Doctoral Dissertation Research: Do-It-Yourself Biology, Deliberation and Democracy

North Carolina State University, Raleigh NC

Investigators

Abstract

General Audience Summary This dissertation project will develop a case study of citizen deliberations about the governance of science by focusing on Do-It-Yourself Biology, a form of amateur science that makes relatively simple biotechnology practices accessible to individuals who are not affiliated with academic or corporate laboratories. The researcher will explore how the DIY Biology network defines synthetic biology and its governance using archival research and ethnographic methods. Issues to be explored include how the network relates to academic and corporate scientists and other stakeholders, how US and EU regulatory structures inform and respond to the network, and the consequences these negotiations pose for genetically modified organisms and the future of genetic sciences. The study will generate data that will be useful to scholars, policymakers, and practitioners. The results of the study will be disseminated to academic audiences through journals such as Social Studies of Science, Public Understanding of Science, and Science Communication. They will also be disseminated in widely accessible newspaper and magazine articles. In addition, the researcher will develop an online wiki that compiles links to local, national and international regulations pertaining to laboratories that work with transgenic organisms in order to enable practitioners to add more links over time. Technical Summary Using archival and ethnographic methods, the researcher will explore how DIY Biology in the San Francisco area, which serves as the primary site of the US phase of the project; the region plays a pivotal role in the development of biotechnology and microelectronics, two streams that are converging in synthetic biology. Copenhagen, Denmark, serves as the primary site of the EU phase of the project due to its leadership in developing contemporary biotechnology, in formulating national and international biotechnology policies, and in encouraging active citizen participation in the regulatory process. Complementing an ethnographic approach with archival study will extend this research back in time to highlight how DIY Biology echoes or diverges from historical conceptions of microelectronics and biotechnology. The project will contribute to multi-disciplinary conversations about how emerging technologies are constituted, legitimized and governed, and how democracies operate. By positioning citizens as practitioners of scientific techniques, DIY Biology offers an opportunity to reconsider scientist-citizen interactions in the context of governance. The project will shed light on the shifting interactions between science and politics in different cultural contexts, on what motivates people to deliberate and how people experience deliberation in their daily lives, and on the effects their deliberations have on governance systems.