| Post: | Fellow |
| Location: | Freeman Centre |
| Email: | A.V.Ely@sussex.ac.uk |
| Telephone numbers | |
| Internal: | 3026 or 8166 |
| UK: | (01273) 873026 or (01273) 678166 |
| International: | +44 1273 873026 or +44 1273 678166 |
Role
As a member of the STEPS Centre (a collaboration between SPRU and IDS), I am involved in two ongoing projects.
I am convening Innovation, Sustainability, Development: A New Manifesto, a project that draws upon the expertise of colleagues at SPRU and IDS and also involves our partner institutions across the world. The project will commemorate the fortieth anniversary of the Sussex Manifesto by putting together a new and forward-looking vision for science, technology and development in 2010.
I am also working on the "Rethinking Regulation" project. With Chinese partners, we are investigating the regulation of seeds and drugs at international, national and sub-national levels, and talking to farmers and patients in order to better understand how these regulatory frameworks and their associated assumptions translate to the rural realities where the technologies are actually being used.
I recently completed my involvement in the European Commission FP6-funded integrated project "Safe Foods". Working with colleagues from SPRU (Andy Stirling), Dialogik (Ortwin Renn and Marion Dreyer) and the University of Maastricht (Ellen Vos and Frank Wendler), the research centred on addressing the challenges of uncertainty and public engagement in European food safety governance.
In 2006 I finished writing up my doctoral research, which since 2001 had been supported by an ESRC-NERC interdisciplinary studentship. My DPhil project was concerned with the use of scientific evidence in the regulatory appraisal of genetically modified insect resistant crops. I focussed on specific ecological issues associated with the deliberate release of Bt maize (corn) in four case-study countries; the US, UK, France and Austria. By drawing on the theoretical approaches of critical science and social constructivism, and the wider literature around risk and uncertainty, my study examined the role that science does, can and should play in decision-making over Bt maize and new technologies more generally.
During the course of my doctoral studies I benefited from carrying out research while based at a number of institutions:
2004 September-05 January: Visiting Fellow, Program on Science, Technology and Society, J F Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, USA
2003 October-November: Visiting Fellow, Institute for Advanced Studies in Science, Technology and Society (IAS-STS), Graz, Austria
2003 May-July: Visiting Researcher, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), Ivry-sur-Seine, France
Teaching
I currently co-convene the final year course for undergraduate biologists, "Biotechnology, Innovation and Science Policy", and also convene two courses for SPRU MSc students: "The Management of Technological Risks" and "Innovation for Sustainability".
Publications
Ely, A. V. et al (2009) Chapters 1-5 in Dreyer, M. and O. Renn (Eds.) "Food Safety Governance: Integrating Science, Precaution and Public Involvement", Springer
Ely, A. (2008) "Risk: safety is just the start if we want good regulation", Food Ethics 3, 3, 6-8
John Thompson, Erik Millstone, Ian Scoones, Adrian Ely, Fiona Marshall, Esha Shah, Sigrid Stagl (2007) "Agri-food System Dynamics: pathways to sustainability in an era of uncertainty" STEPS Working Paper number 4
Melissa Leach, Gerald Bloom, Adrian Ely, Paul Nightingale, Ian Scoones, Esha Shah, Adrian Smith (2007) "Understanding Governance: pathways to sustainability" STEPS Working Paper number 2
Dreyer, M., Renn, O., Ely, A., Stirling, A., Vos, E. and Wendler, F. (2007) A General Framework for the Precautionary and Inclusive Governance of Food Safety, Work Package 5, FP6 Integrated Project: Safe Foods (updated and published as Dreyer and Renn (Eds.) above)
Ely, A. V. (2005) "Austrian Biosafety Policy: Founded on Ignorance?" in Yearbook of the Institute for Advanced Studies on Science, Technology and Society (IAS-STS), 2005, Graz, Austria
Ely, A. V. (2004) "Nur so können wir in Europa etwas verändern" Soziale Technik December 2004, 9-10
POST (2004) "Handling Uncertainty in Scientific Advice" POSTNote 220 produced while on an ESRC-funded fellowship at the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology
Ely, A. V. (2003) "Evaluation of Environmental Risks of Bt Maize in the US and EU:Lessons and Challenges for Kenya" produced for the Institute for Development Studies, Brighton, UK
Mwangi, P. and Ely, A. (2001) "Assessing risks and benefits: Bt maize in Kenya" Biotechnology and Development Monitor 48, 6-9