Professor Steve Hinchliffe
Professor in Human Geography
Stephen.Hinchliffe@exeter.ac.uk
5400
Amory C355a
Amory Building, University of Exeter, Rennes Drive, Exeter, EX4 4RJ , UK
Overview
Background
Steve Hinchliffe is an elected Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and author and editor of numerous books and articles on issues ranging from risk and food, to biosecurity, human-nonhuman relations and nature conservation. His research draws together insights from Science and Technology Studies (STS), particularly actor network theory, and Geography. Recent publications include the monograph Pathological Lives (2017), the co-edited volume Humans, animals and biopolitics (2016), a Special Issue of Social Science and Medicine on 'One Health' (2015) and social science approaches to antimicrobial resistance (2019) and healthy publics (2020). He has recently published on zoonoses, AMR in Bangladesh, Planetary Health and a new volume on More than One Health (2023).
Committed to using cutting edge spaital and social science understanding in issues of public and environmental interest, Steve has been an appointed member of the Social Science Research Committee of the Food Standards Agency (2012-2017), and is currently appointed to DEFRA's Science Advisory Council Social Science Expert Group (SSEG) and the Scientific Advisory Committee on Exotic Diseases (SAC-ED).
He is a principal investigator at the Wellcome Trust funded Centre for Cultures and Environments of Health (2017-).
Steve led the University of Exeter's Humanities and Social Science interdisciplinary research theme on 'Science, Technology and Culture', and currently co-leads with colleages in Biosciences the University's Research Network on 'Microbes and Society'.
Current and Recently Funded Research
2022-2025 Wellcome (PI Dr Ray Chan) (£193,00) The Future of One Health? The Challenges and Opportunities of Using Digital Technologies to Strengthen Infectious Disease Management and Animal Health Responses in China Role: Supervisor and advisor: 5%
2022-2027 ESRC ACCESS (PI Professor Patrick Devine-Wright) (£6.3M) Advancing Capacity for Climate and Environment Social Science (ACCESS) – Role CoI and co-leader of rapid response work 5%
2020-2022 ESRC (Dr Angeliki Balyannis) (£271,000) Waste management during the COVID-19 outbreak: Investigating a critical sector in crisis – Co-I, mentor and lead on social virology 10%
2020-2022 BBSRC (Professor Charles Tyler) (£252,000) Improving hatchery biosecurity for a sustainable shrimp industry in Bangladesh – CoI and social science lead 10% 2020-2022 GCRF (Professor Charles Tyler and Professor Mahfujul Haque), UoE and Bangladesh Agricultural University – Model Farm Pharmacies: Stakeholder engagement with pharmaceutical sales in rural Bangladesh, £50,000, CoI and social science lead 5%
2017-2024 Wellcome Centre Award Professor Mark Jackson (£4.1M) Cultures and Environments of Health – PI grant extended to 2024 (30%) Research director, interim co-director and PI
2017-2022 MRC Professor Henry Buller 'Tackling AMR’ Large Collaborative Grant (£1.3M) Diagnostic innovation and livestock (DIAL): towards more effective and sustainable applications of antibiotics in livestock farming'. In collaboration with University of Bristol Veterinary Sciences and University of Edinburgh Innogen Centre. Co-I and lead on social science, poultry sector review 10%
2017-2019 ESRC S Hinchliffe (£250k) Production without medicalization – Bangladeshi Aquaculture, disease and treatments – AMR Theme IV. PI. 20%
Steve has also been funded by the ESRC, EU and Defra in the past to invstigate biosecurity, contagion, bovine TB and cooperative research processes.
Supervising PhDs
Steve currently supervises Masters and PhDs on more than human health, nature conservation, species invasion, aquaculture, biosecurity, microbes and society, and food. Please contact me if you would like to discuss PhD openings.
Qualifications
BSc (Durham) Geography
PhD (Bristol) Geographical Sciences
Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences (elected 2013)
Career
Steve has also taught at Cambridge, Keele and Open Universities, and has worked as a researcher at the European Parliament.
Research group links
Research
Research interests
A core concern is the spatialities of life and materialities. From public health and risk (in relation for example to BSE and Avian influenzas) to urban redevelopment in areas of high socio-economic and environmental deprivation, the research aims to find ways of ethnographically engaging with material issues in ways that are informed by but also re-configure social and spatial theory.
The work has been disseminated in a variety of formats including single authored books ‘Geographies of Nature’ (Sage, 2007) and a recent monograph Pathological Lives (Wiley, 2017).
Research projects
Some recent projects include:
- Production without medicalisation 2017-2019 Antimicrobial Resistance Cross Council Initiative supported by the seven research councils in partnership with the Department of Health and Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs on shrimp and prawn production in Bangladesh with colleagues in Bioscience, CEFAS, Worldfish and ARBAN.
- Centre for Environments and Cultures of Health 2017- - A £4.1M Wellcome Trust Funded Centre for interdisciplinary work on 'healthy publics'
- Contagion - funded by the ESRC from Sept 2013-March 2015 Contagion investigates the conditions for movement of infectious disease as well as potent ideas. Using Tardean approaches to bio-sociality, the work uses large data bases on influenza and social media as well as investigations of financial analyses to compare contagion within different domains. The work is in conjunction with collagues at the APHA and FSA.
