Dr Ruth McNally
Principal Lecturer in Innovation, Technology and Management
Department Director for Business Development and Research
Department of Economics, International Business and Operations Management
Location: Lord Ashcroft Building, Cambridge
Room: LAB 322
UK: 0845 196 5666
International: +44 (0)1245 493131 ext. 5666
Email: ruth.mcnally@anglia.ac.uk
Dr Ruth McNally is a Principal Lecturer in Innovation and Technology Management and the Department Director for Business Development and Research in the Department of Economics, International Business and Operations Management at Lord Ashcroft International Business School. She is also a Senior Research Fellow and Co-Investigator on the EPSRC Project Catalyst, at Lancaster University.
Prior to joining Anglia Ruskin University in September 2012, Ruth was a Senior Research Fellow at the ESRC Centre for Economic and Social Aspects of Genomics (Cesagen), at Cardiff and then Lancaster University. Before returning to academia to work at Brunel University, Ruth was Director of Bio-Information (International) Limited, and consultant to Derwent World Patents Index on indexing sequence information for GeneSeq. She is an editorial board member of New Genetics and Society and Life Sciences, Society and Policy (formerly Genomics, Society and Policy).
Ruth has a BSc Hons in Genetics, a MA in Socio-Legal Studies and a PhD in Science and Technology Studies. Her specialist area is innovation in the biosciences and biotechnologies, and my expertise is in social analyses of forensic genomics, next generation sequencing for genomics, proteomics, data standards, animal genetic engineering, bio-patenting, environmental regulation of genetically modified organisms, data standards, and eugenic abortion. She is co-developer of PROTEE, a reflexive STS-informed project management tool.
Ruth has published four books including Truth Machine: The Contentious History of DNA Profiling. Co-authored with Mike Lynch, Simon Cole and Kathleen Jordan, 'Truth Machine' was winner of the 2011 Distinguished Publication Award by the Ethnomethodology and Conversation Analysis Section of the American Sociological Association.
Current research projects:
Socialising big data: Identifying the Risks and Vulnerabilities of Data-Objects
Socialising 'big data' : Identifying the Risks and Vulnerabilities of Data-Objects
Funded by the ESRC, this project is developing new methods and concepts for the social scientific study of Big Data using case studies in genomics, open government and social networking. This project is the most recent of a series of funded projects as part of a programme of research I have been undertaking in collaboration with Professor Adrian Mackenzie at Lancaster University. The first was Genomic and Environmental Science Data Flows: Replication, Durability and Metrology, funded by the e-Social Science Institute in 2011. The second funded by the ESRC Digital National Strategic Directorate for e-Social Science, was entitled A Data Topography of Next Generation Sequencing Genomes.
Funded by the ESRC, this project is developing new methods and concepts for the social scientific study of Big Data using case studies in genomics, open government and social networking. This project is the most recent of a series of funded projects as part of a programme of research I have been undertaking in collaboration with Professor Adrian Mackenzie at Lancaster University. The first was Genomic and Environmental Science Data Flows: Replication, Durability and Metrology, funded by the e-Social Science Institute in 2011. The second funded by the ESRC Digital National Strategic Directorate for e-Social Science, was entitled A Data Topography of Next Generation Sequencing Genomes.
CaTalyST: Citizens Transforming Society: Tools for Change!
CaTalyST: Citizens Transforming Society: Tools for Change!
Catalyst (PI Professor Jon Whittle, Lancaster University) is a 1.9m project funded under the EPSRC Cross-Disciplinary Interfaces Programme (C-DIP) (Nov 2011- Nov 2014). Catalyst brings together academics and communities to jointly imagine and build the next generation of tools for social change, and to explore innovative, bottom-up technology-mediated solutions to major problems in society. As a Co-Investigator, Ruth leads a PROTEE work package. In addition to this, working with Dr Maia Galarrage, Ruth has extended the use of PROTEE to two other projects funded under the C-DIP programme.
Catalyst (PI Professor Jon Whittle, Lancaster University) is a 1.9m project funded under the EPSRC Cross-Disciplinary Interfaces Programme (C-DIP) (Nov 2011- Nov 2014). Catalyst brings together academics and communities to jointly imagine and build the next generation of tools for social change, and to explore innovative, bottom-up technology-mediated solutions to major problems in society. As a Co-Investigator, Ruth leads a PROTEE work package. In addition to this, working with Dr Maia Galarrage, Ruth has extended the use of PROTEE to two other projects funded under the C-DIP programme.
