Centre for Biomedicine, Self and Society

Are you ready for the Hormonal rebellion?! This free Curious Festival event at the Royal Society of Edinburgh will bring together social scientists and medical researchers to explore ‘rebellious hormonal stories’ through a lively group discussion, accompanied by an exhibit of illustrations from their book Hormonal Theory. Date: Friday 13 September 2024 Time: 17:30 - 19:00 Tickets and info: https://buff.ly/4dP8a7W

Find out all about Dr Chase Ledin's recent work on Imagining Sexual Health Futures in Scotland in this interview with Jack Faulds in The Skinny Student Guide.

Are you attending #MedSoc2024? Make sure that you catch these great talks from our members and Usher Institute colleagues at the The British Sociological Association Medical Sociology Group Annual Conference. Thursday 12 September: Investigating Contracepting and its dimensions with Research Fellow Marie Larsson,10.45 - 11.15am Navigating tensions: Boundary work in interdisciplinary postabortion contraception research collaboration presented by Dr Nicola Boydell, and authored with Professor Jeni Harden and Marie Larsson, 4 - 4.30pm Friday 13 September: Remembering and Forgetting HIV and COVID-19: Gay Men’s Experiences in a UK Context with Sophie Atherton, 10.45 - 11.15am Special Event: How should medical sociology respond to “imposter participants”? with Anna Dowrick (University of Oxford), Tom Witney (University College London) and Jaime Garcia Iglesias (University of Edinburgh), 10.45am - 12.25pm Further info: https://buff.ly/3zbld4G

We'd like to offer a huge welcome to our new Scientific Fellow Sarah-Jane Judge. Sarah-Jane has joined our centre from the Welcome Centre for Cell Biology (WCCB) as a Scientific Fellow. She is a postdoctoral researcher, coming to us from the School of Biological Sciences where she has been working in public engagement. She will be conducting research on public engagement in the context of research culture in biosciences in particular. Last week staff at the Usher Institute were treated to a test-run of Sarah's highly popular engagement project Tattoo my Science, where researchers administer (temporary) transfer and henna tattoos on the public, based on images from their research. Our own Professor Sarah Cunningham-Burley received a DNA Helix henna tattoo from PhD student Ankita Gupta. The tattoos are a great ice breaker, creating instant connection between researchers and audiences and generating space for rich dialogue. Whilst the project started at Edinburgh at WCCB, it is now used by institutes around the world - just search #tattoomyscience on social media to see the impact it’s had. We're looking forward to see what designs staff at Usher come up with - Tattoo my Science will be one of the many hands-on experiences available at the BioQuarter Doors Open Day on 28 September. Find out more about the Bioquarter Doors Open Day: https://buff.ly/4edemqk

We'd like to offer a huge welcome to our new Scientific Fellow Dr. Sarah-Jane Judge. Sarah-Jane has joined our centre from the Welcome Centre for Cell Biology (WCCB) as a Scientific Fellow. She is a postdoctoral researcher, coming to us from the School of Biological Sciences where she has been working in public engagement. She will be conducting research on public engagement in the context of research culture in biosciences in particular. Last week staff at the Usher Institute were treated to a test-run of Sarah's highly popular engagement project Tattoo my Science, where researchers administer (temporary) transfer and henna tattoos on the public, based on images from their research. Our own Professor Sarah Cunningham-Burley received a DNA Helix henna tattoo from PhD student Ankita Gupta. The tattoos are a great ice breaker, creating instant connection between researchers and audiences and generating space for rich dialogue. Whilst the project started at Edinburgh at WCCB, it is now used by institutes around the world - just search #tattoomyscience on social media to see the impact it’s had. We're looking forward to see what designs staff at Usher come up with - Tattoo my Science will be one of the many hands-on experiences available at the BioQuarter Doors Open Day on 28 September. Find out more about the Bioquarter Doors Open Day: https://buff.ly/4edemqk

One week to go until the free Hormonal Rebellion event at RSE's Curious festival! It's sold out - sign up to the wait list now to see if you can grab the hottest ticket since Oasis. This event brings together social scientists and medical researchers to explore ‘rebellious hormonal stories’ through a lively group discussion amidst an exhibit of illustrations by Elsa Paulson from the book Hormonal Theory. - Friday 13 September - 5.30pm - 7pm - Royal Society of Edinburgh, 22-26 George Street Edinburgh EH2 2PQ Sign up: https://buff.ly/4dP8a7W

New book announcement! Digital Intimacies: Queer Men and Smartphones in Times of Crisis by Jamie Hakim (KCL), James Cummings (York) and Ingrid Young (Edinburgh) is available to buy from 5 September. The book asks ‘how do queer men use their smartphones to negotiate their cultures of intimacy?’. To answer this question the authors interviewed 43 queer men and discovered that, contrary to popular stereotypes, queer men used their smartphones to gain a sense of control of the aspects of their intimate lives that made them feel most vulnerable. Order the book or read it on open access: https://buff.ly/3XbesYt Get tickets to the hybrid book launch on 20 September, at Strand Campus, Kings College London: https://buff.ly/3yTqL3Q #BookLaunch #AcademicPublication

Our research fellow Joana Formosinho will be speaking at the Stockholm Anthropology Annual Roundtable at the Stockholm Centre for Organizational Research this month. Confirmed speakers include Amber Benezra, Astrid Schrader, César Giraldo Herrera, Frédéric Keck and Joshua Evans. Discover the Holobionts Within - book by 8 September: https://edin.ac/3MqdvX. https://edin.ac/3MqdvXt

We're delighted that our new home, Usher Building, is taking part in this year's Edinburgh #DoorsOpenDays on 28 September, along side the the Institute for Regeneration and Repair. Come and explore these two new buildings at Edinburgh BioQuarter from 10am - 4pm . Take building tours, try hands-on family friendly activities and meet centre members, and our colleagues from across the University of Edinburgh College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine. Event info: https://buff.ly/4fZJ2Nq 📸 Craig Nicol

Congratulations to Dr Andrea Ford, our Wellcome Trust Research Fellow in Humanities and Social Science, who has joined the Royal Society Open Science journal editorial board as an Associate Editor in the Science, Society, and Policy section. Read about her work and role: