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Dr David Tyfield
Sociology: Lecturer
Department: Sociology
Degree: MBiochem (Hons) (Oxon), MSc, PGDipL, PhD
Associated research centres and groups: Centre for Mobilities Research (CeMoRe)
Current Teaching
In 2010/11 I am teaching the following courses:
- SOCL333 'Science, Innovation & Globalisation'
- SOCL332 'The Chinese Century?'
- SOCL 930 'Policy, publics and expertise' for the Masters programme in Science Studies
Research Interests
Background
Before starting my PhD, I studied Biochemistry and Molecular Cell Biology at Oxford and the Philosophy of Social Sciences at LSE. I also qualified as a solicitor, working in London and Brussels in various areas of corporate and commercial law, including intellectual property law and EU competition law. Bringing together these interests, I began my PhD in the Philosophy and Sociology of Science at Exeter in 2003. My research was based across two institutions: the Centre for Philosophy of the Social Sciences and the ESRC Centre for Genomics in Society (Egenis), the sister-centre of Lancaster's CESAGen.
My thesis was a multidisciplinary examination of the dramatic changes to the funding of science, especially the biosciences, that have occurred since 1980 including the growth of intellectual property rights (IPRs) in scientific research. This has been accompanied by a global strengthening of IPRs under the auspices of the World Trade Organisation's TRIPs agreement. By examining how TRIPs came to be signed, a theory for the (critical) realist examination of the economics of science is elaborated. This includes concerted attention to the role and importance of philosophical/ontological reflection in the development of social scientific theory. The project thus engages with work in the philosophy of science, science & technology studies, innovation economics, international relations (particularly regarding IPRs), critical theory and cultural political economy.
Current Research Activities
My current research develops my interests in the normative dimensions of the processes of knowledge production and their interaction with issues of global cultural political economy, especially regarding critical analysis of the emergence of a globalised "knowledge-based" economy. The project, jointly funded by the ESRC and the Advanced Institute of Management (AIM), is titled:
"China-EU Networks towards a Low Carbon Society"
Following recent developments in innovation studies towards emphasis on the presupposed issues of qualitative direction, and not just quantitative rate, of innovation, the project is examining the positive and negative effects of regulatory and ethical issues on the success or failure of collaborations between the UK and China. This is examined with a view towards the emergence of a global "cosmopolitan" regime of innovation for the production of global public goods, rather than a "techno-nationalist" regime in which the various countries are pitted against each other in zero-sum and uncollaborative innovation trajectories. In this light, the issue of climate change and sustainable development is of obvious importance. The project thus focuses on three fields in which issues of sustainable and cosmopolitan innovation are likely to be crucial, namely agriculture, energy and mobility.
The project follows the first phase of the Demos project "The Atlas of Ideas", in which the changing global geography was mapped through analysis of the growing capabilities in S&T of China, India, South Korea and Singapore.
The project team also includes Professor John Urry (PI), Professor Brian Wynne and Dr James Wilsdon (Royal Society). For further details please see the project's website (above).
Current Editoral Work
I am the Book Reviews Editor for Science as Culture. For information on books available for review, see: http://www.lancs.ac.uk/staff/tyfield/SaCbookreviews.doc
Potential Doctoral Proposals
I am currently supervising:
LI Jianmin: Corporate governance in China(with Prof Michael Kraetke)
Stephen Jackson: Rhetorics and scandal regarding climate change (with Dr Tim Dant)
I would be interested in proposals for doctoral students in the following areas:
- Political economy of science, technology and innovation, particularly regarding the life sciences and/or climate change
- Mobilities innovation
- Low-carbon transitions
- Science, technology and innovation in China
- Cosmopolitanism and cosmopolitan sociology
- Philosophy of social science, especially regarding issues of critical realism
Recent Publications
(forthcoming) The Economics of Science: A Critical Realist Overview London: Routledge.
Tyfield, D. & J. Jin (eds)(2010) Journal of Knowledge-based Innovation in China 2(3), Special Issue on Low-Carbon Innovation in China.
Tyfield, D. & J. Jin (2010) 'Low-carbon disruptive innovation in China', Journal of Knowledge-based Innovation in China 2(3): 269-282.
