NWO grant for Sally Wyatt

25 February 2010

Professor Sally Wyatt of the Maastricht Virtual Knowledge Studio has been awarded a two-year grant for a postdoctoral position for the project “Selling genetic tests online: user perspectives on direct to consumer psychiatric genetic tests” which will start in the autumn. The grant was awarded by NWO and the British ESRC (Economic and Social Research Council) and will be shared between Wyatt and Dr Susan Kelly of Exeter University.

Their collaborative, interdisciplinary project will provide a timely empirical base for examining societal impacts of two technological developments which are now beginning to intersect: genetic testing and the internet. Specifically, the research will examine user perspectives (affected individuals, family members, advocates and health care providers) on direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic testing using existing and imminent genetic tests for psychiatric disorders as an informative case study.

The collaboration provides an innovative research approach to studying potential impacts of DTC genetic testing on consumers, knowledge production and healthcare systems, three areas in which potential impacts have been identified but for which little empirical base exists. This project critically examines the relationships between information, empowerment and geneticization with regard to genetics and mental illness, and seeks to assess the significance of DTC genetic testing in mediating this relationship.

The NWO grant is part of the Bilateral Agreement Programme, which aims at stimulating collaboration between the UK and the Netherlands.

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