Department of Social Science, Health & Medicine launched
Posted on 03/01/2012
A new Department of Social Science, Health & Medicine at King’s College London is officially launched today with the arrival of the incoming Head of Department, Nikolas Rose, Professor of Sociology.
Professor Rose originally trained as a biologist before switching to psychology and then to sociology. After ten years at Goldsmiths College, where he was Head of Sociology and Pro-Warden for Research, he joined the London School of Economics in 2002 and was Convenor of the Department of Sociology from 2002 to 2006. He founded the BIOS Centre for the Study of Bioscience, Biomedicine, Biotechnology and Society at LSE, and was its Director since its inception in 2003.
Professor Rose has published widely on the social and political history of the human sciences, on the genealogy of subjectivity, on the history of empirical thought in sociology, and on changing rationalities and techniques of political power, as well as on law and criminology.
His current research concerns the social, political and legal dimensions of the life sciences and biomedicine, and has recently focussed on biological and genetic psychiatry and behavioural neuroscience. His study of the social implications of the rise of the new brain sciences will be published by Princeton University Press in 2012.
His most recent books include Powers of Freedom: Reframing Political Thought (Cambridge University Press, 1999) and The Politics of Life Itself: Biomedicine, Power, and Subjectivity in the Twenty-First Century (Princeton University Press, 2006).
Professor Rose is a member of several advisory groups, including the Nuffield Council on Bioethics, and has recently worked closely with the Royal Society, the Academy of Medical Sciences and the Wellcome Trust Public Engagement Strategy Committee. He is Chair of the European Neuroscience and Society Network, a unique interdisciplinary collaboration of social scientists, philosophers, lawyers, neuroscientists and psychiatrists.
The new Department of Social Science, Health & Medicine, located in the School of Social Science and Public Policy, will confirm King’s as a world leader in social scientific approaches to health and medicine, with innovative research and research-led teaching (at both taught postgraduate and doctoral levels) as the basis for a significant input into global health policy. In the medium term, a flagship interdisciplinary undergraduate programme will also be established. The Department’s research in social science, health and medicine will be placed in a global context focusing in particular on the implications of advances in biomedicine and biotechnology and on the social determinants of global health inequalities.
Nationally and internationally recognised excellence in transdisciplinary and transnational social science research, grounded in a knowledge of history, law and philosophy, will be at the core of the Department’s activities in policy development and consultancy. By bringing together social scientists working on health and medicine across King’s, the Department will inspire creative interactions among individuals and groups and between the social sciences and the life sciences.
The Institute of Gerontology and the Social Care Workforce Research Unit, both currently located in King’s Policy Institutes, part of the School of Social Science and Public Policy, will join the new Department.
Professor Denise Lievesley, Head of the School of Social Science and Public Policy, said: 'I am delighted to welcome Professor Nikolas Rose to King’s. Nik is a world authority on biomedicine and his academic expertise reaches across the disciplines from bioscience to sociology. With his considerable global experience, Nik is the ideal leader to enhance the links between our Social Sciences and the Health Schools at King’s and to drive forward the inter-disciplinary work in these fields.
'The College is uniquely placed to carry forward its vision for this new Department in terms of its physical location, its worldwide reputation in key areas of medical research and its existing strengths in relevant areas. No other academic institution either in the UK or globally is taking a leading role in this area.'
Professor Rose added: 'I am delighted to come to King’s to head up such an innovative initiative. I look forward to working closely with colleagues from across the College, especially those in medicine and psychiatry. Our aim is to create within three years an interdisciplinary department with over twenty faculty, a portfolio of internationally excellent research and teaching at graduate level, as well as robust linkages across the College, across London, across the UK and globally.'
Teaching on the initial master’s programmes will begin in October 2012 and the first cohort for the new undergraduate programme will be recruited for October 2013, together with students for two further master’s programmes.
Further media information
Prof Nikolas Rose is available for interview. Please contact Anna Mitchell on 0207 848 3092 or email anna.i.mitchell@kcl.ac.uk.
For more information about King's, see our 'King's in Brief' page.