Social and Political Sciences, Philosophy, and Anthropology

Photo of Professor Angela Cassidy

Professor Angela Cassidy

Associate Professor in Science and Technology Studies

A.Cassidy@exeter.ac.uk

5390

01392 725390

Lazenby House Rm 1.03

Overview

My research spans science and technology studies and contemporary history of science, and I have specialist interests in science-policy relations; science communication, engagement and participation; environmental and agricultural politics; animal studies, environmental history; and interdisciplinary collaboration. In my research, I investigate how scientific knowledge is produced, communicated, interpreted and contested across the wider public sphere, particularly during public controversies. I have explored this process through a series of case studies, including of 'One Health' advocacy; food chain risks and popular evolutionary psychology . I also study cross-disciplinary interactions, agenda building and collaboration across health, agriculture and the environment.

My latest project, From 'Feed The Birds', to 'Do Not Feed The Animals'?, is an interdisciplinary collaborative project investigating the bioarcheology, anthropology, history and governance of animal feeding practices and their consequences.  You can find out more about the project on our website at https://animalfeeding.org/.

I recently completed a longstanding piece of research investigating the history of bovine TB in the UK and the chronic  controversy over whether to cull wild badgers in order to control the disease in domestic cattle herds, which has been ongoing since 1971. This case has seen repeating cycles of policy formation, implementation, public controversy, and expert review: my research sheds light on the persistence of such cycles beyond bTB, and the lack of institutional memory of such chronic, long term policy problems.

My monograph Vermin, Victims and Disease: British Debates Over Bovine Tuberculosis and Badgers was published in autumn 2019. The ebook is available for free on an Open Access basis. You can see further details of my publications in the Exeter repository (linked Google Scholar and HumCommons.

As an extension of my interests in public engagement, I chair the Science in Public Network: a cross disciplinary meeting space for academics and professionals interested in science, technology and medicine in the public sphere.

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Research

Expertise and Policy / Politics

Knowledge Controversies

Engagement, Publics and Participation

Science and Technology Studies

Scientific Communication / Science in Mass Media

Environmental/Agricultural Politics

Contemporary History of Science, Technology and Medicine

Animal Health Policy

Animal Studies 

Research group links

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Supervision

I am happy to consider PhD supervision in any of the areas outlined below. Please email me to explore further.

Expertise and Policy / Politics
Knowledge Controversies
Engagement, Publics and Participation
Science and Technology Studies
Scientific Communication / Science in Mass Media
Environmental/Agricultural Politics
Contemporary History of Science, Technology and Medicine
Animal Health Policy
Animal Studies

Research students

I co-supervise two PhD researchers:

Virginia Thomas: 'Rewilding of species, land and ecosystems'

Thibaud Deruelle: 'Unveiling a Discreet Power through Reputation: the (Im)plausible European Regulator of Disease Prevention and Control'

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Publications

Copyright Notice: Any articles made available for download are for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the copyright holder.

| 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2012 | 2010 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 |

2022

2021

  • Thomas V. (2021) Navigating the landscapes of rewilding: a comparative case study of ‘rewilding’ in the Avalon Marshes and Wild Ennerdale.
  • Deruelle T. (2021) Discreet Power through Reputation. Bureaucratic Empowerment and Disease Control in the EU.
  • Cassidy A. (2021) Communicating the social sciences and humanities. Specific challenges - and broader insights for research communication, Routledge Handbook of Public Communication of Science and Technology (3rd edition), Routledge. [PDF]

2020

  • Cassidy A, Maule J. (2020) Risk communication and participatory research: 'Fuzzy-felt', visual games and group discussion of complex issues, A Handbook of Visual Methods in Psychology: Using and Interpreting Images in Qualitative Research: Second Edition, 323-340.

