Jamie Wardman

Jamie Wardman is a Research Associate at the King’s Centre for Risk Management (KCRM) where he is also currently completing his PhD thesis.
 
Jamie obtained a BSc in Psychology from Goldsmiths College, University of London and an MSc in Research Methods and Psychological Assessment from the University of Surrey.
 
Before joining KCRM, he was a member of the Risk Research Group at the Centre for Environmental Strategy at the University of Surrey. At present, he is a member of the Society for Risk Analysis where he had served as Secretary for the Speciality Group on Risk Communication. Jamie is also the Managing Editor of the Journal of Risk Research, the official journal of the European and Japanese Sections of the Society for Risk Analysis.

Communication and conflict in the risk governance of mobile telecommunications technology
 
Supervisors: Prof Ragnar Löfstedt and Prof. David Demeritt
 
Since joining KCRM, Jamie's research has focussed on the policy orientated issues of risk perception and communication in relation to risk management and regulation in the areas of mobile telecommunications, food safety and terrorism. In his research, he has drawn upon sociological and psychological perspectives to examine how social concerns about risk and the way it is managed are experienced, constituted and acted upon by individuals, groups and organisations.
 
For his doctoral research, Jamie investigated the communication activities of different stakeholders such as government, industry and campaign groups in response to the health scares and social conflicts that have framed the siting and development of mobile telecommunications network infrastructure commonly known as ‘mobile phone masts’.
 
In other research work, he recently undertook an evaluation of the risk communication activities of the European Food Safety Authority in conjunction to those of other stakeholders and the media across four case studies including: the safety of GM food; BSE in goats; the safety of wild and farmed fish; and the discovery of semicarbazide in baby food. 
 
Jamie's further work involved examining how affect and emotion influences judgement and decision making. His work highlighted the need for debate about how this might (mis)inform official communication policies in response to specific scenarios such as terrorist attacks and more generally.

Wardman, J. K. (2006) Towards a Critical Discourse on Affect and Risk Perception. Journal of Risk Research, 9(2): 109-124
 
Sheppard B., Rubin, G. J., Wardman, J. K. & Wessely S. (2006) Terrorism and dispelling the myth of a panic prone public. Journal of Public Health Policy, 27(3): 219-245

European Food Safety Authority (EFSA)
 
School of Social Science and Public Policy, King’s College London
 
King’s Risk Forum, King’s College London