Research culture

Besides a permanent roster of researchers, Egenis is also host to a thriving community of PhD and Postdoctoral students, with a great track record of obtaining academic posts afterwards.

Crucial to this are the special interest groups (SIGs) that discuss various aspects of the investigation and evaluation of the contemporary life sciences, the steady stream of academic visitors hosted in its dedicated office space, as well as a weekly schedule of seminars and other events throughout the academic year. You can follow the provided section links, to find out more about the organized SIGs, the hosted visitors and the scheduled events.

With the SIGs meeting at various places throughout campus while its visitors hosted within the same building as the postgraduate students and the bulk of the researchers, and facilities like meeting rooms and a communal kitchen, Egenis provides a broad and tight network of contacts needed to sustain its fruitful and interdisciplinary viewpoints.

Some of its wider reach is seen from Egenis' staff organising two international summer school programs (the Ischia Summer School for the History of the Life Sciences in collaboration with the University of Cambridge and Harvard University, and the European Advanced School for the Philosophy of Biology in collaboration with the Sorbonne, University of Geneva, and the Konrad Lorenz Institute) as well as holding or having held executive roles in several international societies, such as the Philosophy of Science Association (PSA), the British Society for the Philosophy of Science (BSPS), the European Philosophy of Science Association (EPSA), the International Society for the History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Biology (ISHPSSB), the Society for the Philosophy of Science in Practice (SPSP), the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), besides being elected to task groups of for example the Committee on Data for Science and Technology (CODATA) and the Global Young Academy (GYA). The Centre is furthermore home to the international journal History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences.

Underlying this research culture is Egenis' life history which began in 2003 as the ESRC Centre for Genomics In Society, under the directorship of John Dupré. After 10 years of producing internationally excellent social science research on the social impact of developments in genomic science, the focus and scope evolved and our updated title reflects this change. Some details of Egenis' work in its first incarnation are preserved on the ESRC GenomicsNetwork archive website.