CURA-B (accurate business in the cure & care market project)
CURA-B (accurate business in the cure & care market project)
Part-financed by the EU's European Regional Development Fund, CURA-B (Jan 2011-Dec 2013) is a 2.7m Euro collaboration of 10 partners from France, Flanders, the UK and The Netherlands. Its goal is to strengthen their regional health economies by bridging the gap between business on the one hand, and the health and social care providers on the other. In particular, CURA-B seeks to identify and address obstacles to successful innovation of assistive technologies in telehealthcare, with a focus on supporting wellbeing and independent living for ageing populations. As CURA-B enters its implementation phase, Ruth leads a Work Package using PROTEE to enhance reflexive learning and capture lessons learned.
Part-financed by the EU's European Regional Development Fund, CURA-B (Jan 2011-Dec 2013) is a 2.7m Euro collaboration of 10 partners from France, Flanders, the UK and The Netherlands. Its goal is to strengthen their regional health economies by bridging the gap between business on the one hand, and the health and social care providers on the other. In particular, CURA-B seeks to identify and address obstacles to successful innovation of assistive technologies in telehealthcare, with a focus on supporting wellbeing and independent living for ageing populations. As CURA-B enters its implementation phase, Ruth leads a Work Package using PROTEE to enhance reflexive learning and capture lessons learned.
Supervision and collaboration
Ruth's expertise is in science and technology studies, innovation studies, socio-legal studies, and the management of innovation and technology. She is interested in supervising and collaborating in research in the following areas:- Responsible Innovation: including experiments in, approaches to, and analyses of the implementation of responsible innovation; interdisciplinary collaboration; participatory technology development
- Genomics, Proteomics and the Biosciences and Biotechnologies in general, including Reproductive Technologies, Agri-Biotechnologies and Bio-Medical Technologies including, but not restricted to, studies of: technoscientific communities, academic fields, societies and practitioners; aspects of data and Big Data including data standards, data sharing, data management; legal, regulatory and policy issues; forensic applications; controversies; social movements
Recent publications and reports
- Southern, J., Ellis, R., Ferrario, M.A., McNally, R., Dillon, R., Simm, W., Whittle, J. (2013) Imaginative labour and relationships of care: Co-designing prototypes with vulnerable communities, Technological Forecasting and Social Change (in press)
- Mackenzie, A., McNally, R. (2013) Living multiples: how large-scale scientific data-mining pursues identity and difference, Special Issue. Theory, Culture and Society
- Mackenzie, A, Ellis, R., Frow, E., McNally, R., Waterton, C., Wynne, B. (2013) Classifying, constructing and identifying life: Standards as transformations of "the biological", Science, Technology and Human Values. 38, pp 701-722
- Valve, H., McNally, R. (2012) Articulating scientific policy advice with PROTEE, Science, Technology and Human Values. Volume 38 Issue 4 July 2013. pp. 470-491
- McNally, R., Mackenzie, A, Hui A.,Tomomitsu, J. (2012) Understanding the 'intensive' in 'data intensive research': Data flows in Next Generation Sequencing and Environmental Networked Sensors, International Journal of Digital Curation. 7(1) 81-95
Full list of publications and reports
Books
- Lynch M. Cole S., McNally, R., Jordan, K. (December 2008) Truth Machine: The Contentious History of DNA Fingerprinting, Chicago University Press. Issued in paperback, 2011
- Wheale, P., McNally, R., (1988) Genetic Engineering: Catastrophe or Utopia?, Brighton: Wheatsheaf Books
- Wheale, P. , McNally, R., (1995) Animal Genetic Engineering: Of Pigs, Oncomice and Men, London: Pluto Press
- Wheale, P., McNally, R. (1990) The Bio-Revolution: Cornucopia or Pandora's Box?, London: Pluto Press
Peer-reviewed journal articles
Show more... Show all- McNally, R. Will the real public please stand up! IssueCrawler studies of an emerging technoscience. Science As Culture. Under review.
- Mackenzie, A., McNally, R. Methods of the multiple: how large-scale scientific data-mining pursues identity and differences. Special Issue. Theory, Culture and Society. Accepted with minor revisions.
- Mackenzie, A, Ellis, R. and McNally, R., Waterton, C., Wynne, B. Bringing standards to life in contemporary biology. Science, Technology and Human Values. Accepted with minor revisions.
- Valve, H., McNally, R. (2012). Articulating scientific policy advice with PROTEE. Science, Technology and Human Values. Available online.
- McNally, R., Mackenzie, A., Hui, A., Tomomitsu, J. (2012). Understanding the 'intensive' in 'data intensive research': Data flows in Next Generation Sequencing and Environmental Networked Sensors. International Journal of Digital Curation. 7(1) 81-95.
- Valve H, McNally, R., Pappinen, A. (2010). 'Doing research, creating impact: using PROTEE to learn from a genetically modified tree field trial'. Science and Public Policy, 37(5): 369- 79.
- Taylor, C., Field, D., Sansone, S.-A., Apweiler, R., Ashburner, M., Ball, C., Binz, P.-A., Brazma, A., Brinkman, R., Deutsch, E., Fiehn, O., Fostel, J., Ghazal, P., Grimes, G., Hardy, N., Hermjakob, H., Randall, J., Kuiper, M., Le Novre, N., Leebens-Mack, J., Lewis, S., McNally, R., Morrison, N., Paton, N., Quackenbush, J., Robertson, D., Rocca-Serra, P., Smith, B., Snape, J., Wiemann, S. (2008). Promoting coherent minimum reporting requirements for biological and biomedical investigations: The MIBBI Project. Nature Biotech. Vol. 26 (8) (Aug) 889-896.
- Lynch, M. and McNally, R. (2006). Encadenando a un monstruo: La produccion de representaciones en un campu impuro. Convergenecia : Revista de Ciencias Sociales. Vol. 13 (42). Sept-Dec . 15-45.
- McNally R. (2005). Sociomics! Using the "IssueCrawler" to Map, Monitor and Engage with the Global Proteomics Research Network. Proteomics, (August), pp. 3010-3016.
- Lynch, M. and McNally, R. (2005). "Science", "sens commun" et preuve ADN: une controverse judiciaire a propos de la comprehension publique de la science. Droit et Societe, Issue 61, pp. 655-681.
- Lynch, M. and McNally, R. (2005). Chains of Custody: Visualization, Representation and Accountability in the Processing of Forensic DNA Evidence. Communication and Cognition, 38, 3-4 pp 297-318.
- Lynch, M., McNally, R. (2003). Science, "Common Sense" and DNA Evidence: A Legal Controversy about the Public Understanding of Science. Public Understanding of Science, Vol. 12, pp. 83-103, Translated into French for Droit et Societe.
- Wheale, P., McNally, R. (2003). A synoptic survey of the bioethics of human genome research. International Journal of Biotechnology, Vol 5, No 1, pp 21-37.
- Lynch, M., McNally R, Daly, P. (2002). Le tribunal: Fragile espace de la preuve. La Recherche Hors - Serie No. 8, pp. 108-113.
- Lynch, M., McNally, R. (1999). Science, common sense and common law: Courtroom inquiries and the public understanding of science. Social Epistemology, vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 183-196.
- McNally, R. (1995). Eugenics here and now The Genetic Engineer & Biotechnologist, vol. 15, nos 2&3, pp. 135-44.
- Wheale, P. and McNally, R. (1993). Biotechnology policy in Europe: A critical evaluation of the Bangemann Communication. Science & Public Policy, vol. 20, no. 4, Aug, pp. 261-279.
- Wheale, P. and McNally R. (1990). Genetic engineering and environmental protection: A framework for regulatory evaluation. Project Appraisal, vol. 5, no. 1, March, pp.1 -16.
- Wheale, P. and McNally R. (1989). Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? How should we regulate the release of genetically engineered organisms? Rivista Giuridico Dell'Ambiente.
- Wheale, P. and McNally, R., (1988). Technology assessment of a gene therapy. Project Appraisal, Vol. 3, No. 4, Dec, pp. 199-204.
- Wheale, P. and McNally, R., (1986). Patent trend analysis: The case of genetic engineering Futures, October, pp. 638-57.
Book Chapters
Show more... Show all- Lynch, M., McNally, R. (2010). 'Forensic DNA databases: The co-production of law and surveillance technology' in: P. Atkinson, P. Glasner, M. Lock (eds). Handbook of Genetics and Society: Mapping the New Genomics Era. Routledge.
- Request to reproduce Lynch and McNally, 1999 'Science, common sense and the common law: Courtroom inquiries and the public understanding of science' in The International Library of Essays in Law and Society, Vol. 1, ed. Susan Sibley, Ashgate, forthcoming.
- McNally, R. and Glasner, P. Survival of the gene? Twenty-first century visions from genomics, proteomics and the new biology. 2007. In P. Atkinson, P. Glasner & H. Greenslade (eds). New Genetics, New Social Formations. Routledge. pp. 253-278.
- McNally, R and Wheale P. 2000. Environmental and medical bioethics in late modernity: Giddens, genetic engineering and the post-modern state in Chris Bryant & David Jary (eds) The Contemporary Giddens: Social Theory in a Globalising Age (Macmillan). Chapter 4.
- McNally, R. ( 2000). Strategic use of "risk" in gene technology: The European rabies eradication programme in Barbara Adam, Ulrich Beck & Joost van Loon (eds) The Risk Society & Beyond: Critical Issues for Social Theory (London: Sage) pp. 112-118.
