Professor Anne Kerr
- Professor of Science and Technology Studies (Urban Studies & Social Policy)
- Head of School, Social & Political Sciences (School of Health & Wellbeing Social Sciences)
- Associate (School of Health & Wellbeing)
Personal assistant: Mrs Jeane Bonner
telephone: 01413306090
email: Jeane.Bonner@glasgow.ac.uk
Research interests
My research interests are in the fields of:
• Science and Technology Studies
• Medical Sociology
I am particularly interested in biomedicine and bioethics and have written and researched on genetics, genomics, assisted conception and regenerative medicine.
I have a longstanding interest in professional practice and innovation in bioscience and biomedicine, especially with respect to responsibility, and public engagement. My interests also extend to patient and public experiences of innovative health technologies.
I recently completed a Wellcome Trust Senior Investigator Award (2015-2021) on personalised cancer medicine with colleagues at Edinburgh and Leeds: www.cancerandsociety.ac.uk. I am also a member of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics.
Publications
2024
Barkas, B. , Kerr, A. , Hawkton, G. and Kish, C. (2024) UK national newspapers' representation of cancer patients and their care during the early part of the Covid-19 pandemic: invoking and undermining solidarity? Sociology of Health and Illness, (doi: 10.1111/1467-9566.13790) (PMID:38795317) (Early Online Publication)
2023
Ross, E., Kerr, A. , Swallow, J., Chekar, C. K. and Cunningham‐Burley, S. (2023) Unsettling the treatment imperative? Chemotherapy decision-making in the wake of genomic techniques. Sociology of Health and Illness, 45(5), pp. 1063-1081. (doi: 10.1111/1467-9566.13637) (PMID:36965058)
Swallow, J., Broer, T., Kerr, A. and Cunningham-Burley, S. (2023) Laboratory practices, potentiality, and material patienthood in genomic cancer medicine. Science, Technology and Human Values, (doi: 10.1177/01622439231172571) (Early Online Publication)
2021
Kerr, A. , Piacentini, T. , Millar, D., Aksu, P. and Mainwaring, C. (2021) Communities, Identity and Borders: What does the Kenmure Street Protest tell us about belonging to Glasgow? [Audio]
Ross, E., Swallow, J., Kerr, A. , Chekar, C. K. and Cunningham-Burley, S. (2021) Diagnostic layering: patient accounts of breast cancer classification in the molecular era. Social Science and Medicine, 278, 113965. (doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.113965) (PMID:33940433) (PMCID:PMC8146724)
Kerr, A. , Chekar, C. K., Ross, E., Swallow, J. and Cunningham-Burley, S. (2021) Personalised Cancer Medicine: Future Crafting in the Genomic Era. Manchester University Press. ISBN 9781526141026
Kerr, A. , Chekar, C. K., Swallow, J., Ross, E. and Cunningham-Burley, S. (2021) Accessing targeted therapies for cancer: self and collective advocacy alongside and beyond mainstream cancer charities. New Genetics and Society, 40(1), pp. 112-131. (doi: 10.1080/14636778.2020.1868986) (PMCID:PMC8547735)
2020
Swallow, J., Kerr, A. , Chekar, C. K. and Cunningham-Burley, S. (2020) Accomplishing an adaptive clinical trial for cancer: Valuation practices and care work across the laboratory and the clinic. Social Science and Medicine, 252, 112949. (doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.112949) (PMID:32278242) (PMCID:PMC7193889)
2019
Kerr, A. , Broer, T., Ross, E. and Cunningham Burley, S. (2019) Polygenic risk-stratified screening for cancer: responsibilization in public health genomics. Social Studies of Science, 49(4), pp. 605-626. (doi: 10.1177/0306312719858404) (PMID:31230567) (PMCID:PMC6688132)
Ross, E., Swallow, J., Kerr, A. and Cunningham-Burley, S. (2019) Online accounts of gene expression profiling in early-stage breast cancer: interpreting genomic testing for chemotherapy decision making. Health Expectations, 22(1), pp. 74-82. (doi: 10.1111/hex.12832) (PMID:30387238) (PMCID:PMC6351409)
