Duggal, Sandhya and Faulkner, Alex (2020) Promissory and protective imaginaries of regenerative medicine: expectations work and scenario maintenance of disease research charities in the United Kingdom. Public Understanding of Science, 29 (4). pp. 392-407. ISSN 0963-6625

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Abstract

This article draws upon recent scholarship on technoscientific imaginaries and the sociology of technology expectations to reveal the mediating roles played by a number of disease-focused research charities in the United Kingdom. We examine the expectations they deal with about regenerative medicine research, and how they develop strategies to support and ‘protect’ potential medical scenarios for new therapies for dread diseases. In so doing, we develop and detail a concept of scenario maintenance to denote the strategic discursive and practical work of preserving stakeholders’ faith in specific disease research pathways in the face of obstacles. Semi-structured in-depth interviews (N = 10) of research managers at nine research charities were qualitatively analysed, alongside a variety of charities’ documentary data. Our analysis yielded three themes: managing and moderating media expectations; specifying expectations about disease-specific appropriateness of regenerative medicine; and maintaining scenarios of possible pathways for future success taking challenges into account.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	regenerative medicine, technoscience, disease research charities, science & technology studies, imaginaries
Schools and Departments:	School of Global Studies > International Relations
SWORD Depositor:	Mx Elements Account
Depositing User:	Mx Elements Account
Date Deposited:	26 May 2020 07:29
Last Modified:	26 May 2020 07:30
URI:	http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/91356

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