Home » Archives for Will Mason-Wilkes

Published by Will Mason-Wilkes:

The Role of ‘Science’ in Atheist and Non-Religious Cultural Identities

Summary: The proposed project will investigate how atheist and other non-religious individuals in the UK involve ‘science’, broadly conceived as a cultural institution represented in various mediated forms in public, in their identities, world-ordering and meaning making. The project will seek to complexify understandings of the role ‘science’, as a mediated cultural institution, can and does play in individuals’ lives in a modern democratic society. This research will act as a pilot for a larger, extended project that will further interrogate the relationship between science, media and belief in 21st century democratic societies. Research Questions What role does ‘science’ play in individuals’ atheist and non-religious identities? From which sources do atheist and non-religious individuals get their knowledge/understanding of science? How do individuals involve science in their autobiographical narratives, and how does science align with or serve to anchor their identification as ‘atheist’ or as ‘nonreligious’? Do atheist or non-religious peoples’

Read More
A black and white image of Renate Ysseldyk and Emily Tippins

S3 Episode 7: Religious Identity, Political Orientation and Vaccine Attitudes with Dr Renate Ysseldyk and Emily Tippins

In this episode Will is joined by a new co-host Dr Rebecca Hughes, a social psychologist at the University of Birmingham. Will and Rebecca welcome Renate Ysseldyk, Associate Professor in the Department of Health Sciences at Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada specializing in Social and Health Psychology, and Emily Tippins, a PhD student at the University of Ottawa, who recently completed her Masters of Science working with Renate at Carleton University. Renate and Emily discuss how religious and non-religious individuals in Canada coped with the stresses of the COVID-19 pandemic and the differential relations between religiosity, trust in science (or lack thereof) and vaccine intentions that exist between religious and non-religious individuals. They complicate this picture further by highlighting the role that political orientation plays in vaccine intentions and trust in science, showing that it can play a greater role than religious/non-religious identity. Renate and Emily discuss the wider societal

Read More

S3 Episode 4: STS and Religion in Conversation with Dr Thokozani Kamwendo, Dr Caroline McCalman, Dr Will Mason-Wilkes & Dr James Riley

In this episode James and Will welcome Dr Thokozani Kamwendo, post-doctoral researcher at Durham University, and Dr Caroline McCalman, post-doctoral researcher at the University of Birmingham, for a roundtable discussion on the relationship between scholarship in Science & Belief and Science & Technology Studies (STS). Thoko is the editor of a collection exploring this relationship, with Caroline providing a single-authored and co-authored contribution. As well as hosting the podcast, both James and Will are scholars very much at the intersection of these disciplines, and are also contributing chapters to the volume. In a departure from the usual format, James and Will hand over the hosting duties (at least temporarily) to Thoko, who leads us through the motivation for the volume, before Caroline, James and Will outline their own contributions, before engaging in a more wide-ranging discussion of the value of this kind of inter-disciplinary project for both STS scholars and

Read More

S3 Episode 3: Science and Meaning: From ‘Cultured Meat’ to the March for Science with Dr Neil Stephens

In this episode James and Will welcome Dr Neil Stephens, Associate Professor in Technology and Society at the University of Birmingham. Neil discusses his interest in meaning-making in and around science. This includes his 15+ year study of ‘cultured meat’; the processes of its scientific and technological development, how religious authorities have been involved in these processes, and the broader epistemological, ontological and sociological implications cultured meat raises. We go on to discuss the March for Science and how participants found meaning and community in the activity. More broadly, we discuss the value of borrowing concepts from different disciplines, and what Science and Technology Studies (STS) and Science and Belief scholars can learn from one another. (This episode was recorded in January 2023) This podcast is 55 minutes and 30 seconds long. The keywords associated with this episode are: To learn more about Neil’s work, we recommend you check out:

Read More
a black and white portrait photograph of Mareike Smolka

S2 Episode 9: Measuring Meditation – the Study of Contemplative Science with Mareike Smolka

Religious practices and their effects are increasingly the subject of scientific investigation. In the field of Contemplative Science, mediative practices drawn from Buddhist traditions are united with techniques of analysis from cognitive and neurosciences. In this episode, James and Will welcome Mareike Smolka, a PhD Researcher at Maastricht University in Science and Technology Studies and Fullbright Scholar at Arizona State University, who has ethnographically explored this community. Mareike’s work traces the development of Contemplative Science from fringe to mainstream interest, and demonstrates the tensions and trade-offs in play when exploring religious practices from within the boundaries of the neoliberal academy. (This episode was recorded in March 2022) This podcast is 63 minutes and 31 seconds long. The keywords associated with this episode are: To learn more about Mareike’s work, we recommend you check out: Smolka, M. Making epistemic goods compatible: knowledge-making practices in a lifestyle intervention RCT on mindfulness and

Read More
Logo-v4

Follow us