Kerr, A. , Swallow, J., Chekar, C. K. and Cunningham-Burley, S. (2019) Genomic research and the cancer clinic: uncertainty and expectations in professional accounts. New Genetics and Society, 38(2), pp. 222-239. (doi: 10.1080/14636778.2019.1586525) (PMID:31156350) (PMCID:PMC6519890)
2018
Kerr, A. , Ross, E., Jacques, G. and Cunningham-Burley, S. (2018) The sociology of cancer: a decade of research. Sociology of Health and Illness, 40(3), pp. 552-576. (doi: 10.1111/1467-9566.12662) (PMID:29446117) (PMCID:PMC5901049)
Kerr, A. , Hill, R. L. and Till, C. (2018) The limits of responsible innovation: exploring care, vulnerability and precision medicine. Technology in Society, 52, pp. 24-31. (doi: 10.1016/j.techsoc.2017.03.004)
Ross, E., Broer, T., Kerr, A. and Cunningham-Burley, S. (2018) Identity, community and care in online accounts of hereditary colorectal cancer syndrome. New Genetics and Society, 37(2), pp. 117-136. (doi: 10.1080/14636778.2018.1469974) (PMID:29875617) (PMCID:PMC5964445)
2016
Kerr, A. and Garforth, L. (2016) Affective practices, care and bioscience: a study of two laboratories. Sociological Review, 64(1), pp. 3-20. (doi: 10.1111/1467-954X.12310)
2015
Kerr, A. and Cunningham-Burley, S. (2015) Embodied innovation and regulation of medical technoscience: transformations in cancer patienthood. Law, Innovation and Technology, 7(2), pp. 187-205. (doi: 10.1080/17579961.2015.1106103) (PMID:27996062) (PMCID:PMC5139616)
2013
Kerr, A. (2013) Body work in assisted conception: exploring public and private settings. Sociology of Health and Illness, 35(3), pp. 465-478. (doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9566.2012.01502.x) (PMID:23009560)
2011
Garforth, L. and Kerr, A. (2011) Interdisciplinarity and the social sciences: capital, institutions and autonomy. British Journal of Sociology, 62(4), pp. 657-676. (doi: 10.1111/j.1468-4446.2011.01385.x) (PMID:22150380)
2010
Netlleton, S., Woods, B., Burrows, R. and Kerr, A. (2010) Experiencing food allergy and food intolerance: an analysis of lay accounts. Sociology, 44(2), pp. 289-305. (doi: 10.1177/0038038509357208)
2009
Kerr, A. (2009) A problem shared...? Teamwork, autonomy and error in assisted conception. Social Science and Medicine, 69(12), pp. 1741-1749. (doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2009.09.045) (PMID:19836869)
Nettleton, S., Woods, B., Burrows, R. and Kerr, A. (2009) Food allergy and food intolerance: towards a sociological agenda. Health, 13(6), pp. 647-664. (doi: 10.1177/1363459308341433) (PMID:19841024)
Garforth, L. and Kerr, A. (2009) Women and science: what's the problem? Social Politics, 16(3), pp. 379-403. (doi: 10.1093/sp/jxp015)
2008
Kerr, A. (2008) Assisted conception and the audit culture. Human Fertility, 11(1), pp. 9-16. (doi: 10.1080/14647270701864703) (PMID:18320434)
2007
Kerr, A. , Cunningham-Burley, S. and Tutton, R. (2007) Shifting subject positions: experts and lay people in public dialogue. Social Studies of Science, 37(3), pp. 385-411. (doi: 10.1177/0306312706068492)
Kerr, A. , Cunningham-Burley, S. and Tutton, R. (2007) Exploring ambivalence about genetic research and its social context. Social Theory and Health, 5(1), pp. 53-69. (doi: 10.1057/palgrave.sth.8700085)
2005
Kerr, A. (2005) Understanding genetic disease in a sociohistorical context: a case study of cystic fibrosis. Sociology of Health and Illness, 27(7), pp. 873-896. (doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9566.2005.00462.x) (PMID:16313521)
2004
Kerr, A. (2004) Genetics and Society: A Sociology of Disease. Routledge: New York. ISBN 9780415300810 (doi: 10.4324/9780203489512)
Kerr, A. (2004) Giving up on geneticization: a comment on Hedgecoe's 'Expansion and uncertainty: Cystic fibrosis, classification and genetics'. Sociology of Health and Illness, 26(1), pp. 102-106. (doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9566.2004.00380.x) (PMID:15027992)
