Reiner Grundmann

Reiner Grundmann joined the University of Nottingham in September 2012 as Professor in Science and Technology Studies from Aston University where he was heading the Sociology department over many years.

Reiner received his first degree in Sociology from the Free University in Berlin and his PhD in Political and Social Sciences from the European University Institute, Florence. He also obtained a German Habilitation from Bielefeld University. Before moving to the UK he was researcher at the Wissenschaftszentrum in Berlin (Germany) and at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies (Cologne, Germany).

His main research interest is the relation between knowledge and decision making. In recent years he has been studying the public discourse on climate change where the role of scientific experts, lay audiences, decision makers and the mass media are crucially important. As various actors frame the issue in different ways, their use of language needs to be understood. Reiner has started to conduct cross national analyses of newspaper reporting on climate change in several countries.

Reiner also researches the social, political, and cultural dimensions of climate change. This includes the ethics of climate research (as exemplified in 'climategate'), the dilemmas of scientists between advocacy and honest brokering, the role of Sociology in the climate change debate, and the relevance of STS for all of this.