Associate Professor Rachel Ankeny

Biography/ Background

Rachel A. Ankeny is an interdisciplinary teacher and scholar whose areas of expertise cross three fields: history/philosophy of science, bioethics and science policy, and food studies. In the past five years, she has been an academic visitor at the University of Exeter (where she is currently an honorary senior fellow), the London School of Economics, and Arizona State University, and has given invited talks at major institutions including the University of Michigan, Duke University, and the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (Berlin). Her research is considered highly interdisciplinary, scholarly, and generally accessible, evidenced by the fact that her talks are typically attended not only by academics but also members of the general public. She also is well-recognized as a scholar who can translate academic findings in ways that are relevant for students and the broader community.

Rachel has a BA in Liberal Arts (Philosophy/Maths, St John's College, Santa Fe, NM), and MA degrees in Philosophy and in Bioethics, and a PhD in the History and Philosophy of Science (all from the University of Pittsburgh, PA). In 2006 she graduated with the degree of Master of Arts in Gastronomy (University of Adelaide) after completing a dissertation on celebratory food habits among Italo-Australian and Italian-American immigrants. Prior to joining the University of Adelaide in 2006, she was director and lecturer/senior lecturer in the Unit for History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Sydney from 2000.

Teaching Interests

Rachel teaches in the undergraduate programs in both history and politics, and in the postgraduate coursework program in food studies for which she is the Program Coordinator; she also supervises internship students as well as honours theses. In addition to the School of History and Politics, she is registered to supervise higher degree research in Philosophy, School of Humanities. She has supervised numerous successful honours, masters, and PhD candidates in HPS, bioethics, and history of food/food studies.

Research Interests

Rachel's research interests cross several areas and fields: the history and philosophy of science particularly biomedical/ biological sciences, bioethics and science policy, food studies, and migration history. 

In the history and philosophy of science, her research focuses on the roles of models and case-based reasoning in science, model organisms, the philosophy of medicine, and the history of contemporary life sciences. Her research in bioethics examines ethical and policy issues in genetics, reproduction, women's health, transplantation, and embryo and stem cell research, among other topics.  She also has expertise and ongoing research on health and science policy, particularly regarding public engagement. Rachel holds (together with Bob Cook-Deegan) an United States Studies Centre grant (2011) to examine the history and implications of the Bermuda principles for genomic data-sharing, as well as a NETS small grant to examine Australian public attitudes toward synthetic biology.

In food studies, Rachel's research interests include food ethics, food habits of women and children, food habits in the Italian diaspora, and the relationship of science to food habits. She currently holds a three-year grant Australian Research Council Discovery Project grant (2011-13) entitled “What Shall We Have for Tea? Toward a New Discourse of Food Ethics in Contemporary Australia” (A$155,000) as well as small grants to examine gender and understandings of GM foods and attitudes toward future use of GM technologies in the Australian wine industry. For more details on the projects relating to food ethics, and to volunteer for research, please see http://www.hss.adelaide.edu.au/historypolitics/research/research_groups/food_ethics.html

Rachel is the lead investigator on an Australian Research Council Linkage Project grant entitled "Hostel Stories: Toward a Richer Narrative of the Lived Experiences of Migrants" (2012-14) in collaboration with the Migration Museum and in partnership with the cities of Charles Sturt and Port Adelaide Enfield, State Records, and the Vietnamese Community in Australia (SA).

She previously has been an investigator on various grants from the National Health and Medical Research Council, the Australian Research Council, the US National Science Foundation, and the NSW Cancer Council, among other organisations.  She is a member and the convener of the University of Adelaide’s Gender Panel for the Commonwealth Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA) (2010-on) and the co-convener of the University of Adelaide's Social Science Panel for Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) (2011-on).

 

Publications

Selected Recent Publications

Rachel A. Ankeny, “Ethics of Food,” in Handbook of Food History, ed. Jeffrey Pilcher. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012, forthcoming

Rachel A. Ankeny, “Disease and Health, Concepts and Representations,” in History of Contemporary Medical Thought, ed. Bernardino Fantini and Louise L. Lambrichs. Paris: Editions du Seuil, 2012, forthcoming

Sabina Leonelli and Rachel A. Ankeny, “Re-thinking Organisms: The Impact of Databases on Model Organism Biology,” Studies in the History & Philosophy of Science, 2012, forthcoming

Charles D. Douglas, Ian H. Kerridge, and Rachel A. Ankeny, “Narratives of Terminal Sedation, and the Importance of the Intention-Foresight Distinction in Palliative Care Practice,” Bioethics,  2011, forthcoming

Rachel A. Ankeny and Sabina Leonelli, “What’s So Special about Model Organisms?” Studies in the History & Philosophy of Science 41: 313–23, 2011

Rachel A. Ankeny, “Using Cases to Establish Novel Diagnoses: Creating Generic Facts by Making Particular Facts Travel Together,” in Mary Morgan and W.P. Howlett (eds.), How Well Do Facts Travel? (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011), 252–72

Rachel A. Ankeny, “Historiographic Considerations on Model Organisms: Or, How the Mureaucracy May Be Limiting Our Understanding of Contemporary Genetics and Genomics,” History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences 32: 91–104, 2010

Renee Kyle, Susan M. Dodds, and Rachel A. Ankeny, “A Matter of Conscience? The Democratic Significance of ‘Conscience Votes’ in Legislating Bioethics in Australia,” Australian Journal of Social Issues 44: 121–44, 2009

Gabrielle Natalie Samuel, Kim Strong, Ian Kerridge, Christopher F.C. Jordens, Rachel A. Ankeny, and Peter Shaw, “What Place Do ‘Saviour Siblings’ Have in Paediatric Transplantation?” Archives of Disease in Childhood 94: 317–320, 2009

