Jack Stilgoe
Senior Researcher
Jack Stilgoe works on science and technology projects and specialises in issues of science, society and public engagement.
"science"
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- Illness, Expertise and Charlie Hodgson's floppy foot. There was some ham-fisted criticism of such policies on the grounds that they somehow undermined the authority of science. But, more interestingly, there were valid questions about how such attempts to engage publics should be implemented. Many people?s criticisms seemed to suggest that the top-down programme forced both patients and doctors to behave in a certain, prescribed way. This raises important questions?Should public engagement experiments be seen as instruments or opportunities? Real... from : jackstilgoe 14th February 2005
- Nano Nano Lord Sainsbury announced yesterday his new grants for public engagement with science, one of which is funding a new Demos project with Lancaster University. After See-Through Science, we are squaring up to our own challenge and doing some innovative public engagement experiments with a handful of organisations who have different approaches to 'science' and 'the public'. For more info on this project, which we call Nano-Dialogues, email me.Last night, I was part of another form of... from : jackstilgoe 18th March 2005
- ... and now for the science bit ?The personalised is political? - pharmacogenetics and medical futures Thursday 19th May, from 5pm to 6:30pmDemosThird FloorMagdalen House136 Tooley StreetLondon SE1 2TUCome along to the first of the Demos Science Caf?s. These monthly events are an opportunity for scientists, policymakers, journalists and social scientists to draw out the policy implications of current scientific issues.At each caf?, we?ll hear from a visiting speaker about their work. The discussion will then be open to our... from : jackstilgoe 3rd May 2005
- Sing us a song, you're the nanoman Running really low on nano puns. No bad thing.Just got back back from the annual Nanotechnology schmoozathon in Los Angeles. For most of the four days, I was more ethnographer than contributor. But there was a thoughtful session on "nanotechnology and society". I talked about See-through Science and our Nanodialogues project. Others, including Julia Moore and Don Reed, discussed the lessons from the GM saga. There was also talk of risk research and standards-setting. The odd thing was that,... from : jackstilgoe 13th May 2005
- Cheltenham Sparring But it was great to have such a range of views, from speakers and audiences, about science. A bunch of conversations I had reminded me that there is still a lot of nervousness about public engagement. A lot of the people in Cheltenham would see themselves as defenders of science. They would argue that politics needs to be taken out of science to make it more effective, more neutral and better for the public. They see public engagement as putting politics back in, which spoils things.Many of... from : jackstilgoe 13th June 2005
- Alt. med science caff On Wednesday we hosted our second health-based science caff. We had Toby Murcott, author and minstrel science journalist, talking about alternative medicine. Now, we're not the first people to point out that alternative medicine gives us plenty to get our science policy teeth into. But what pleased me was that the discussion was so open, so balanced and so wide ranging.Debates about unorthodoxy can easily form up around the "It's true!.. No, it's snake oil" axis. That's fine, but a bit dull.... from : jackstilgoe 17th June 2005
- Slippery Syndromes On Wednesday, we heard from Simon Wesseley in the third Demos Science Cafe. He talked about his career spent at the heart of controversies about illnesses that refuse to be understood. He described how arguments over Gulf War Syndrome, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and a host of others force us to confront the politics of knowing about and intervening in illness. His analysis suggests that these things can mostly be understood as illnesses of modernity, implying that the explanation is... from : jackstilgoe 25th July 2005
- It's not rocket science Yesterday took me to Nottingham for a debate on nanotechnology-"Radical science or plus se change?". Turns out, it's somewhere in between. The event was a showdown between the quiet voices of British reason (represented by Richard Jones and Saul Tendler) and the simulated braggadocio of the American molecular manufacturing movement. Drawing on the dreams of Drexler (of "Gray goo" and desktop nanofactory fame), the Americans presented some animations showing the tiny insides of atom assemblers.... from : jackstilgoe 25th August 2005
- valuing engaged science The AS have a great system of involving those who care for Alzheimer's patients in decisions about science. This has had a few beneficial effects. It eases the carers' burden of dealing with the disease, it engages them in trusting relationships with doctors and scientists, it prompts new areas of research and it reconnects scientists with their original motivations. This form of public engagement has also given the AS a unique voice in debates of public importance, such as with the recent... from : jackstilgoe 6th September 2005
- Precautionary tales Demos associate James Harkin had a interesting thing in Saturday's Guardian. He sketches the idea of the precautionary principle, "better safe than sorry" at its dullest, and stretches it to the war in Iraq. Big Don's "unknown unknowns", a phrase he borrowed from environmental and science policy, were used to justify action when inaction might have had serious consequences, had the US's worst suspicions been confirmed.In science, the precautionary principle is a useful way of justifying... from : jackstilgoe 25th September 2005