Centre for the Study of Knowledge, Expertise and Science (KES)

Description

The Centre for the Study of Knowledge, Expertise and Science is an internationally known, university-wide, research centre specialising in the nature of expertise in science and society.

The Centre draws together researchers from a range of specialisms within science and technology studies including:

• sociology of scientific and medical knowledge
• law and politics
• history and philosophy of science
• journalism, media, and cultural studies

At the heart of the Centre is a lively seminar series that meets every other week during term time and attracts local and international speakers. The Centre also has longstanding links with other Schools in the university including Law and Politics; Geography and Planning; English, Communication and Philosophy; Journalism, Media, and Cultural Studies; Physics; and Computer Science. In addition, the Centre maintains links with science, technology and society scholars across Europe, Latin America, and the United States.

The main focus of the Centre's work is developing Studies in Expertise and Experience. This involves case studies of pure and applied sciences; projects investigating public understanding of, and participation in, science; and wider concerns about the role of science in democratic societies. The last focus has been given particular urgency by the rise of populism and a current concern is how to maintain citizens’ interest in the value of science and expertise. One direction is to work out if and how science can serve as one of the checks and balances within pluralist democracies. Many of these topics are addressed at the regular SEESHOP conferences the Centre organises to debate and develop this research agenda.

Current and recent research projects based in Cardiff have addressed questions about the nature, use, development, and transfer of expertise through topics including:

• role of scientific expertise in democratic societies
• experimental and theoretical physics
• automation and intelligent machines
• climate change and social movements
• citizen science and local environment
• interactional expertise and the Imitation Game
• genetics and biomedicine

The Centre welcomes applications from graduate students or others who would be interested in researching in any of these areas or new or related topics.

Offers funding

No, this infrastructure does not provide funding.

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University affiliation(s)

Cardiff University
Cardiff