David Mercer

BA (Hons) HPS (NSW)1986, Ph.D STS 1994 (Wollongong)

Current Position

Associate Professor in the Science Technology and Society Program at the School of Social Science Media and Communication, University of Wollongong.

Visiting Fellow

(2001) Institute For Advanced Studies, Graz, Austria.

Professional Memberships

• Australian Academy of Science. Member of the National Committee for History and Philosophy of Science, (2001-2004).
• National Executive (Regional Vice President) Australasian Association for the History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Science, (2003 >).
• Society for the Social Studies of Science (2000 >).

Editorial Board

Collaborating Member of the Editorial Board (for Sociology of Science) of the international science studies review journal ‘Metascience’ (commission and referee reviews: essays, symposia, etc.) published by Kluwer.

Referee for International and National Scholarly Journals, Associations and Publishers

• Cambridge University Press
• Oxford University Press
• Elsevier
• Social Studies of Science
• Science Technology and Human Values
• Public Understanding of Science
• Science and Public Policy
• Metascience
• Psychology Public Policy and Law
• Radiation Protection in Australasia
• Journal of Australian Studies
• Journal of Environmental Management

Teaching

Teaching has spanned 20 different undergraduate courses (see below) across 3 broad subject areas: The History and Philosophy of Science, Science and Technology Policy and Technology and Communications.

• STS120/220 Science Technology and the Modern Industrial State
• STS128/228 Computers in Society
• STS140 Revolutions in Science
• STS112/212 The Scientific Revolution
• STS113 Introduction to Information Technology Issues
• STS122/222 From Newton to Darwin
• STS 100/200 Introduction to Science and Technology Studies
• STS 116/218 Environment in Crisis
• SSMAC 100 Introduction to Social Science Media and Communications
• STS240/241 Information and Communication Theories
• STS250/350 From Molecular Genetics to Biotechnology
• STS312 The Body in History
• STS229 Scientific and Technical Controversy
• STS238 Changing Images of Nature
• STS206 Science and Religion
• STS288 Science and The Media
• STS 341 Technology Popular Culture and New Media
• STS400/430 Hons Seminar
• LLB 112/212 Law Science and Society
• UTS Technology and Society

Academic Governance

• 2003 – to date: Head of Postgraduate Studies- School of Social Sciences, Media and Communications.
• 2003: 2006 Program Convener, Science Technology and Society Program.
• 2001- to date: Arts Faculty Research Committee.

Media

• Interview for the ABC ‘Radio National Technology Program’ The Buzz ‘Tech’s Appeal’ (on the history of technology and social shaping of technology). The program was broadcast the week starting July 8, 2002: Transcript of interview archived at:  http://www.abc.net.au/rn/science/buzz/stories601507
• ‘Live’ interview “Powerlines and the Childhood Leukaemia Question” ABC Radio Illawarra, April, 2001.
• ‘Live’ interview “EMF Regulation the state of Debate’ ABC  Radio NCR June 13, 1990.
• ‘Live’ interview ‘ Junk Science Debate’ ABC Radio Illawarra April 4, 1998.
• ‘Interview for SBS TV INSIGHT Current Affairs Program, May 2000 ‘Special Report Mobile Telephones and Health’.

Community

Member of the EME Reference Group (EMERG) Australian Government (2001 – to date): This group includes members from consumer organizations, the telecommunications industry, the health sector, academic organizations, local government, and community groups. Its official task is to meets regularly to provide community input into the Committee on Electromagnetic Energy Public Health Issues (CEMEPHI). CEMEPHI co-ordinates, via the NHMRC, scientific research into RF/EME issues, Australian participation in WHO EMF programs and, with ARPANSA, a public information program.

Current Research

Primary area of research involves public policy in relation to science/expertise and law. I am particularly interested in the political, ethical and epistemological issues raised by the way legal and regulatory demands influence the shape of various fields of science and expertise. Related to this are broader questions of the lay/expert divide and the public understanding of science. To illuminate these concerns I have investigated various case studies of scientific controversies that have involved litigation, these have included, Bendectin (pharmaceutical safety), Electric and Magnetic Fields (safety of powerlines/mobile telephones/telecommunications technology), Creation Science (problems of fringe science), Daubert (evidence jurisprudence) and Asbestos. Following up on these research interests I am currently working on a ARC Discovery Project (2005-06) on the ‘Public Accountability of Vertically Integrated Expertise’.

Other research projects include the social history of the telephone and communications, with a particular interest in the mobile telephone and new media as symbols for the popular ‘re-enchantment’ with technology.

