His 2020 book, Trust in the system: Research Ethics Committees and the regulation of biomedical research (Manchester University Press), presents an ethnographic account of REC decision making. He argues that despite the trappings of a modern regulatory system, REC decision making revolves around very old-fashioned aspects of social life such as interpersonal trust, reputation, and the performance of character, and that an accurate understanding of this kind of regulation requires an acceptance of the inherently social nature of the processes involved.
Adam Hedgecoe
Cardiff University
Research Interests:
Professor Hedgecoe is a sociologist of science and technology, with a particular focus on biomedical science and medicine. He has a longstanding interest in the sociology of genetic testing, and his work on ethics review bodies focusing on providing an historical and sociological account of research ethics committees (REC) in the UK.
