###Ethnographic Study of Medical Device Innovation
Project ID: 2228bd1032 (You will need this ID for your application)
Research Theme: Healthcare Technologies
UCL Lead department: Science and Technology Studies
Lead Supervisor: Jack Stilgoe
Project Summary:
This project is an interdisciplinary collaboration between sociologists of science and technology (UCL Department of Science and Technology Studies) and engineers (UCL Department of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering). The project will investigate the role Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) might play in relation to the driving forces behind medical device innovation, including its interactions with medical providers, patients, industry, health systems and governments. It will use qualitative social science methods to inform responsible innovation and development and achieve better patient outcomes. There is extensive clinical research on efficacy of medical devices, but it often ignores social science approaches that can provide a more complete analysis of medical device innovation, efficacy, and potential social, political and economic risks.
The project will primarily be an ethnography (an established social science method of close observation, supplemented with interviews) of medical device innovation, testing, and development. Understanding the different influences on medical device innovation will provide useful information for providers using these devices, patients as users or future users, companies looking to design new medical devices, and governments looking to regulate emerging technology. This research aims to mitigate patient risk by informing regulation of medical device companies, that heavily influence the use of new medical technologies, and to inform the medical community in building frameworks for responsible device testing and regulatory policy given recent UK government attention to medical device regulation. The project would suit someone with either an engineering or social science background wanting to undertake a social scientific study of medical device innovation in collaboration with biomedical engineers.