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Dr R. Zeiss

Expertises

My research interests centre around multispecies societies, standardization, classification, regulation and governance in/of science and technology; science-policy boundary work and knowledge brokerage; science and technology in and for development; upset(ting) boundaries around bio(logical) objects. Within these three broader themes I particularly focused on science and technology developments around water, sanitation, public health, nature and the environment, nanotechnologies, and biotechnologies and new biological artefacts that are currently disrupting the conventional boundaries and identities of biological forms.

Career history

I am trained in the interdisciplinary Arts and Social Science programme at Maastricht University and obtained an MA degree through following the ESST Master (European Studies of Society, Science and Technology) at the University of Maastricht and the Centre for Technology, Innovation and Culture (TIK) at Oslo University. My PhD, obtained from the Science and Technology Studies Unit (SATSU) at the Department of Sociology, University of York, concentrated on 'standardising materiality' in the English drinking water industry. After working as a postdoc researcher on the project 'Rethinking political judgement and science-based expertise' at the VU University Amsterdam for three years, I took up the position of assistant professor in Science and Technology Studies in 2007 at Maastricht University. In addition to teaching, I currently focus on human-non human entanglements. In the past I have been involved in the following projects:

  • ‘Nanotechnologies for development in India, Kenya and The Netherlands—Towards a framework for democratic governance of risks in developing countries’ (NWO/WOTRO - http://www.nano-dev.org/)
  • 'Bio-objects and their boundaries: governing matters at the intersection of society, politics, and science' (EU-COST- European Cooperation in Science and Technology- http://www.univie.ac.at/bio-objects).

The past few years, I have been involved the following projects:

  • ‘Brokering Environmentally Sustainable Sanitation for Europe’ (BESSE; EU-FP7 - http://www.besse-project.info/)
  • ‘Science, Ethics and Technological Responsibility in Developing and Emerging Countries’ (SET-DEV; EU-FP7- http://www.set-dev.eu/)
     

I have been a board member of EASST (the European Association for the Study of Science and Technology) from 2003 until 2009.