Neuromarketing: Over a period of three years, Tanja Schneider and Steve Woolgar will participate in a European wide project on the “Neuro-turn in European Social Sciences and the Humanities: Impacts of neurosciences on economics, marketing and philosophy” (NESSHI) with a total value of 1,250,000€ funded by an ESRC “Open Research Area” grant. The objective of this research will be to provide the first empirical assessment of the uptake of decision neurosciences by social sciences and the humanities (SSH), and its subsequent consequences. The UK contribution to the project undertakes an empirical investigation of the new practices of "neuro-SSH" by studying in depth the developments in neuromarketing through ethnographic fieldwork, interviews and documentary analysis with the objective to offer an assessment of the social implications of these for marketing and business practices.
The Oxford e-Social Science (OeSS) project is an ESRC-funded study of the impacts of computer-based and networked systems on academic research. In addition to the ethical, legal, and institutional implications of these innovations upon digital social research, or so-called 'e-research', the project investigates how visualisation transforms notions of evidence and knowledge.
How's my feedback? is an ESRC-funded project that brings together designers, managers, policy-makers, users and researchers to rethink and evaluate web-based rating and ranking schemes.
Mundane technical solutions to public problems. ESRC (Science in Society Programme) project £132,000 Jan 2004 – Dec 2006 (DN and SW). Study of the ways in which ordinary objects and technologies are increasingly the basis for regulation and social control, drawing in particular on recycling and rubbish management; traffic control and speed cameras; airport passenger movement and security. Book length monograph “Mundane Governance” nearing completion.
CONTECS (Converging Technologies). EU FP6 426,200 Euros: a scoping study with partners in Germany and France, Feb 2006 – Jan 2008. Sessions on “Engaging with converging technologies” at 4S/EASST, Rotterdam 2008 (SW with Elena Simakova, Ana Viseu and Rob Doubleday), a critical assessment of our experiences as social scientists in engaging with converging (NBIC) technologies and with "predecessor" technologies such as nano. A paper, “The ontological politics of convergence” (SW, Elena Simakova, Christopher Coenen) presented at 4S/EASST Rotterdam Aug 2008. Possible special issue of Science Technology and Human Values.
ResIST (Researching Inequality through Science and Technology). EU FP6 1.3m Euros, with multiple European partners, April 2006 – March 2009. PH is Principal Investigator. Work Package 3: New Accountability Systems (DN and SW)
Does STS Mean Business? Edited special issue of Organization, with editorial essay by SW, DN and CC, published 2009. Based on two international workshops at SBS (2004 and 2005) and a session at Academy of Management (Philadephia, 2006).
Philanthrocapitalism. How is the emergence of new philanthropic players and investment strategies affecting health funding, with a particular focus on access to essential medicines for neglected diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis. Proposal in development (LMcG, with support from Skoll).
Experiments in carbon-based living and postcalculative forms of engagement (NM).