Joy Zhang

It was a busy but incredibly fruitful and inspirational few days in London. An absolute delight to be involved.

We are delighted to welcome four new members to our Editorial Board:

- Kimberly Chong (UCL)
- Sarah El-Kazaz (SOAS)
- Paul R. Gilbert (Sussex)
- Joy Y. Zhang (Kent)

Their disciplinary expertise and research interests will broaden and deepen our editorial collective.

@sprgilbert.bsky.social @trudesundberg.bsky.social @qedcon.org @senseaboutsci.bsky.social

Huge thanks to Shaofeng Hu (UNESCO) & @francoisefrancois.bsky.social for inspiring keynotes, and to our brilliant speakers & discussants for their transdisciplinary insights 🙏
@itswiggins.bsky.social @annettemarkham.bsky.social @annetteboaz.bsky.social @davidludwig.bsky.social @gsej.bsky.social

Absolutely intellectually spoiled these past 2 days! At ‘A New Odyssey for Public Engagement’ in London, leading thinkers in science, diplomacy & public engagement from 4 continents came together to explore how the ODESSI framework (doi.org/10.5281/zeno...) can guide global dialogues on science 🌍✨

📢 Current Sociology Monographs' new CFP:
Rethinking Socio-Ecological Sociology: New Horizons in the Social Dimensions of Climate Change, Climate Emergency & Socio-Ecological Practices. @isa-sociology.org @rc48-isa.bsky.social

Abstracts+ short bio by 15 Oct 2025.

Full call: tinyurl.com/v2efwt9h

We're excited for the relaunch of ISA's "Presidential Corner"!

Explore the newly reactivated Corner on our website. Read the latest letter from ISA President @geoffreypleyers.bsky.social (2023-2027) to the members, find recent addresses, articles, interviews and podcasts.

Scandalous ‘firsts’ from the Global South? The entanglement between epistemic injustice and Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) This paper examines the critical role of epistemic injustice in Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI), particularly through the lens of reproductive medicine scandals in the Global South. It un...

Is the Global South a hotbed for scandalous ‘firsts’? 🌍
My open-access Journal of Responsible Innovation article explores cases in #India, #China & #Mexico to show how epistemic injustice shapes #RRI—and why ethical governance must enable epistemic socialisation www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Book now for the Webinar on 30 Sept to find out more about the Travel grants up to £5000 to support UK-US exchanges for researchers & industry working on #CriticalMinerals & materials. Apply by 15 Oct. Don't miss out book your place #UKUSCollaboration #ResearchFunding

“Transformative Transdisciplinarity. An Introduction to Community-Based Philosophy” is out with Oxford University Press! I’m actually pretty proud of this book. It’s Open Access, so feel free to share fdslive.oup.com/www.oup.com/...

Why I caution against framing cutting-edge science as ‘controversial’.

Really pleased to see the @britsciassoc.bsky.social report on public engagement in engineering biology out- five vital messages to enable better research, policy and future scale-up.

We’re pleased to host the Care-full Synthesis programme, led by @joyzhang.bsky.social, as part of the new Wellcome-funded Synthetic Human Genome Project.

The programme collaborates globally with research & civil society partners. Postdoc recruitment opening soon.
research.kent.ac.uk/global-scien...

Great to see this timely report published. cms.wellcome.org/sites/defaul...

Delighted to be part of the panel on current ISA’s involvement with the United Nations at #ISAforum25 alongside Allison Loconto and Lucie Vidovićová, chaired by Jan Fritz.

There’s always something fascinating to learn from fellow ISA colleagues!

Steven Rose obituary Neuroscientist, author, political activist and advocate for social responsibility in science

RIP Steven Rose. His book “The Chemistry of Life” helped this A-level student 50 year ago (I told him this in a tapas bar in Madrid in the 90s; he said he didn’t think much of the book). His book Lifelines is excellent.

As series editor, I’m thrilled that the first ISA session on the SSIS books went so well! We explored how Key Texts for Japanese Sociology contributes to rethinking global sociology.

#isaforum25 @isa-sociology.org

Center for Advanced Studies Center for Advanced Studies

Exciting news: @univie.ac.at created new Center for Advanced Studies at the University of Vienna!

