Department of Sociology

People: Dr Ipek Demir

Research Interests

Sociology of science, political philosophy, communitarian epistemology, science studies, sociology of risk, sociology of environment. I am interested in interactions between scientific communities as well as between science and society. My work draws on political philosophy, social theory and epistemology in order to develop a better understanding of science and its relationship to society. My current research interests include a theoretical and empirical study of order and trust within science. I also carry out research on the politics of expertise, the governance and translation of knowledge and the politics of 'greening' and the environment.

Other research interests include: nationalism, ethnicity, and representation (especially in the context of Turkey and the Middle East), Kurdish and Turkish diasporas in the UK.

I am interested in supervising PhD students in the above areas.

I am in the Steering Committe of the British Sociological Association's (BSA) Theory Study Group.

I am part of the ESRC Network: 'Connected Histories / Connected Sociologies: Rethinking the Global'.

Publications

• ‘On the representation of ‘others’ at Europe’s borders: the case of Iraqi Kurds’ (forthcoming) Journal of Contemporary European Studies (with Welat Zeydanlioglu)
• 'Introduction' (2009)  in 1968 In Retrospect: History, Theory, Alterity (2009) Palgrave (with Gurminder K. Bhambra)
• 1968 In Retrospect: History, Theory, Alterity (2009) Palgrave (co-edited with Gurminder K. Bhambra)
• 'Incommensurabilities in the Work of Thomas Kuhn' (2008) Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, No: 39.
• 'Thomas Kuhn's Construction of Scientific Communities' (2006) in Returning (to) Communities: Theory, Culture and Political Practice of the Communal, S. Herbrechter and M.T. Higgins (eds), Rodopi.

Current Teaching

• Undergraduate teaching
  • SY1002 Society in Transformation 2
  • SY3042: Research Project supervision
  • SY3082: Living with Risk
    
• Postgraduate teaching:
  • SY7009 Research in Context II

Current Administrative Duties

• Library Representative
• Overseas Exchange Student Coordinator
• International Officer