2003
Kerr, A. (2003) Genetics and citizenship. Society, 40(6), pp. 44-50. (doi: 10.1007/BF02712651)
Kerr, A. (2003) Rights and responsibilities in the new genetics era. Critical Social Policy, 23(2), pp. 208-226. (doi: 10.1177/0261018303023002005)
Kerr, A. (2003) Governing genetics: reifying choice and progress. New Genetics and Society, 22(2), pp. 143-158. (doi: 10.1080/1463677032000102611) (PMID:15282910)
2000
Kerr, A. (2000) (Re)constructing genetic disease: the clinical continuum between cystic fibrosis and male infertility. Social Studies of Science, 30(6), pp. 847-894. (doi: 10.1177/030631200030006002)
Kerr, A. and Cunningham-Burley, S. (2000) On ambivalence and risk: reflexive modernity and the new human genetics. Sociology, 34(2), pp. 283-304. (doi: 10.1177/S0038038500000183)
1999
Cunningham-Burley, S. and Kerr, A. (1999) Defining the 'social': towards an understanding of scientific and medical discourses on the social aspects of the new human genetics. Sociology of Health and Illness, 21(5), pp. 647-668. (doi: 10.1111/1467-9566.00177)
Kerr, A. (1999) Double trouble: social analyses of the new human genetics. Science as Culture, 8(1), pp. 97-103. (doi: 10.1080/09505439909526533)[Book Review]
1998
Kerr, A. , Cunningham-Burley, S. and Amos, A. (1998) Drawing the line: an analysis of lay people's discussions about the new genetics. Public Understanding of Science, 7(2), pp. 113-133. (doi: 10.1177/096366259800700202) (PMID:11660565)
Kerr, A. , Cunningham-Burley, S. and Amos, A. (1998) Eugenics and the new genetics in Britain: examining contemporary professionals' accounts. Science, Technology and Human Values, 23(2), pp. 175-198. (doi: 10.1177/016224399802300202) (PMID:11656684)
Kerr, A. , Cunningham-Burley, S. and Amos, A. (1998) The new genetics and health: mobilizing lay expertise. Public Understanding of Science, 7(1), pp. 41-60. (doi: 10.1177/096366259800700104) (PMID:11657071)
Kerr, E. A. (1998) Toward a feminist natural science: linking theory and practice. Women's Studies International Forum, 21(1), pp. 95-109. (doi: 10.1016/S0277-5395(97)00081-2)
1997
Kerr, A. , Cunningham-Burley, S. and Amos, A. (1997) The new genetics: professionals' discursive boundaries. Sociological Review, 45(2), pp. 279-303. (doi: 10.1111/1467-954X.00065)
Articles
Barkas, B. , Kerr, A. , Hawkton, G. and Kish, C. (2024) UK national newspapers' representation of cancer patients and their care during the early part of the Covid-19 pandemic: invoking and undermining solidarity? Sociology of Health and Illness, (doi: 10.1111/1467-9566.13790) (PMID:38795317) (Early Online Publication)
Ross, E., Kerr, A. , Swallow, J., Chekar, C. K. and Cunningham‐Burley, S. (2023) Unsettling the treatment imperative? Chemotherapy decision-making in the wake of genomic techniques. Sociology of Health and Illness, 45(5), pp. 1063-1081. (doi: 10.1111/1467-9566.13637) (PMID:36965058)
Swallow, J., Broer, T., Kerr, A. and Cunningham-Burley, S. (2023) Laboratory practices, potentiality, and material patienthood in genomic cancer medicine. Science, Technology and Human Values, (doi: 10.1177/01622439231172571) (Early Online Publication)
Ross, E., Swallow, J., Kerr, A. , Chekar, C. K. and Cunningham-Burley, S. (2021) Diagnostic layering: patient accounts of breast cancer classification in the molecular era. Social Science and Medicine, 278, 113965. (doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.113965) (PMID:33940433) (PMCID:PMC8146724)
Kerr, A. , Chekar, C. K., Swallow, J., Ross, E. and Cunningham-Burley, S. (2021) Accessing targeted therapies for cancer: self and collective advocacy alongside and beyond mainstream cancer charities. New Genetics and Society, 40(1), pp. 112-131. (doi: 10.1080/14636778.2020.1868986) (PMCID:PMC8547735)
