Development Policy & Practice in Faculty of Maths, Computing and Technology

Les Levidow
DPhil (OU)

Development Policy and Practice
Faculty of Maths, Computing and Technology
The Open University
Walton Hall
Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA
Phone number: + 44 (0)1908 653496
Fax number: + 44 (0) 1908 654825
Email: Les Levidow

Position: Senior Research Fellow

Biography:

B.A., Biology, University of Rochester,1972.
M.A., Biology, Temple University, Philadelphia, 1974.
PhD, Technology Policy, The Open University, 1995.
Research Fellow at The Open University since 1989.
Managing Editor of Science as Culture since its inception in 1987; Editor since 2005.

Research interests:

Controversial agricultural technologies, especially agbiotech and biofuel crops, as well as quality alternatives to agri-industrial systems.  These topics provide case studies for several policy-relevant issues: agri-environmental sustainability, European integration, trade conflicts, governance, public participation, regulatory science and the precautionary principle.  Project funding has come from the European Commission and the UK’s Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).   For a list of past projects, research reports and downloadable papers (including those below), see the Biotechnology Policy Group webpages at http://technology.open.ac.uk/cts/bpg.htm

Selected Publications:
  • Levidow, L. and Boschert, K. (2008) ‘Coexistence or contradiction?  GM crops versus alternative agricultures in Europe’, Geoforum 39(1): 174-90.

  • Levidow, L. (2007) ‘European public participation as risk governance: enhancing democratic accountability for agbiotech policy?’, East Asian Science, Technology and Society (EASTS): an International Journal 1(1): 19-51, http://www.springerlink.com/content/7wv9764lw42r7867/fulltext.pdf

  • Levidow, L. and Carr, S. (2007) ‘Europeanising advisory expertise: the role of “independent, objective and transparent” scientific advice in agri-biotech regulation’, Environment & Planning C: Government & Politics 25: 880-895.

  • Levidow, L., Murphy, J., and Carr, S. (2007) ‘Recasting Substantial Equivalence: transatlantic governance of GM food’, Science, Technology and Human Values 32(1): 26-64.

  • Levidow, L. and Carr, S. (2007) ‘GM crops on trial: technological development as a real-world experiment’, Futures 39(4): 408-31.

  • Murphy, J. and Levidow, L. (2006) Governing the Transatlantic Conflict over Agricultural Biotechnology: Contending Coalitions, Trade Liberalisation and Standard Setting.  London: Routledge.

  • Levidow, L., Carr, S., Wield, D. (2005) ‘EU regulation of agri-biotechnology: precautionary links between science, expertise and policy’, Science & Public Policy 32(4): 261-76.

New projects:
  • ‘Land-use, biofuels and agri-biotechnology’
    Consultancy funded in early 2008 by the Wissenschaftlichen Beirats Globale Umweltveränderungen (WBGU), the Advisory Council on Global Change, Berlin.   

Two projects are funded in 2008-10 by the ‘Science in Society’ programme of the European Commission.  Both projects feature Co-operative Research – cooperation between academics and civil society organisations (CSOs).