Author: Robert Dingwall

Robert Dingwall is an emeritus professor of sociology at Nottingham Trent University. He also serves as a consulting sociologist, providing research and advisory services particularly in relation to organizational strategy, public engagement and knowledge transfer. He is co-editor of the SAGE Handbook of Research Management.

Close Encounters of the Dental Kind
International Debate
June 19, 2015

Close Encounters of the Dental Kind

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Antibiotic Resistance – Missing the Point?
International Debate
May 18, 2015

Antibiotic Resistance – Missing the Point?

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Campaigning for Social Science: Public Sociology and ‘Public Sociologists’
Higher Education Reform
March 29, 2015

Campaigning for Social Science: Public Sociology and ‘Public Sociologists’

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Ebola – WHO (Still) Don’t Get It: Social Science Saves Lives
International Debate
February 9, 2015

Ebola – WHO (Still) Don’t Get It: Social Science Saves Lives

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Debating the Legacy of Ulrich Beck

Debating the Legacy of Ulrich Beck

Amid the encomiums and eulogies surrounding the late German sociologist Ulrich Beck, Robert Dingwall asks how far Beck’s body of published work represents a model that other sociologists should seek to follow

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Ebola: The Human Cost of Neglecting the Social Sciences

Ebola: The Human Cost of Neglecting the Social Sciences

There is a genuine cost from ignoring lessons from social science in the fight against Ebola. What’s even sadder — these lessons were taught in blood three decades ago in the fights against AIDS. Are we ready for the next malady?

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Ebola – What’s the Point of the World Health Organisation?

Ebola – What’s the Point of the World Health Organisation?

WHO is supposed to be a global health organization, not a global biomedical organization. The Ebola crisis, argues Robert Dingwall, reveals the extent to which it has lost sight of this mission.

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The Scottish Referendum: Social Science and National Identity

The Scottish Referendum: Social Science and National Identity

As the independence vote moves from all-consuming question to historical incident, what are the lessons that Scottish universities and in particular Scottish social scientists should take away?

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Is Doctor Who a Sociologist?

Is Doctor Who a Sociologist?

Doctor Who’s sobriquet implies he’s earned a doctorate in something. The Doctor’s not telling what he might have studied, but his actions and attitudes make a strong case for one discipline …

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On the Ethics of Facebook – and Drawing the Right Conclusions

On the Ethics of Facebook – and Drawing the Right Conclusions

What does the Facebook emotional contagion study really tells us about research ethics? Perhaps, argues Robert Dingwall, that its time to deregulate public social science.

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Return to Planet Quantophrenia

Return to Planet Quantophrenia

Robert Dingwall argues that numeracy and and a grasp of quantitative method of course have a place in the education of a social scientist, but they shouldn’t be the only skills in the graduate’s quiver. How about he ability to walk around, for one?

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Quantophrenia is Back in Town

Quantophrenia is Back in Town

Many social scientists find themselves members of a cult of quantification, argues Robert Dingwall, in love with numbers for their own sake even when those numbers produce no useful knowledge.

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