her PhD, she studies interdisciplinary collaboration in practice and interrogates the different definitions, assumptions and promises surrounding interdisciplinary research across the natural and social sciences. She takes and ethnographic approach to study interdisciplinarity, and uses self-reflexivity to reflect on her positionality within the research project.
Her current research interests include science and technology studies, critical discourse analysis, interdisciplinarity, scientific expertise and evidence, self-reflexivity, ethnography, sustainability science and Mode 2 knowledge.
Prior to joining the University of Nottingham she worked in various UK government departments in the policy arena before working as a market researcher specialising in ethnographic methods.
Teaching Summary
Science and Technology Studies
Climate Change and Environmental Governance
Sociology
Research Summary
Ashley Lewis is currently doing a PhD in Science and Technology studies about interdisciplinary research approaches to urban sustainability research projects. Her work forms part of the wider… read more
Current Research
Ashley Lewis is currently doing a PhD in Science and Technology studies about interdisciplinary research approaches to urban sustainability research projects. Her work forms part of the wider Leverhulme Trust programme, "Sustaining urban habitats: an interdisciplinary approach". Using this research project as a case study, she uses ethnographic methods to map interdisciplinary collaboration in practice and identify key opportunities and challenges in the collaborative process.