Dr Andy Bartlett
Research Fellow SATSU

Profile

Biography

Andrew joined the Department of Sociology in September 2017, having previously worked at Cardiff University and the University of Sheffield on a number of research projects. He completed his PhD (Accomplishing Sequencing the Human Genome) as an ESRC funded student at Cesagen (the ESRC Centre for the Ethical and Social Aspects of Genomics) in 2008, which explored the experiences of working on the Human Genome Project. After his PhD he was a Research Assistant on the Cesagen ‘Genomics and Psychiatry’ research project, before working with Harry Collins on the ERC funded ‘Imitation Game’ project and a Leverhulme Trust funded exploration of the sociology of ‘fringe’ physics. At Sheffield he worked on Paul Martin’s Leverhulme Trust-funded project ‘How Does Inequality get 'Under the Skin'? Epigenetics, health disparities and the making of public policy’. At York he works with Andrew Webster on the ‘Biomodifying Technologies’ project, looking at the development and governance of gene editing.

Before moving into the sociology of science, Andrew studied biological science (BSc Biology, York, 1999 and MSc Human Genetics, Leeds, 2001).

Research

Overview

Andrew’s research has been in the Science and Technology Studies (STS) tradition, and has explored the development of 'big' biology, the collectivisation of research and the practices of interdisciplinarity, and the ways in which both publics engage with science and the ways in which scientists engage with (and understand) publics.

These issues touch on questions of the culture (and value system) of science and individual disciplines, which also informed his work on communities of ‘fringe’ physics. He is an experienced qualitative sociologist of scientific communities, having used interviews and ethnographic observation to study scientists across a number of projects. Andrew has published research papers on topics such as the interdisciplinary tensions in bioinformatics, the development of large-scale psychiatric genetics, and the role of emotion in binding together patient communities.

Publications

Selected publications

Arribas-Ayllon, M., Bartlett, A., & Featherstone, K. (2010). Complexity and Accountability: The Witches’ Brew of Psychiatric Genetics. Social Studies of Science, 40(4): 499-524.

Arribas-Ayllon, M., & Bartlett, A. (2014). Sociological Ambivalence and the Order of Scientific Knowledge. Sociology 48(2): 335-351.

Bartlett, A., Lewis, J., & Williams, M.L. (2016). Generations of Interdisciplinarity in Bioinformatics. New Genetics and Society 35(2), 186-209.

Bartlett, A., Lewis, J., & Penders, B. (2017). Bioinformatics: Indispensable, Yet Hidden in Plain Sight? BMC Bioinformatics DOI: 10.1186/s12859-017-1730-9.              

Collins, H., Bartlett, A., & Reyes-Galindo, L. (2017). Demarcating Fringe Science for Policy. Perspectives on Science 25(4): 411-438.

Collins, H., Evans, R., Weinel, M., Lyttleton-Smith, J., Bartlett, A., & Hall, M. (2015). The Imitation Game and the Nature of Mixed Methods. Journal of Mixed Methods Research DOI: 10.1177/1558689815619824   

Dimond, R., Bartlett, A., & Lewis, J. (2015). What Binds Biosociality? The Collective Effervescence of the Parent-Led Conference. Social Science & Medicine 126: 1-8.

Lewis, J., & Bartlett, A. (2013). Inscribing a Discipline: Tensions in the Field of Bioinformatics. New Genetics and Society 32(3): 243-263.

Lewis, J., & Bartlett, A. (2015). How UK Psychiatric Geneticists Understand and Talk About Engaging the Public. New Genetics and Society 34(1): 89-111.

Lewis, J., Bartlett, A., & Atkinson, P. (2016). Hidden in the Middle: Culture, Value and Reward in Bioinformatics. Minerva 54(4), 471-490.

Watermeyer, R., & Bartlett, A. (2013). Evaluation of Health Research Authority: Public and Patient Engagement Project. Sciencewise.