Clémence Pauline Cécile Pinel

Primary fields of research

My research is at the intersection of science and technology studies (STS), medical anthropology and political science. My main research interest lies in the ways scientific knowledge is produced, exploring the cultural, historical and social contexts surrounding knowledge production. Through ethnographic fieldwork primarily in scientific research laboratories, I explore how scientists make and maintain valuable knowledge within contemporary bioeconomies.

In December 2018, I completed my PhD in Science and Technology Studies from King’s College London. In my PhD thesis, titled ‘Enterprising environments: Knowledge production in epigenetics in two British laboratories’, I applied ethnographic, historical, and discourse analysis methods to examine practices and narratives of epigenetics research. I argued that epigenetics laboratories are entrepreneurial in the ways they exploit different evaluative frameworks that coexist within universities. I showed how laboratories build and make valuable a set of resources (e.g. expertise, credibility, data), while I also demonstrated how they turn these resources into assets that can be mobilised to either create or extract different forms of value.

Current research

In June 2019, I took a postdoc position within the Centre for Medical Science and Technology Studies at the University of Copenhagen. In my postdoctoral research, I study the flows of data inherent to personalized medicine. Following the ways data travels from one actor to another, I traces how data is made valuable and fit for travel within personalized medicine endeavours. Of particular interest to this investigation is the role of Danish institutions within these globalized flows, exploring what these data exchanges and trades mean for the Danish ‘data culture’, and vice versa. This project is part of the larger Samper Ardens research project ’Personalized Medicine In the Welfare State’ (MeInWe), led by Professor Mette Nordahl Svendsen.

CV

Education

2015-2018: PhD in Science and Technology Studies, King's College London, UK

2012-2013: MSc in Medicine, Science & Society, King's College London, UK

2008-2011: BA in Political Science, Science Po Toulouse, France

Prize and Awards

2018 Association for Studies in Innovation Science and Technology-UK, Doctoral Prize for PhD thesis “Enterprising environments: Knowledge production in two British laboratories”

2013 King’s College London, Prize of Best overall performance in Social Sciences, Health and Medicine postgraduate programmes.

Professional Experience

2018-2019: Research Associate, School of Population Health & Environmental Sciences, King's College London, UK

2015-2018: PhD student, School of Population Health & Environmental Sciences, King's College London

2014-2015: Research Assistant, School of Population Health & Environmental Sciences, King's College London, UK