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'The Socio-Politics of Biosecurity: Science, Policy and Practice.'
ESRC Seminar Series 2009-2011
In collaboration with Keele University and Birkbeck, University of London
Biosecurity Practices
Biosecurity, the management or control of perceived dangerous biological mobility and exchange (including invasive plants and animals, insect pests, viruses and pathogens), is an increasingly prevalent issue in academic, policy and media circles.
Biosecurity systems including political legislation, institutional arrangements and practical enforcement have been developed by countries to protect themselves against these mobile biological risks. These systems demand behavioural changes amongst publics, the realigning and standardizing of local cultural associations to nature, and the justification of the penetration of policy into private arenas.
Theorising Biosecurity
Innovative theoretical conceptualisations of biosecurity are being forged in connection to diverse literatures including biopolitics, post-humanism, global networked cities, geopolitics and inequalities, security governance regimes and the sociology of fear and risk. However, a consistent concern is the lack of dialogue between the social sciences and biosecurity policy regimes.
This 5-part seminar series seeks to draw this research together, to stimulate and facilitate policy interest and channels of communication, and to encourage further research on the social, political and cultural aspects of biosecurity.
Seminar Attendance
This website is a link to the people and resources associated with the project, and we welcome any interest in it. Seminar attendance is fully-funded, so if anyone is interested in attending any of the seminars, please get in touch with one of the organizers via the contacts page.
We are particularly interested in involving early-career researchers - especially PhD students from the social and natural sciences working on issues in biosecurity.