Research Grants

Publications List: in Reverse Chronological Order/by Category

Searchable RIS publications from 2000 to date

Books:

• David Mercer, ‘The Telephone: The Life Story of a Technology’, Greenwood Technographies, Greenwood Press, Westport, Connecticut, London, 2006. ISSN 1549-7321  http://www.greenwood.com/catalog/GR3207.aspx

Refereed Articles:

NB: all jointly published articles with Gary Edmond equal contribution: authors listed alphabetically)

• Gary Edmond & David Mercer, ‘Anti-social Epistemologies’, Social Studies of Science  December (2006) (in press)
• Gary Edmond & David Mercer, ‘Daubert and the exclusionary ethos: The Convergence of Corporate and Judicial Attitudes towards the Admissibility of Expert Evidence in Tort Litigation’ (2004) 26 Law and Policy, 231-257.
• Gary Edmond & David Mercer, ‘Conjectures and Exhumations: Citations of history, philosophy and sociology of science in US federal courts’ (2002) 14 Law & Literature, 309-366.
• David Mercer, ‘The Intersection of Sociology of Scientific Knowledge (SSK) and Law: Some Themes and Policy Reflections’ (2002) 6 Law.Text.Culture, 137-158.
• David Mercer, 'Scientific Method Discourses in the Construction of 'EMF Science': Interests, Resources and Rhetoric in Submissions to a Public Inquiry' (2002) 32 Social Studies of Science, 205-233.
• David Mercer, ‘Overcoming Regulatory Fear of Public Perceptions of Mobile Phone Health Risks’, (2001) 18 Radiation Protection In Australasia, 84-9.
• Gary Edmond & David Mercer, ‘Litigation Life: Law-science knowledge construction in (Bendectin) mass toxic tort litigation’ (2000) 30 Social Studies of Science, 265-316.
• Gary Edmond & David Mercer, ‘Creating Science: Science, Law and Religion in the Australian Noah’s Ark Case’ (1999) 8 Public Understanding of Science, 317-343.
• Gary Edmond & David Mercer, ‘Juggling science: From polemic to pastiche’ (1999) 13 Social Epistemology, 215-233.
• David Mercer, 'The Higher Moral Panic: Academic Scientism and its Quarrels with Science and Technology Studies,' (1999) 17 Prometheus, 77-85.
• Gary Edmond & David Mercer, ‘Trashing “Junk” Science’, (1998) 2 Stanford Technology Law Review [refereed electronic journal, Stanford University, USA]
  http://stlr.stanford.edu/STLR/Articles/98_STLR_3/index.htm
• David Mercer, ‘Science Technology and Democracy on the 'STS' Agenda,’ (1998) 16 Prometheus, 81-91.
• Gary Edmond & David Mercer, ‘Representing Law and the Sociology of Scientific Knowledge’ (1998) 19 Science Communication, 307-327.
• David Mercer, ‘The Hazards of Decontextualised Accounts of Public Perceptions of Radiofrequency Radiation (RFR) Risk,’ (1998) 22 Australian and New Zealand Journal Of Public Health, 291-294 (Commentary).
• Gary Edmond & David Mercer, ‘Scientific Literacy and the Jury’ (1997) 6 Public Understanding of Science, 329-359.
• Gary Edmond & David Mercer, ‘The Secret Life of (Mass) Torts’ (1997) 20 University of New South Wales Law Journal, 666-706.
• Gary Edmond & David Mercer, ‘Keeping ‘Junk’ History, Philosophy and Sociology of Science out of the Courtroom: Problems with the Reception of Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc.’ (1997) 20 University of New South Wales Law Journal, 48-100.
• Gary Edmond & David Mercer, ‘Recognising Daubert: What Judges Should Know About Falsificationism’ (1997) 5 Expert Evidence 28-40.
• Gary Edmond & David Mercer, ‘Manifest Destiny: Law and Science in America’ (1996) 10 Metascience 40-58.

• David Mercer, (with J. Ravetz, S. Turner and S. Fuller) ‘A Parting Shot at Misunderstanding: Fuller vs. Kuhn’, Review Symposium of Steve Fuller, Kuhn vs Popper: The Struggle for the Soul of Science, Metascience (2005) 14; 3-32.

