Ely, Adrian | United Kingdom

Fellow at IAS-STS 2003/2004

Born in 1976, Adrian Ely studied Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge from 1994-1997 and in 2001 gained an MSc in Plant Biotechnology from the University of Sussex. He is currently a DPhil student at SPRU (Science and Technology Policy Research) at the University of Sussex, studying the regulation of environmental risks from genetically modified organisms. Adrian's research specifically focuses on the ways in which scientific evidence is employed by various actors in environmental debates, in particular over the deliberate release of GM crops. As part of his doctoral project he has been a visiting researcher at INRA-TSV, Ivry sur Seine and in October and November 2003 will be conducting research on the Austrian biosafety system as a visiting fellow at IAS-STS.

Project at IAS-STS:  Regulatory Appraisals of Bt Transgenic Maize: A Study of Science in Governance

My DPhil focuses on four specific ecological issues associated with the deliberate release of Bt maize - impacts on populations of non-target species, target insect resistance to Bt toxin, horizontal gene-transfer (of antibiotic resistance marker genes to bacteria) and vertical gene-tranfer (of transgenes genes to other maize crops). It examines expert representations of these risks and their evolution since the early 1990s. Within different procedural and institutional contexts, such expertise has led to divergent national policies, which I analyse in a comparative study across four case-study countries - the US, UK, France and Austria. By drawing on the resources provided by critical science and social constructivism my study investigates the ways in which scientific evidence has been selected and interpreted by various actors in the four jurisdictions and examines the role that science does, can and should play in decision-making over Bt maize and GM crops more generally.

Conference papers

“Characterizing Risk Issues in the Regulation of Transgenic Insect- Resistant Maize” presented at the ESRC-CARR Student Conference on Risk and Regulation, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) 20th-23rd September 2003.

“The Evolution of Expertise in the Regulation of Transgenic Bt Maize”, presented at the 7th Colloquium of the Postgraduate Forum on Genetics and Society, SPRU, University of Sussex, UK, 20th-22nd August 2003

“Evaluation of Environmental Risks of Bt Maize in the US and EU: Lessons and Challenges for Kenya”, presented at FIELD/IDS/ACTS Workshop on Biotechnology and Globalisation, 28th November 2002, Hotel Intercontinental, Nairobi, Kenya