2018

2017

2016

  • Cassidy A. (2016) One Medicine? Advocating (Inter)disciplinarity at the Interfaces of Animal Health, Human Health, and the Environment, Investigating Interdisciplinary Collaboration: Theory and Practice across Disciplines, Rutgers University Press. [PDF]
  • Cassidy A, Lock SJ, Voss G. (2016) Sexual Nature? (Re)presenting Sexuality and Science in the Museum, SCIENCE AS CULTURE, volume 25, no. 2, pages 214-238, DOI:10.1080/09505431.2015.1120284.

2015

2014

2012

2010

2008

2007

2006

2005

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External impact and engagement

ENGAGEMENT ACTIVITIES:

  • Participant: One Health Scoping Workshop, Scottish Enterprise, Stirling, 9th February 2016.
  • Talk: ‘Uncertainty and Expectations of Science in Public’ Uncertainty stream, FutureEverything 2016, 1st April 2016.
  • Project lead, Being Human/Being
    Animal, public event at the Hunterian Museum, London, 15th November 2015, funded by the ‘Being Human’ Festival of the Humanities: http://beinghumanfestival.org/
  • External adviser to artist Roger Hiorns, History is Now exhibition, Hayward Gallery, 10th Feb-26th April 2015
  • Interviewee, Radio 4: Costing the Earth, 23/10/13, ‘Our Neighbours are Elephants!’
  • Participant, DEFRA Bovine TB Science Workshop, held at the Royal Society, London, 25th April 2013
  • Talk: ‘A contemporary history of One Health: human/animal health and (inter)disciplinarity’ One Health Forum Korea, College of Veterinary Medicine, Seoul National University, 13-14th Dec. 2012 (Invited Keynote)
  • Talk: ‘Uncertainty and public controversy: the badger/bTB debate’ BBSRC Food Security Workshop, Science Museum London, 22nd November 2012 (invited speaker)
  • Interviewee, Today, Radio 4, 27/10/12; Harrabin, R. ‘Badgers: Splitting public opinion for more than 200 years’ BBC News Online.

POPULAR OUTPUTS:

  • Cassidy, A. 'The UK’s Bovine TB Strategy: a prospective view from history' Response to UK Government 2018 Bovine TB Strategy Review Call for Evidence: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/bovine-tb-strategy-review-2018-call-for-evidenceward
  • MSc. Studentship; Open Competition PhD Studentship (University of Edinburgh)

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Teaching

Modules taught

  • ANT1011 - Imagining Social Worlds: Qualitative Research
  • ANT2024 - Environments in Public
  • ANT3041 - Environments in Public
  • SOC1047 - Imagining Social Worlds: Qualitative Research
  • SOC2052 - Environments in Public
  • SOC3117 - Environments in Public

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Biography

Following an undergraduate degree in Psychology and Zoology, I transitioned from studying science to studying how science works, training as a postgraduate in Science and Technology Studies at the University of Edinburgh.

I then conducted postdoctoral research on food risks at the University of Leeds and on relationships between human and animal health at Imperial College London. My independant research programme investigating bovine TB was funded by research fellowships from the Rural Economy and Land Use Programme (at University of East Anglia) and Wellcome Trust (King's College London).

I joined the University of Exeter in September 2016 as a Lecturer in the Politics department and member of the Centre for Rural Policy Research (CRPR). In September 2019 I joined the department of Sociology, Philosophy and Anthropology.

GRANTS AND AWARDS:

  • 2015 Being Human Festival: 'Being Human/Being Animal', £400 (+£400 funds from KCL History).
  • 2013-2017 Wellcome Trust Medical Humanities Fellowship (Kings College London/University of Exeter, 101540/Z/13/Z), £179,911.
  • 2008-2011 RELU Interdisciplinary Early Career Fellowship, (University of East Anglia, RES-229-27-007a), £255,637.
  • 2003-2004 ESRC Postdoctoral Research Fellowship, (Universit of Manchester, PTA-026-27-0036), £26,492.
  • 1998-2002 ESRC Quota Award MSc. Studentship; Open Competition PhD Studentship (University of Edinburgh)

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