Swallow, J., Kerr, A. , Chekar, C. K. and Cunningham-Burley, S. (2020) Accomplishing an adaptive clinical trial for cancer: Valuation practices and care work across the laboratory and the clinic. Social Science and Medicine, 252, 112949. (doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.112949) (PMID:32278242) (PMCID:PMC7193889)
Kerr, A. , Broer, T., Ross, E. and Cunningham Burley, S. (2019) Polygenic risk-stratified screening for cancer: responsibilization in public health genomics. Social Studies of Science, 49(4), pp. 605-626. (doi: 10.1177/0306312719858404) (PMID:31230567) (PMCID:PMC6688132)
Ross, E., Swallow, J., Kerr, A. and Cunningham-Burley, S. (2019) Online accounts of gene expression profiling in early-stage breast cancer: interpreting genomic testing for chemotherapy decision making. Health Expectations, 22(1), pp. 74-82. (doi: 10.1111/hex.12832) (PMID:30387238) (PMCID:PMC6351409)
Kerr, A. , Swallow, J., Chekar, C. K. and Cunningham-Burley, S. (2019) Genomic research and the cancer clinic: uncertainty and expectations in professional accounts. New Genetics and Society, 38(2), pp. 222-239. (doi: 10.1080/14636778.2019.1586525) (PMID:31156350) (PMCID:PMC6519890)
Kerr, A. , Ross, E., Jacques, G. and Cunningham-Burley, S. (2018) The sociology of cancer: a decade of research. Sociology of Health and Illness, 40(3), pp. 552-576. (doi: 10.1111/1467-9566.12662) (PMID:29446117) (PMCID:PMC5901049)
Kerr, A. , Hill, R. L. and Till, C. (2018) The limits of responsible innovation: exploring care, vulnerability and precision medicine. Technology in Society, 52, pp. 24-31. (doi: 10.1016/j.techsoc.2017.03.004)
Ross, E., Broer, T., Kerr, A. and Cunningham-Burley, S. (2018) Identity, community and care in online accounts of hereditary colorectal cancer syndrome. New Genetics and Society, 37(2), pp. 117-136. (doi: 10.1080/14636778.2018.1469974) (PMID:29875617) (PMCID:PMC5964445)
Kerr, A. and Garforth, L. (2016) Affective practices, care and bioscience: a study of two laboratories. Sociological Review, 64(1), pp. 3-20. (doi: 10.1111/1467-954X.12310)
Kerr, A. and Cunningham-Burley, S. (2015) Embodied innovation and regulation of medical technoscience: transformations in cancer patienthood. Law, Innovation and Technology, 7(2), pp. 187-205. (doi: 10.1080/17579961.2015.1106103) (PMID:27996062) (PMCID:PMC5139616)
Kerr, A. (2013) Body work in assisted conception: exploring public and private settings. Sociology of Health and Illness, 35(3), pp. 465-478. (doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9566.2012.01502.x) (PMID:23009560)
Garforth, L. and Kerr, A. (2011) Interdisciplinarity and the social sciences: capital, institutions and autonomy. British Journal of Sociology, 62(4), pp. 657-676. (doi: 10.1111/j.1468-4446.2011.01385.x) (PMID:22150380)
Netlleton, S., Woods, B., Burrows, R. and Kerr, A. (2010) Experiencing food allergy and food intolerance: an analysis of lay accounts. Sociology, 44(2), pp. 289-305. (doi: 10.1177/0038038509357208)
Kerr, A. (2009) A problem shared...? Teamwork, autonomy and error in assisted conception. Social Science and Medicine, 69(12), pp. 1741-1749. (doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2009.09.045) (PMID:19836869)
Nettleton, S., Woods, B., Burrows, R. and Kerr, A. (2009) Food allergy and food intolerance: towards a sociological agenda. Health, 13(6), pp. 647-664. (doi: 10.1177/1363459308341433) (PMID:19841024)
Garforth, L. and Kerr, A. (2009) Women and science: what's the problem? Social Politics, 16(3), pp. 379-403. (doi: 10.1093/sp/jxp015)
Kerr, A. (2008) Assisted conception and the audit culture. Human Fertility, 11(1), pp. 9-16. (doi: 10.1080/14647270701864703) (PMID:18320434)
Kerr, A. , Cunningham-Burley, S. and Tutton, R. (2007) Shifting subject positions: experts and lay people in public dialogue. Social Studies of Science, 37(3), pp. 385-411. (doi: 10.1177/0306312706068492)