Tyfield, D., J. Jin & T. Rooker (2010) Game-Changing China: Lessons from China about Disruptive Low Carbon Innovation, London: NESTA, available (in English and Chinese at): http://www.nesta.org.uk/publications/reports/assets/features/game-changing_china
Tyfield, D. & J. Wilsdon (2010) 'Low Carbon China: the Role of International Collaboration' in S. Yao, B. Wu, D. Sutherland and S. Morgan, Sustainable Reform and Development in Post-Olympic China, London: Routledge. (Previous version available as Tyfield, D. & J. Wilsdon (2009) 'Low Carbon China: Disruptive Innovation and the Role of International Collaboration', China Policy Institute Discussion Paper 41, Nottingham University, available at: http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/shared/shared_cpi/documents/discussion_papers/Discussion_41_Tyfield_Low_Carbon_China.pdf)
(2010) ' Neoliberalism, Intellectual Property and the Global Knowledge Economy' in K. Birch and V. Mykhenko (eds) The Rise and Fall of Neoliberalism, London: Zed.
Tyfield, D. & J. Urry (2009) 'Cosmopolitan China? Lessons from International Collaboration in Low-Carbon Innovation', British Journal of Sociology, 60(4): 793-812, reprinted and revised as (2010) 'Cosmopolitan China?' Sozial Welt, Special Issue on Second Modernity, Ulrich Beck (ed.).
Tyfield, D., Y.G. Zhu & J.H. Cao (2009) 'The Importance of the "International Collaboration Dividend" - the Case of China', Science & Public Policy, 36(9): 723-735.
(2009) 'A Surplus of 'Surplus'?' Science as Culture 18(4): 497-500.
(2009) "Raging at Imaginary Don Quixotes: Reply to Girard and Weintraub" Erasmus Journal for Philosophy and Economics, 2(1)
(2008) "Four Fallacies regarding the Current Crisis", Mimeo: available at http://www.lancs.ac.uk/staff/tyfield/4fallacies
(November 2008) "Collaboration not Confrontation: low carbon China and the role of international collaboration" China Britain Business Review: available at http://www.cbbc.org/the_review/features/3.html
(2008)"The Impossibility of Finitism: from SSK to ESK?" Erasmus Journal for Philosophy and Economics, 1(1)
(2008) "Enabling TRIPs: The Pharma-Biotech-University Patent Coalition" Review of International Political Economy, 15(4): 535-566. Text available at: http://www.lancs.ac.uk/staff/tyfield/TyfieldRIPE08 (and figures: http://www.lancs.ac.uk/staff/tyfield/tyfieldRIPE08figures)
Report on Presentation by David Tyfield to the Beijing Energy & Environment Roundtable, 29 October 2008, in Beijing Science & Technology Report (in Chinese): [link forthcoming] For a full report in English of this presentation, see: http://greenleapforward.com/2008/11/03/david-tyfield-on-international-collaboration-for-low-carbon-innovation-part-1-of-2/
Report on Presentation by David Tyfield to the Department of Science, Technology & Society, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 23 April 2008, in Science Times (in Chinese): http://www.sciencenet.cn/dz/dznews_photo.aspx?id=3653
(2007) "The Debate about Transcendental Arguments in Critial Realism" 'The debate about transcendental arguments in critical realism', presentation to the seminar launch of Dictionary of Critical Realism, Institute of Education, London, 17 March 2007: available at http://criticalrealism.wikispaces.com/Critical+Realism+Media
(2006) "The Transcendental Argument and the Synthetic A Priori: Chasing Fairies or Serious Ontological Business?" in C. Lawson, J. Latsis and N. Martins (eds), Contributions to Social Ontology, Routledge: Abingdon and New York.
(2006) "Philosophy and Green Economics: An Introduction", Green Economist.
Eprints Publications Repository and Bibliographic Database
David Tyfield has 1 selected publication records listed on this webpage. Use links to access abstracts and full text where available. View all records to sort by date, type and title. For all ePrints records go to http://eprints.lancs.ac.uk
Tyfield, David and Urry, John (2009) Cosmopolitan China: Lessons from International Collaboration in Low-Carbon Innovation. British Journal of Sociology, 60 (4). pp. 793-812. ISSN 0007-1315
View all research activities, ePrints, news and events associated with David Tyfield.
Contact Details
Tel: +44 (0)1524 594187
Room: Bowland North, B10
Office Hour: Michaelmas 2010: Friday 10-11
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Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
Lancaster University
Lancaster LA1 4YD
United Kingdom Tel: +44 (0) 1524 510851
Fax: +44 (0) 1524 510857
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