Our Mission

We aim to become the preeminent site in the world in which the highest quality social science interacts with philosophical and conceptual study of biology and biotechnology to provide and disseminate insight at all levels into the development of the biosciences and their impact on society.

The particularly distinctive feature of Egenis is its emphasis on very fundamental issues in the interpretation of genomics. In the words of Director Professor John Dupré:

“Our aims include understanding what the whole language of the subject means, as well as exploring the slippages in meaning as the key terms from genomic science diffuse into other areas of expertise (for example legal) and the general public. Then we wish to apply that understanding to more specific issues such as the impact of genomics on specific crucial areas of human activity such as medicine, the food chain and the environment.”

(Quoted in Social Sciences, newsletter of the ESRC).