We’ve just opened our first call for applications — for both senior and junior fellows. If you’re working on something bold, interdisciplinary, and timely, take a look: vicas.univie.ac.at

Looking forward to seeing everyone in Rabat! I’ll be wearing my editor’s hat—see you at our various publication sessions next week and the UN one next Thursday!

Thank you, Kim, for your support and enthusiasm. You’re right—we have a steep hill to climb. But even small steps toward meaningful dialogue can make a real difference☀️

BBC World Service - Science In Action, Vera C. Rubin Observatory first images A spectacular new 10-year telescopic survey of the universe gets underway in Chile

Thank you @peaseroland.bsky.social for inviting Jason and me to discuss the Synthetic Human Genome and the associated Care-full Synthesis project. It’s always a great pleasure to share our research progress with the Science in Action audience.

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w... (starting 17:00)

RoRI’s Impact: What we’ve achieved - and where we’re going - Research on Research We’re pleased to launch RoRI’s Impact Report, a snapshot of everything we’ve achieved together with our partners over the past two years

As we gear up to welcome 830 colleagues from 65 countries to UCL for #Metascience2025, we’re delighted to publish RoRI’s impact report, outlining our projects & progress over the past 2.5 yrs. researchonresearch.org/roris-impact... Huge thanks to all our partners & team @rorinstitute.bsky.social

Henry Bonsu | Times Radio | The Times and the Sunday Times Listen to Times Radio live for the latest breaking news, expert analysis and well-informed discussion covering the biggest stories of the day.

Had a good debate with David King last night on Times Radio (1:38:00–1:52:00).

We must recognise the diverse, complex needs of different communities and not see them as submissive or powerless.

Everyone has insight and agency to inform and shape science.

www.thetimes.com/radio/show/2...

Also on the programme to discuss the ethical and social aspects, social scientist @joyzhang.bsky.social.
bsky.app/profile/joyz...

Artificial life form given 'synthetic DNA' UK scientists have created an artificial version of the stomach bug E. coli that is based on an entirely synthetic form of DNA.

The other big item also goes back a long way for me, the £10M project just announced by @wellcometrust.bsky.social to explore the possibility of synthesising the entire human genome in the lab. Jason Chin showed me the basic approach 6 years ago, and joins us again. www.bbc.co.uk/news/science...

New project to pioneer the principles of human genome synthesis | News | Wellcome An ambitious Wellcome-funded project is aiming to develop the tool needed to synthesise human genomes

On this day in 2000, the human genome draft was published.
On this day in 2025, the synthetic genome project begins.

Honoured to lead Care-full Synthesis—exploring SynHG's socio-ethical dimensions worldwide.

The future is ours to shape, with care.

wellcome.org/news/new-pro...

'Speculative Machines and Us' symposium at Lancaster University on Thursday 17th July 🤖

Organised by @carolynpedwell.bsky.social, one of GSEJ’s key founding members—so you just know it’s going to be brilliant!

Please register here: wp.lancs.ac.uk/sciencestudi...

Speculative Machines and Us: Histories and Futures of AI We warmly invite colleagues to join us for an in-person one-day symposium on Thursday 17th July 2025. To join, please register using the link below. The event is organised by the Centre for Science…

Excited to announce that the FULL PROGRAMME for the British Academy-funded 'Speculative Machines and Us' symposium at Lancaster University on Thursday 17th July is now available 🤖 ✨ 🧐 .

Registration still open!

wp.lancs.ac.uk/sciencestudi...

YouTube video by isasociotube Sociology In Podcast - India (Episode 10)

New! Sociology In Podcast - Episode 10🎙️
Sociology in India with Maitrayee Chaudhuri.

@ www.youtube.com/watch?v=jseE...

Summitting CRISPR for Human Heritable Genome Editing | The CRISPR Journal The ethical issues of human heritable genome editing have been discussed at international summits held since 2015. In this Perspective, I consider how the discussions evolved over three summits held i...

My article on the CRISPR Summits published online today and temporarily open access (Read for FREE now) www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/...