- McNally, R. and Wheale P. (1999). Bio-patenting and innovation: Nomads of the present and a new global order. in P. O'Mahony (ed.), Nature, Risk and Responsibility: Discourses of Biotechnology, Macmillan. pp. 148-165.
- Lynch, M, McNally, R. (1999). DNA evidence and probability: A situated controversy,in Klaus Amann (ed.), Nature and Culture: Genetic Engineering and the Inexorable Dissolution of a Modern Distinction, Deutsche Hygiene Museum & University of Bielefeld.
- Lynch, M., McNally, R., (1999). Aprisonando um monstro: a producao de represtacoes num campo impuro [Enchaining a monster: The production of representations in a pure field], in Fernando Gil (ed.) A Ciencia Tal Qual se Faz (Lisbon: Ministerio da Ciencia e da Tecnologia, Ciencia Viva), pp. 159-186. Translated and published in Spanish.
- McNally, R and Wheale, P. (1998). The consequences of modern genetic engineering: Patents, 'nomads' & the 'bio-industrial complex' in P. Wheale, R. von Schomberg & P. Glasner (eds), The Social Management of Genetic Engineering, Aldershot: Ashgate , pp. 303-26
- Wheale, P. and McNally, R. (1998). The social management of genetic engineering: An introduction in P. Wheale, R. von Schomberg & P. Glasner (eds), The Social Management of Genetic Engineering, Aldershot: Ashgate, pp. 1-28.
- McNally, R. (1998). Eugenics here and now in P. Glasner & H. Rothman (eds) Genetic Imaginations: Ethical, Legal & Social Issues in Human Genome Research, Aldershot: Ashgate: 69-82
- Wheale, P and McNally R. 1996 . On how the people can become 'The Prince': Machiavellian advice to NGOs on GMOs. in A. van Dommelen (ed.), Coping with Deliberate Release: The Limits of Risk Assessment, Tilburg & Buenos Aires: Int'l Centre for Human & Public Affairs, pp. 177-94.
- McNally, R. Political problems, genetically engineered solutions: Socio-technical translations of fox rabies 1996. in A. van Dommelen (ed.), Coping with Deliberate Release: The Limits of Risk Assessment, Tilburg & Buenos Aires: Int'l Centre for Human & Public Affairs, pp. 103-119
- Wheale, P. and McNally, R. (1995). Genetic engineering, bioethics & radicalised modernity in R. von Schomberg (ed.), Contested Technology: Ethics, Risk & Public Debate, Tilburg & Buenos Aires: Int'l Centre for Human & Public Affairs, pp. 29-49.
- Wheale, P. and McNally, R. (1994). Environmental and medical bioethics in late modernity: Giddens, genetic engineering and the post-modern state. 1994. in R. Attfield & A. Belsey (eds), Philosophy & the Natural Environment, Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplement 36, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 211-226
- Wheale, P. and McNally, R. (1994). What bugs genetic engineers about bioethics in A. Dyson & John. Harris (eds), Ethics & Biotechnology, Routledge, pp. 179-201.
Research and consultancy reports
Show more... Show all- Mackenzie, A., McNally, R. (2013). A data topography of Next Generation Sequencing archives. ESRC Digital Social Research Community Funding End of Award Report. April
- McNally, R. and Mackenzie, A. (2011). Data Flows in Genomic and Environmental Science: Durability, Replicability, Metrology. e-Science Institute mini-theme final report.
- Atkinson, M., De Roure, D., van Hemert, J., Jha, S., McNally, R., Mann, B., Viglas, S., & Williams, C. (Eds.) (2010). Data-intensive research workshop report. National e-Science Centre: Edinburgh, UK.
- McNally, R., 2008. "Sociomics": Cesagen multidisciplinary workshop on the transformation of knowledge production in the biosciences, and its consequences. Proteomics, Jan 8(2), pp. 222-224.
- McNally, R., Glasner, P. (2007). 'Transcending the genome: The paradigm shift to proteomics'. Final Report. In Cesagen Phase One Flagship Projects Summaries and Key Findings 2002-2007.
- Steward, F., McNally, R., Coles, A. (2007). Sustainable technology transition through innovation network configuration - dematerialising the "printed paper text" ESRC Sustainable Technologies Programme. RES-338-25-0013. Final Report.
- Orchard S., Apweiler R., Barkovich R., Field D., Garavelli J.S., Horn D., Jones A., Jones P., Julian R., McNally R., Nerothin J., Paton N., Pizarro A., Seymour S., Taylor C., Wiemann S., Hermjakob H. (2006). Proteomics and Beyond A report on the