Rachel A. Ankeny and Susan Dodds, “Hearing Community Voices: Public Engagement in Australian Human Embryo Research Policy 2005–7,” New Genetics and Society 27: 217–232, 2008

Rachel A. Ankeny, “The Moral Economy of Red Meat in Australia” in Susan Friedland, ed., Food and Morality: Proceedings of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery 2007 (Blackawton, Totnes: Prospect Books, 2008), 20–28

Rachel A. Ankeny, “Wormy Logic: Model Organisms as Case-Based Reasoning,” in Angela N.H. Creager, Elizabeth Lunbeck, and M. Norton Wise, eds., Science without Laws: Model Systems, Cases, Exemplary Narratives (Chapel Hill, NC: Duke University Press, 2007), 46–58

Rachel A. Ankeny, “Individual Responsibility and Reproduction,” in Rosamond Rhodes, Leslie Francis, and Anita Silvers, eds., Blackwell Guide to Medical Ethics (New York: Blackwell Press, 2006), 38–51

John E.R. Rasko, Gabrielle M. O’Sullivan, and Rachel A. Ankeny, eds., The Ethics of Inheritable Genetic Modification: A Dividing Line? (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006)

Rachel A. Ankeny, “The Rise of Molecular Gastronomy and Its Problematic Use of Science as an Authenticating Authority,” in Richard Hosking, ed., Authenticity in the Kitchen: Proceedings of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery 2005 (Blackawton, Totnes: Prospect Books, 2006), 44–52

Selected Recent Talks

“Why Do Australians Eat What They Do for Tea? Toward a History of Ethical Food Choices,” on panel entitled “Emerging Methodologies in the Scholarship in History of Recent Science: Lessons from Food History” (organized by Rachel Ankeny), History of Science Society annual meeting, Cleveland, OH, 5 November 2011

“The ‘Bermuda Principles’: Model for Collaborative Science?” (with Bob Cook-Deegan and Kathryn Maxson), Society for Social Studies of Science (4S) annual meeting, Cleveland, OH, 3 November 2011

“Examining the History and Implications of the ‘Bermuda Principles’ for Data Sharing” (with Bob Cook-Deegan and Kathryn Maxson), Exploring the ELSI Universe: National Human Genome Research Institute: Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications Research Program 2011 Congress, Chapel Hill, NC, 13 April 2011; Society for the Philosophy of Science in Practice (SPSP), Third Biennial Conference, Exeter, UK, 23 June 2011

“Using Case Studies as Evidence of Phenomena: Examples from Molecular Biology,” Philosophy of Science Association biennial conference, Montreal, Canada, 5 November 2010

“Values, Ethics and Public Involvement” (invited plenary), 40th Annual Conference of the Public Health Association of Australia, Adelaide, 29 September 2010

“The Future of Public Involvement in Science and Technology Policy in Australia: Using Research as a Rabbit-Proof Fence” (invited plenary), Gordon Research Conference on Science and Technology Policy, Waterville, NH, 12 August 2010

“Why the Issue Isn’t Model Organisms,” European Evo-Devo Conference, Paris, 8 July 2010

“Environmental Ethics and Gene Technology Regulation in Australia” (with Vaughan Monamy and Judith Jones), Australasian Association for Bioethics and Health Law inaugural conference, Adelaide, 2 July 2010

“Re-Thinking Organisms: The Impact of Databases on Model Organism Biology” (with Sabina Leonelli), Society of Philosophy of Science in Practice, Minneapolis, MN, 20 June 2009; International Society for the History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Biology Biennial Meeting, Brisbane, 14 July 2009

“Australian Food Consumer Perceptions of Ethical Consumption” (with Susie Chant), 2009 Joint Annual Meeting of the Agriculture, Food, and Human Values Society (ASHVS) and the Association for the Study of Food and Society (ASFS), State College, PA, 28-31 May 2009

“How to Cook an Egg and Other Lessons from the Kitchen-Lab: A History of Molecular Gastronomy,” Food for Thought series, Oregon State University, November 8, 2007 http://agsci.oregonstate.edu/orb/FFT+0708

Professional Associations

Rachel is the Program Coordinator for the Graduate Program in Food Studies, and serves on the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences's research and postgraduate coursework committees. She also is the Associate Dean/Research for the Faculty (August 2011-on).  She formerly served as the Faculty's Associate Dean/International (2009-10).

Rachel also serves as chair of the National Committee for History and Philosophy of Science of the Australian Academy of Sciences; a member of the Gene Technology Ethics and Community Consultative Committee for the Office of the Gene Technology Regulator of the Commonwealth of Australia; committee member for the Australasian Association of Bioethics and Health Law; chair of the Committee on Meetings and Programs for the History of Science Society; and treasurer for the International Network on Feminist Approaches to Bioethics (FAB). She also is a co-founder and organisation committee member of the international Society for Philosophy of Science in Practice, and of the International Philosophy of Medicine Roundtable. She has been a frequent reviewer for numerous international granting agencies (including the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council, the Austrian Science Fund, the British Academy, the Qatar Research Fund, the UK Economic and Social Research Council, and the US National Science Foundation) as well as scholarly journals across her areas of expertise. She serves on the editorial board for Endeavour and as associate editor for Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science.

Expertise for Media Contact

Categories	History, Ethics
Expertise	History/philosophy of science; history and culture of food; bioethics; food ethics; science policy; public understanding of science; public engagement; deliberative democratic approaches;

Entry last updated: Saturday, 15 Sep 2012