Book Chapters

• David Mercer, ‘Capturing the positive educational possibilities of creation science debates?’ in L. S. Jones and M. Reiss (eds) Teaching about Scientific Origins: Taking Account of Creationism, Peter Lang Publishing, New York (2006) (in press).
• David Mercer, ‘HEVIE knowledge’: The Public Accountability of Hyper Expertise and the Vertical Integration of Expertise. 2005 Yearbook of the Institute of Advanced Studies on Science and Technology Graz: Austria (eds), Arno Bamme et.al eds, Profil: Munich (2006) (in press).
• David Mercer, ‘Seen but not heard: Can STS shape policy in controversial areas of science’ 2004 Yearbook of the Institute of Advanced Studies on Science and Technology Graz: Austria (eds), Arno Bamme et.al eds, Profil: Munich, 351-66.
• Gary Edmond and David Mercer ‘Experts and expertise in legal and regulatory settings’ in G. Edmond (ed), ‘Expertise in Regulation and Law’, Ashgate Press U.K. (2004) 1-31.
• Gary Edmond and David Mercer ‘The invisible branch: The authority of science studies in expert evidence jurisprudence’ in G. Edmond (ed), ‘Expertise in Regulation and Law’, Ashgate Press U.K. (2004) 196-240.
• David Mercer, ‘Hyper-experts and the vertical integration of expertise in EMF/RF litigation’ in G. Edmond (ed), ‘Expertise in Regulation and Law’, Ashgate Press U.K. (2004) 85-97.
• David Mercer, ‘SSK and the Law: A Brief Critical Overview’ 2002 Yearbook of the Institute of Advanced Studies on Science and Technology Graz: Austria (eds), Arno Bamme et.al eds , Profil: Munich, (2002). 254-272. http://www.ifz.tugraz.at/index_en.php/article/articleview/986/1/58
•  Gary Edmond & David Mercer, ‘Rebels without a cause: Judges, scientific evidence and the uses of causation’ in I. Freckelton et.al. (eds), Science, Medicine and Causation, Ashgate Press U.K (2002) 61-83.
• David Mercer, ‘From Prudent Avoidance to Bureaucratic Avoidance: Lessons From the Recent RF Standard Setting Process in Australia,’ Mobile Telephones and Health, Mobitel: City and Financial, Gt. Britain, (1999) 49-59.
• Gary Edmond & David Mercer, ‘The Politics of Jury Competence’, in B. Martin (ed.) Participation and Technology (1998) 85-112 (University of Wollongong) ISBN 0 836418 559 6 http://www.uow.edu.au/arts/sts/TPP/edmondmercer.html

Reviews

• David Mercer, ‘ Representing SSK’ (2005) 14, Metascience 205-07.
• David Mercer, ‘Social Epistemography’ (2002) 11, Metascience, 387-
  390.
• David Mercer, ‘Provincial History of Science,’ (1998) 7 Science as Culture, 117-12.
• David Mercer, ‘The Revealing Science of Cod’, (1996) 26 'Social Studies of Science, 182-186.

Occasional Paper

• David Mercer, Understanding Scientific and Technical Controversy, STP Occasional Paper no 1, (76 pp) University of Wollongong, November, 1996. ISBN 0 86418 431 X.

• David Mercer, ‘Submission’ to the Australian Senate, Environment, Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, References Committee, Legislation Committee, Inquiry into Electromagnetic Radiation, July 25, 2000’ (erca.sen@aph.gov.au)
• David Mercer, Submission to Victorian Government Panel on Electromagnetic Fields and Health, December 10, 1991.

Letters

• ‘Limits to Exposure’ Letters New Scientist May 7,1992.

• David Mercer, ‘VDU's and Radiation: More Questions than Answers’, Bankwatch, Australian Bank Employees' Union, prepared by the Centre for Technology & Social Change, Wollongong University, October 1989.
• David Mercer, ‘Implications of the 'first US VDU' law for Australia’, Labour Market Topics, Centre for Work & Labour Market Studies, Wollongong University, October 1989.

