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Lecturer in Risk and Resilience, University of Bristol

John Downer is a Lecturer in Risk and Resilience at the School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies at the University of Bristol. For a time he was a Research Officer at LSE's ESRC Centre for Analysis of Risk and Regulation (CARR).

His research focuses on how (and how well) regulators, publics and policy-makers ‘know’ the risks of complex technological systems. His work takes insights from a close empirical study of technological knowledge-production and draws-out their implications for broad questions about risk and governance in a world of pacemakers and power stations. In the widest sense, it aims to bring the sociology of knowledge to bear on discourses about technology policy and governance.

Experience

  • 2012–present
    Lecturer in Risk and Resilience, University of Bristol
  • 2010–2012
    Fellow, Centre for International Security and Cooperation, Stanford University
  • 2008–2010
    Research Officer, ESRC Centre for Analysis of Risk and Regulation (CARR), London School of Economics (LSE)

Education

  • 2007 
    Cornell University , PhD Science and Technology Studies

Publications

  • 2007
    When the Chick Hits the Fan: Representativeness and Reproducibility in Technological Testing, Social Studies of Science