Kerr, A. , Cunningham-Burley, S. and Tutton, R. (2007) Exploring ambivalence about genetic research and its social context. Social Theory and Health, 5(1), pp. 53-69. (doi: 10.1057/palgrave.sth.8700085)
Kerr, A. (2005) Understanding genetic disease in a sociohistorical context: a case study of cystic fibrosis. Sociology of Health and Illness, 27(7), pp. 873-896. (doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9566.2005.00462.x) (PMID:16313521)
Kerr, A. (2004) Giving up on geneticization: a comment on Hedgecoe's 'Expansion and uncertainty: Cystic fibrosis, classification and genetics'. Sociology of Health and Illness, 26(1), pp. 102-106. (doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9566.2004.00380.x) (PMID:15027992)
Kerr, A. (2003) Genetics and citizenship. Society, 40(6), pp. 44-50. (doi: 10.1007/BF02712651)
Kerr, A. (2003) Rights and responsibilities in the new genetics era. Critical Social Policy, 23(2), pp. 208-226. (doi: 10.1177/0261018303023002005)
Kerr, A. (2003) Governing genetics: reifying choice and progress. New Genetics and Society, 22(2), pp. 143-158. (doi: 10.1080/1463677032000102611) (PMID:15282910)
Kerr, A. (2000) (Re)constructing genetic disease: the clinical continuum between cystic fibrosis and male infertility. Social Studies of Science, 30(6), pp. 847-894. (doi: 10.1177/030631200030006002)
Kerr, A. and Cunningham-Burley, S. (2000) On ambivalence and risk: reflexive modernity and the new human genetics. Sociology, 34(2), pp. 283-304. (doi: 10.1177/S0038038500000183)
Cunningham-Burley, S. and Kerr, A. (1999) Defining the 'social': towards an understanding of scientific and medical discourses on the social aspects of the new human genetics. Sociology of Health and Illness, 21(5), pp. 647-668. (doi: 10.1111/1467-9566.00177)
Kerr, A. , Cunningham-Burley, S. and Amos, A. (1998) Drawing the line: an analysis of lay people's discussions about the new genetics. Public Understanding of Science, 7(2), pp. 113-133. (doi: 10.1177/096366259800700202) (PMID:11660565)
Kerr, A. , Cunningham-Burley, S. and Amos, A. (1998) Eugenics and the new genetics in Britain: examining contemporary professionals' accounts. Science, Technology and Human Values, 23(2), pp. 175-198. (doi: 10.1177/016224399802300202) (PMID:11656684)
Kerr, A. , Cunningham-Burley, S. and Amos, A. (1998) The new genetics and health: mobilizing lay expertise. Public Understanding of Science, 7(1), pp. 41-60. (doi: 10.1177/096366259800700104) (PMID:11657071)
Kerr, E. A. (1998) Toward a feminist natural science: linking theory and practice. Women's Studies International Forum, 21(1), pp. 95-109. (doi: 10.1016/S0277-5395(97)00081-2)
Kerr, A. , Cunningham-Burley, S. and Amos, A. (1997) The new genetics: professionals' discursive boundaries. Sociological Review, 45(2), pp. 279-303. (doi: 10.1111/1467-954X.00065)
Books
Kerr, A. , Chekar, C. K., Ross, E., Swallow, J. and Cunningham-Burley, S. (2021) Personalised Cancer Medicine: Future Crafting in the Genomic Era. Manchester University Press. ISBN 9781526141026
Kerr, A. (2004) Genetics and Society: A Sociology of Disease. Routledge: New York. ISBN 9780415300810 (doi: 10.4324/9780203489512)
Book Reviews
Kerr, A. (1999) Double trouble: social analyses of the new human genetics. Science as Culture, 8(1), pp. 97-103. (doi: 10.1080/09505439909526533)[Book Review]
Audio
Kerr, A. , Piacentini, T. , Millar, D., Aksu, P. and Mainwaring, C. (2021) Communities, Identity and Borders: What does the Kenmure Street Protest tell us about belonging to Glasgow? [Audio]
Grants
Wellcome Trust Senior Investigator Award (2015-2021) on personalised cancer medicine: www.cancerandsociety.ac.uk.
Supervision
I am very happy to supervise PhDs in:
• Science and Technology Studies
• Medical Sociology
I work primarily with qualitative methods and am particularly keen to supervise students interested in ethnography.
Teaching
I contribute to teaching in Sociology of Health and Illness and Research Methods.