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Dr Bronislaw Szerszynski

Sociology: Senior Lecturer

Degree: Oct 1989 - Sept 1993: Ph. D. dissertation - Uncommon Ground: Moral Discourse, Foundationalism and the Environmental Movement - Sociology, Lancaster University. Oct 1986 - June 1989: BA, Independent Studies, Lancaster University.

Associated research centres and groups: Centre for the Study of Environmental Change, ESRC Centre for Economic and Social Aspects of Genomics (CESAGen)

Current Teaching

On the undergraduate BA in Sociology, I convene the third-year dissertation module SOCL360, Doing Sociological Research.

At MA level, I am convenor of the 'Environment, Culture and Public Policy' pathway of the MA in Society, Technology and Nature. I also teach the core module of that pathway, SOCL521, Environment and Culture, and co-teach with Brian Wynne one of the common core module for MA STN as a whole, SOCL930, Policy, Publics and Expertise.

I supervise doctoral students in the area of environment, technology and culture.

Research Interests

Since the early 1990s my research has been concerned with developing new understandings of the changing relations with environment and technology, situated particularly within social theory and sociological research, but also drawing on philosophy, theology and other humanities disciplines. Substantively, my research projects have been exploring topics such as climate change, environmental movements, landscape perception, global citizenship and cosmopolitanism, the changing social role of religion and spirituality, the regulation of GM food and crops, and public participation.

A key reference point for my work has been European social theory in relation to the environment. In May 1992 I co-organised the international conference The Risk Society, with participants including Ulrich Beck, Klaus Eder and Anthony Giddens, which led to the collection Risk, Environment and Modernity (Sage, 1996), edited with Scott Lash and Brian Wynne, which has become an influential text in the 'greening' of social theory.

I have also pursued interdisciplinary research activities in the environment with scholars in arts and humanities disciplines, co-organising both the colloquium The Re-Ordering of Nature: Theology and the New Genetics (March 2000), and the major international conference and arts event Between Nature: Explorations in Ecology and Performance, (July 2000), which resulted in two edited collections, Re-Ordering Nature (T&T Clark, 2003) and Nature Performed (Blackwell, 2003) respectively. I am currently directing the research programme Experimentality for the Institute for Advanced Studies - a year-long collaborative exploration of ideas and practices of experimentation in science and technology, the arts, commerce, politics, popular culture, everyday life, and the natural world.

One of my research specialisms is the relationship between technology and religion. On this topic I published my own monograph, Nature, Technology and the Sacred with Blackwell in 2005 and a number of journal articles and book chapters. I also edited a double special issue of the journal Ecotheology: The Journal of Religion, Nature and the Environment on 'Postmodernity and Ecotheology' in 2004 (issues 9(2) and 9(3)).

A growing research focus is living with climate change. With John Urry I have just edited a special double issue of the journal Theory, Culture and Society on 'Changing Climates' (27(2/3), March/May 2010), including an article by myself on climate science, geoengineering and responsibility.

Publications

Bronislaw Szerszynski's publications

Career

Lecturer at the Institute for Environment, Philosophy and Public Policy, Lancaster University (September 2000-December 2005).

Lecturer at the Centre for the Study of Environmental Change (CSEC) (August 1998 - August 2000).

Research Associate (as Principal Applicant) on ESRC-funded project Global Citizenship, the Environment and the Mass Media, CSEC, Lancaster University (July 1997 - July 1998).

Research Associate on ESRC-funded research programme Science, Culture and the Environment, CSEC, Lancaster University (April 1994 - June 1997).

Research Fellow at European University Institute, Florence, and Honorary Research Fellow at CSEC, Lancaster University, on five-nation EU-funded project Framing and Communicating Environmental Issues (November 1992 - March 1994).

Eprints Publications Repository and Bibliographic Database

Bronislaw Szerszynski has 18 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

Associated Keywords: Biopolitics, Biotechnology, Environment, Public participation, Religion, Social theory, Sociology, Technology

View all research activities, ePrints, news and events associated with Bronislaw Szerszynski.

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