The Public Shaping of Medical Research

Peter WehlingPeter Wehling currently is senior researcher at the Institute of Sociology at Goethe-University, Frankfurt/Main (Germany); until the end of 2013 he directed the research project Participatory Governance of Science at the University of Augsburg. His research interests include science and technology studies, sociology of knowledge and ignorance, sociology of health and illness, and sociological theory and critical sociology. Among his recent publications are: Entgrenzung der Medizin, co-edited with Willy Viehöver, Bielefeld 2011; Fighting a losing battle? The right not to know and the dynamics of biomedical knowledge production, in M. Gross and L. McGoey (eds) Routledge International Handbook of Ignorance Studies, London/New York, forthcomingWilly ViehöverWilly Viehöver is a senior researcher at the University of Augsburg (Germany) and currently visiting professor at the Department of Sociology. His main research interests include discourse and narrative analysis, qualitative social research, sociology of health and illness, policy analysis, science and technology studies, sociology of knowledge, and sociological theory. His recent publications include: Governing the Planetary Greenhouse in Spite of Scientific Uncertainty, which appeared in Science, Technology & Innovation Studies, 6(2), in 2010, and: Zivilgesellschaft und Wissenschaft - Ein Spannungsfeld zwischen Konflikt und Kooperation, co-authored with Peter Wehling, which appeared in Sozialwissenschaften und Berufspraxis (SuB), 35(2), in 2010Sophia KoenenSophia Koenen is currently working at the Department of Medical Sociology at the University of Regensburg as a researcher and teacher of undergraduate studies. She is involved in an interdisciplinary project on the public communication of genetic risk factors of widespread diseases, specifically Age Related Macular Degeneration (AMD). Until the end of 2013, Sophia Koenen was part of the research project Participatory Governance of Science at the Institute of Sociology at Augsburg University. She successfully earned her Master of Arts at the University of Augsburg in March 2014. Her scientific interest focuses on qualitative research in sociology of health and illness