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Jamie Lewis   BSc (Hons), MSc, PhD

Dr Jamie Lewis

(he/him)

BSc (Hons), MSc, PhD

Users
Available for postgraduate supervision

Teams and roles for Jamie Lewis

Overview

I am a Reader in Sociology in the School of Social Sciences. My research is mainly situated in the Sociology of Science and Technology Studies (STS), but also extends to the public understanding of science (PUS) and medical sociology. I also contribute to the nascent field of the Sociology of Mystery.  Presently, I am funded on an AHRC Green transitions grant, where I am doing work on citizen science.  I have recently written two books. With Charlotte Brookfield, I have published the textbook Completing Your Research Project: a guide for the social sciences. With Andrew Bartlett, I have written the book Bigfooters and Scientific Inquiry: on the borderlands of legitimate science.  My area of interests include:

  • developments in qualitative research;
  • the boundaries between science, pseudo-science and non-science
  • the sociology of biomedical knowledge with particular emphasis on the social implications of new genetic and stem cell technologies;
  • issues of culture, interdisciplinarity and collaboration in big science;
  • public engagement and public understanding of risk;
  • aspects of practical accomplishment and modelling in the laboratory;
  • science, activism and civic repair.

I am a current editor of the journal Qualitative Research.

I am the director of our undergraduate programme. I also co-convene the 3rd year Dissertation module and convene the third year module Monsters and Mysteries 

Publication

2026

2025

2024

2023

2021

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

Articles

Book sections

Books

Conferences

  • Hutchinson, D. et al., 2025. EcoMaps and young minds: Charting the environmental imagination. Presented at: WISERD Annual Conference 2025 Aberystwyth, Wales 30 June - 01 July 2025. Participation and partnership in a time of precarity and polarisation - Abstract Booklet. Aberystwyth University: Wales Institute of Social and Economic Research and Data. , pp.41-41.

Monographs

Other

Thesis

Videos

Websites

Research

Qualitative Research Methods, Sociology of Science and Technology Studies, Sociology of Health and Illness, Public Understanding of Science and Impact.

My research straddles the sociology of Science and Technology Studies, the Sociology of Health and Illness and the Public Understanding of Science.  My recent work has combined STS with cultural sociology to contribute to the field of the Sociology of Mystery.

All told, I have written on the practical accomplishment in the laboratory and animal house, the public understanding and engagement of psychiatric genetics, interdisciplinarity and collaboration in big science especially bioinformatics, translational research and standardisation, collective effervescence and biosociality, how absences can create knowledge, citizen science and the borders between science and pseudo-science. My work is mostly ethnographic or interview based.

Teaching

I teach on both undergraduate and post graduate programmes in the School of Social Sciences. More specifically, I convene the final year UG module called Monsters and Mysteries, which tends to attract between 80 and 100 students. I also co-convene the final year UG dissertation module with Charlotte Brookfield. I have previously written, conevend and taught on modues including Sociology of Disaster, Society and Genetics, Introduction to Sociology and Research Applications.

Biography

Academic positions

October 2014 - September 2016:  SAGE postdoctoral research associate,

August 2014 - October 2014:  Independent Review of Assessment and the National Curriculum: the Donaldson Review. Wales Institute for Social & Economic Research, Data and Methods (WISERD),

August 2009 - August 2014:  Research Associate - Public Engagement, MRC Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics, School of Medicine, Cardiff University.,

February 2009 - July 2009:  Research Post for Welsh Education Research Network – LINK project, Cardiff School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University.,

October 2007 - January 2009:  Post-Doctoral Research Fellow: Stem Cell Science in Practice, ESRC Cesagen, Cardiff University.,

August 2004 - December 2004:  Two Research Assistant Jobs: ESRC funded Destined for Success and Rees Report for the National Assembly of Wales, Cardiff School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University.,

September 2001 - December 2003: (Part Time) Research Assistant for European Union 5th Framework 'Foresight for Transport' Project, Cardiff School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University.

Committees and reviewing

 

2025 - Present I external examine at Exeter University

2024 - Present I chair the Undergraduate Exam board and Boards of Studies

2024 - Present I am a member of ESEC

2021 - Present I external examine at UCL

2020 - Present I am a member of the School's Executive Board

2017 - 2023 I was a member of the School's Research Ethics Committee

2016 - 2020: I was a member of the Public Understanding of Science University/Museum committee.

2015 - 2020 I co-convened the Ethnography Group in the School of Social Sciences.

Supervisions

Current supervision

Aaron Thierry

Aaron Thierry

Melissa Martin

Melissa Martin

Ellie Reynolds

Ellie Reynolds

Resh Noranho

Resh Noranho

Laura Owens

Laura Owens

Bekhy Burns

Bekhy Burns

Andrea Beetles

Andrea Beetles

News articles

Dedicated community of Bigfooters reveal their methods and theories

In pursuit of Bigfoot: The people searching for the truth behind the mystery

20 November 2025

Dedicated community of Bigfooters reveal their methods and theories

Methodological insights from projects that never were

The Lost Ethnographies

20 February 2019

Methodological insights from projects that never were

Officials visit marks first steps on cabinet office research agenda

Cardiff paves way for Whitehall innovation

25 April 2018

Officials visit marks first steps on cabinet office research agenda

Contact Details

Email [email protected]
Telephone +44 29208 76140
Campuses Glamorgan Building, Room Rm 2.35, King Edward VII Avenue, Cardiff, CF10 3WA

Research themes

Specialisms

  • Qualitative Research