S2 Ep 1 - Rachel Ankeny on 'Research Repertoires'

"That's what ‘repertoires’ is trying to force philosophers to look at - that whole ecosystem that encompasses the doing of science." Prof. Rachel Ankeny
 
We start season 2 with the wonderful Rachel Ankeny discussing scientific change and the concept of research repertoires.

Rachel is professor of History and Philosophy at the University of Adelaide, with wide ranging expertise across HPS, bioethics and science policy, as well as food studies. Rachel is also editor in chief of the journal Studies in History and Philosophy of Science and is past president of the International Society for the History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Biology. 

In this episode Rachel introduces us to the concept of 'Research Repertoires', a notion she develop with Sabina Leonelli as a way to better understand the complex composition of research communities. In particular, Rachel and Sabina introduce the notion of  repertoires to highlight how important the practice of science is to understanding how scientific knowledge making works and changes over time.

The repertoire of a scientific community incorporates many different components, including the typical skills, methods, materials and technologies that community members use, the institutional structures they practice in, the geographical locations they are dispersed across, the common language they share, the organizations they subscribe to, and the ways in which they typically publish.

Some links related to this episode can be found below:

• Profile: Professor Rachel Ankeny | Researcher Profiles (adelaide.edu.au)
• Research Repertoires: Repertoires: A post-Kuhnian perspective on scientific change and collaborative research (Ankeny & Leonelli, 2016)
• Repertoires and Model Organisms (Sect 5): Model Organisms (cambridge.org)
• Repertoires in Jazz:  The Jazz Repertoire (Faulkner & Becker 2006)
• Kuhn's Concept of Paradigm: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

A transcript of this episode can be found here: www.hpsunimelb.org/post/transcript-s2-e1

Thanks for listening to The HPS Podcast with current producers, Samara Greenwood and Carmelina Contarino. You can find more about us on our blog, website, bluesky, twitter, instagram and facebook feeds. Music by ComaStudio.

This podcast would not be possible without the support of School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne.

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