- Biosecurity Borderlands – funded from 2009-2013 by the ESRC to investigate the practices, understandings and pressures created as biosecurity is extended into the British food system and landscape.
- CREPE ‘Cooperative Research on Environmental Problems in Europe’ funded from mid 2008-10 by the ‘Science in Society’ programme of the European Commission. The project, led by colleagues in Development Policy and Practice, involves cooperation between academics and civil society organisations (CSOs) on a range of biotech and agricultural issues. See link: http://crepeweb.net/
- Habitable cities, investigating the non-human/human orders that are produced in city environments. The work, which was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, opened up debates on the city-nature value of urban living, disrupting the common spatial logic of a nature existing only beyond civic space. The background and papers related to this work can be found on www.open.ac.uk/socialsciences/habitable-cities
- Reconstituting natures – an interdisciplinary workshop aimed at understanding the changing place of nature in science and politics – background and papers are available at www.open.ac.uk/socialsciences/reconstituting-natures
Research grants
- 2013 ESRC
Contagion - transforming social analysis and method - 2012 DEFRA
AHVLA / DEFRA propject on Bovine TB and farm risk factors - 2009 ESRC
Biosecurity Borderlands
Publications
Books
Journal articles
Chapters
External Engagement and Impact
Committee/panel activities
Defra - Science Advisory Council Social Science Expert Group (SSEG)
Social Science Research Committee, Food Standards Agency
MRC - Expert Panel on Social Ecology of Emerging Infections
ESRC - Virtual Panel, Large Grants and Centres
Finnish Academy - Expert Panel on Environment, Culture and Society
Member of ESRC Peer Review College
Academician of the Academy of Social Sciences
Editorial responsibilities
Palgrave Communications (2015-)
Annals of the American Geographers (2012-2016)
Geographical Journal (2010-2016)
Royal Geographical Society/ Institute of British Geographers Book Series (Wiley Blackwell) (2007-2014)
External Examiner Positions
Keele University School of Geographical and Earth Science (Undergraduate) 2009-2012
Edinburgh University School of Geoscience (Masters) 2011- 2014
Lancaster Centre for Social and Environmental Change - (Masters) 2005-09
Invited lectures & workshops
2013
Contagion – invited Panelist at CRESC Annual Conference Sept, London
Contagion workshops – a series of workshops at Exeter on disciplinary approaches to contagion across different media and issues.
'A Political economy of viral chatter: contact, contract and biosecurity'. Paper at the 'Zoonoses and emergence of new infectious diseases: Biology meets Antrhpology' Symposium, College de France, Paris, June, invited speaker
A geography of folded life: how immunity reframes biosecurity, paper presented to the Animal Exchanges Conference, Oxford University, May 2013 - invited speaker
Making emerging infections: the insecurities made when we try to make life safe, University of Cardiff Public Lecture Series, invited speaker, March 2013
Researching diseases: Multi-sited and multi-species engagement, University of Lancaster 13th February, Sociology/ Geography Seminar
A political economy of poultry, 'Pandamic Flu Controversies: What have we learned?' University of Sussex, 10-11 January 2013 Invited Speaker
2012
Infra politics and biosecurity, at Politics of Matter Workshop, Department of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, 18-19 December 2012
More than one health? 4S/ EASST Annual Conference, Copenhagen, 17-20 October 2012/ RGS IBG Annual Conference, Edinburgh June 2012
2011
'Topologies of infected life: From borderlines to borderlands', University of Edinburgh, School of Geosciences Departmental Seminar, 6 October 2011.
'Topologies of infected life: From borderlines to borderlands', Zoo-ethnographies workshop, Uppsala University, 17 October 2011.
'The infectious globe and pathological life: from securing borderlines to borderlands', Conceptualizing the World, University of Oslo, 15 September 2011.
Significant Impact
Advisor to the Animal Health Veterinary Laboratories Agency knowledge transfer project on poultry industry engagement with zoonotic diseases (2012)
Teaching
Office Hours
Spring 2018
Please email me for office times as these will vary from week to week this term.
Undergraduate modules:
The Geography of Monsters: Risk, Science and Society - a third level course charting the rise of monstrous assemblages entangling politics, science and space.
See vle.exeter.ac.uk/course/view.php (Log in Required)
Masters
Geographies of Life
Modules
2023/24
- GEO3126 - The Geography of Monsters: Science, Society and Environmental Risk
- GEOM131 - Geographies of Life
- HPDM141 - Pandemics: Drivers, Preparedness and Response
- HPDM141Z - Pandemics: Drivers, Preparedness and Response
Supervision / Group
Postdoctoral researchers
- Stephanie Lavau
- Rebecca Sandover
- Kim Ward
Postgraduate researchers
- Sarah Crowley
- Suzanne Hocknell
- Katie Ledingham
- Jamie McCauley
Office Hours:
Office Hours (hours may vary from week to week, please check online forms for updates)
You can book time slots here.