A collaborative grant for an interdisciplinary project on the social and regulatory context of therapeutics will enable Kent Law School Professor Emilie Cloatre to establish long-lasting research networks in Japan.
The award of £45,000 has been made under the ESRC-AHRC UK-Japan SSH Connections Call for a project entitled ‘Biomedicine and Beyond: The Social and Regulatory Dimensions of Therapeutics in Japan and the UK.’ The project, led by Dr Martyn Pickersgill (University of Edinburgh), comprises a team of five co-investigators: Professor Cloatre; Dr Sarah Chan (University of Edinburgh); Professor Junko Kitanaka (Keio University); Dr Kaori Muto (University of Tokyo); and Dr Misao Fujita (Kyoto University)
The project involves significant collaboration between universities in the UK and Japan. Both countries are at the leading edge of therapeutic research in biomedicine, in terms of basic science and innovation, but increasing demands for regulatory frameworks impact: how therapeutics are developed; and which are ultimately available for patients to access. The project’s new network of scholars will support emerging interdisciplinary conversations about therapeutics and their social and regulatory dimensions. Scholars will explore how therapeutics, regulation, and society are reshaping each other and how developments across nations impact on societal and legal agendas, and innovation trajectories.
One of the project’s key objectives is to organise three workshops in Japan and the UK, all of which will foster debate and dialogue between humanities and social science scholars (and biomedical and policy practitioners). Professor Cloatre will lead a workshop on traditional medicine in collaboration with Dr Muto.
This new collaboration builds on research undertaken by Professor Cloatre and Dr Pickersgill for a previous AHRC Research Network on ‘Technoscience, Law and Society’. It also complements research work Professor Cloatre is currently undertaking for a five-year Wellcome Investigator Award (2017 – 2022) on Law, Knowledges and the making of ‘Modern Healthcare.’
Law, Knowledges and the making of ‘Modern Healthcare’ explores the regulation of traditional and alternative medicines, in Europe and Africa, historically and in contemporary contexts. It does so through a socio-legal exploration of the regulation of traditional and alternative medicines in two regions where policy conversations have been particularly intense, and current regulatory systems remarkably varied (Europe and Africa). A recent critical, interdisciplinary workshop hosted by the project team enabled a public discussion on the regulation and social ordering of alternative and traditional healing in health practices around the world.
Professor Cloatre is Co-Director of Research at Kent Law School. Her main research interests lie in the intersection between law and contemporary ‘science and society’ issues, including pharmaceutical flows, access to health, and the politics of climate change regulation. Her approach to law is influenced by insights from Science and Technology Studies, and in particular by Actor-Network Theory. Her publications include Pills for the Poorest: an Exploration of TRIPS and access to Medicines in sub-Saharan African (Palgrave McMillan, 2013 – awarded the 2014 Hart Socio-Legal Book prize) and Knowledge, Technology and Law (Routledge, 2014, with Martyn Pickersgill).