Professor Vicky Singleton

Emeritus Professor

Research Interests

Key Words

Materiality, practices, care, technoscience, feminist theory, health, medicine, policy, gender constitution and enactment, standardization and generalisation, science and technology studies, (after) actor-network theory.

General Research Activities

I am an interdisciplinary scholar, bringing feminist theory and methods together with sociological and cultural perspectives to study health, medicine, science and technology. I work within the discipline of Science and Technology Studies (STS) and its sub-discipline Science, Technology and Medicine Studies (STM).

My work has contributed to the development and growth of Actor-Network Theory (ANT) - a major and influential approach to STS that is widely used in numerous disciplines including organisational studies, health and medicine studies, social psychology, empirical philosophy, history, sociology and feminist studies. My work put ANT into conversation with feminist method and theory. My ANT inspired approach explores care as situated entanglements of non-human and human actors and explores the implications of this for fostering and supporting the best possible care practices.

Prior to my academic career I trained as a Registered General Nurse and I work with professional practitioners, service users and activists in order to contribute to policy and concrete practice as well as to theory. I carry out qualitative studies of doing care and policy on the ground: the research explores the complexities of practice essential to good care, but which often escape the managerial or policy-oriented approaches.

My current research projects are:

2018 - Being a digitised cancer patient (with Professor Pierre Martin-Hirsch and Lancashire Acute Hospitals Trust, linked to an ESRC CASE Award and a Swedish International Visiting Researcher Grant)

2017 - Living with Dying: palliative care (with Dr Steve Mee and and hospice staff and clients)

Previous projects:

2010 - 2016 Compassion in practice (with Dr Steve Mee, University of Cumbria and local community)

2007 - 2010 The impact of the Cattle Tracing System on the care work of farmers (with Fylde and Wyre farmers)

2001 - 2007 Women’s choice and Caesarean Section (with Liverpool Women’s Hospital and an NHS Fellow, Dr Carol Kingdon)

1999 - 2003 Training healthy citizens: CPR in the community (with Heart of Lancashire Charity)

1998 - 2000 The care trajectory of patients with Alcoholic Liver Disease (with Dr Peter Isaacs and a local acute Hospital Trust)

1999 - 2001 Sickness Absence at a District Land Registry (with Dr Anne Grinyer and HM Land Registry)

External student funding

  • Eight ESRC Collaborative studentships (CASE Awards) and 4 NHS funded studentships.
  • 3ESRC studentships, 2 AHRC studentships, 1 NERC studentship
  • Oversees funding including Mexican, Canadian, Spanish, Chinese and Portuguese Governments.

Selected Publications

Devices as rituals: notes on enacting resistance
Singleton, V., Law, J. 28/01/2013 In: Journal of Cultural Economy. 6, 3, p. 259-277. 19 p.
Journal article

Modes of syncretism: notes on noncoherence
Law, J., Afdal, G., Asdal, K., Lin, W., Singleton, V. 2014 In: Common Knowledge. 20, 1, p. 172-192. 21 p.
Journal article

Gynae Cancer Narratives
Invited talk

Society for the Social Studies of Science (4S) Conference
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience

EASST
Other

Meeting Soil
Other

Creating a Diverse and Welcoming Movement
Participation in workshop, seminar, course

EASST
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience

Book launch and seminar
Other

Society for Socal Studies of Science
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience

EASST / 4S
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience

EASST / 4S
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience

EASST / 4S
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience

Ontologies of…The Biosphere, Sex, the Artificial and Autonomous
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience

Telling Lives
Participation in workshop, seminar, course

New Practices for New Publics
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience

Centre for Science Studies (Organisational unit)
Membership of committee

"CO" – Co-productions, collaborations, contestations coming together in Copenhagen
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience

Social and Ethical Aspects of Health and Medicine
Participation in workshop, seminar, course

EASST Review (Journal)
Editorial activity

European Association for Study of Science and Technology (External organisation)
Membership of committee

Challenging Questions and Ethical Obligations: The Ethics of Everyday Practice
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience

AsSIST-UK (External organisation)
Membership of committee

Biennial Conference of the European Association for the Study of Science and Technology
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience

Health Politics and Policy Network Conference
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience

Gender, Nature and Society
Participation in workshop, seminar, course

CRESC Annual Conference. In/vulnerabilities and Social Change: Precarious Lives and Experimental Knowledge
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience

Evidence, Policies and Politics Seminar Series
Participation in workshop, seminar, course

ReaCH Midwifery Research Cluster
Visiting an external academic institution

Centre for Gender and Women's Studies Research Day
Participation in workshop, seminar, course

STS Laboratory research series
Participation in workshop, seminar, course

EASST / 4S Conference
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience

BSA Childbirth Study Group Conference
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience

Journeys with Salmon: Salmon Companions and their Others
Participation in workshop, seminar, course

  • Centre for Gender Studies
  • Centre for Science Studies