PhD Research Supervision Completions

Visiting Speaker and Invited Presentations

• Staff Seminar Series, University of New South Wales Law School, “Keeping Junk HPS/SSK out of the Courtroom.” August 24, 1996.
• Panel/Forum on: ‘Assumptions underlying the judicial system in Australia and in the USA’ at the Australian Psychological Society Annual Conference, Cairns, by invitation of the Conference Keynote speaker, Vladimir Konecni. October 3, 1997.
• Science Studies Unit at Edinburgh University, Scotland, U.K.  ‘The Politics of Jury Competence,’ April 28, 1998.
• Science and Technology Studies Department Cornell University, USA, Spring Seminar Series, ‘Saving Science’, May 4, 1998.
• Invited Speaker: Conference on Mobile Telephones and Health an Update on the Latest Research, Radisson, SAS Hotel, Park Avenue, Gothenburg, Sweden. ‘From Prudent Avoidance to Bureaucratic Avoidance: lessons from the recent Rf standard setting process in Australia’, 16-September, 1999.
• Unit for History and Philosophy of Science, Research Seminars 2000, Faculty of Science, University of Sydney, ‘Scientific Method Ecologies in Legal -Regulatory Settings’ April 3, 2000.
• ‘Risk Communication, Safety Standards, the Public and RF Radiation', The Radiofrequency Spectrum: Managing Community Issues, Crown Plaza, Coogee Beach, Sydney, 22/3/2001.
• ‘Technologies of Uncertainty Workshop’, STS Department, Cornell University, USA, 20/4/2001.
• 'Minding the Gaps; Causation in Law and Science’, University of Adelaide Law School, 14/5/2001.
• ‘How To Cross-Examine Experts’, South Australian Branch of the Australasian and New Zealand Forensic Science Society, Adelaide, 16/5/2001.
• 'Critical Issues in Science and Technology Studies Joint Workshop', Institute of Advanced Studies on Science Technology and Society, Graz, Austria; Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Blacksburg, USA and Inter University Research Centre for Technology, Work and Culture, Graz, Austria.7-8/6/ 2001.
• 'Overcoming Regulatory Fear of Public Perceptions of Mobile Telephone Hazards', Vienna Institute of Technology Assessment, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, 13/6/2001.
• 'Creating Science in the Noah's Ark Case' Seminar Series: Australian Centre for Intellectual Property in Agriculture, Faculty of Law, Australian National University, 26/7/2001. (acipa@law.anu.adu.au)
• ‘Hyper Experts and the Vertical Integration of Expertise’, ‘Law's Experts': Interpreting Expertise in Legal and Regulatory Settings 23 /8/2002. The National Institute of Government and Law; Australian National University.
• ‘SSK and the Law’: Faculty of Law: Washington and Lee University: VA, USA, 11/11/ 2002.
• ‘STS Goes to Washington: Citations of Science Studies in US Federal Courts’, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Blacksburg, USA, 13/11/2002.
• ‘Seen but not heard: Can STS shape policy in controversial areas of science? STS advice and the Australian Committee on Electromagnetic Energy Public Health Issues’, Australian Academy of Science: National Committee for History and Philosophy of Science and the School of History and Philosophy of Science, University of New South Wales: A One-Day Symposium: Science Studies and Public Policy: A Sino- Australian Conversation, 2/12/ 2003.
• ‘Can STS shape policy in controversial areas of science’, Plenary Session 3 rd Annual IAS-STS Conference: ‘Critical Issues in Science and Technology Studies’, Institute for Advanced Studies on Science, Technology and Society, Graz, Austria. 23/2/2004.
• ‘Daubert and the Exclusionary Ethos’, Spring Colloquium Series, Department of Science and Technology Studies and Law and Society Program, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA. 26/4/2004.
• ‘Challenges to Interpreting Surveys of Judicial Science Literacy’, Workshop, School of Social Ecology and Criminology, University of California, Irvine, USA. 3/4/ 2004.
• ‘From Morning Sickness to Mobile Phones’, Sponsored by Criminology, Law and Society, Environmental Health, Science, and Policy, Planning Policy and Design, Working Group in STS and the Newkirk Center for Science and Society, University of California, Irvine, USA, 4/4/ 2004.
• ‘Expertise in Law and Regulation’ UNSW, HPS Seminar Series, 24 /9/ 2004.
• ‘The Politics of Expertise and the EMF debate, invited paper, 28/2.2005 School of Social Studies,University of Masaryk  Brno, Czech Republic.

Selected Conference Papers

• Australasian Association for the History Philosophy and Social Studies of Science Annual Conference,  University of Melbourne, Victoria, “Keeping Junk HPS/SSK out of the Courtroom”, July 1996.
• Australasian Association for the History Philosophy and Social Studies of Science Annual Conference, University of Auckland, New Zealand,  ‘The Politics of Jury Competence’, July 1997.
• Australasian Association for the History Philosophy and Social Studies of Science Annual Conference at Flinders University, ‘Creating Science and Anti -Science, or the Creation Science Case that Wasn’t’, July 2, 1998.
• Australasian Association for the History Philosophy and Social Studies of Science Annual Conference, University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, ‘Narrative Strategies in the Construction of EMF Science in Legal and Regulatory contexts’, June 29, 1999.
• Australasian Association for History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Science Annual Conference., Sydney University ‘Demarcating Science and Law’, July 1, 2000.
• 4S/EASST Conference 2000 , University of Vienna, Austria ‘Distance and Engagement: Negotiating Hybrid Identity’, Worlds in Transition’, 28 September 2000.
• Australasian Association for History Philosophy and Social Studies of Science ,  Annual Conference, University of Melbourne,Victoria:
  ‘How to Cross Examine Scientists’, and;  ‘Overcoming Regulatory Fears of Public Perceptions of Mobile Telephone Risks’, Wednesday, June 27, 2001.
• ‘Sociology of Scientific Knowledge and Law/Science Encounters Involving Controversial Science and Technology’ Work in Progress Seminar Series Legal Intersections Research Centre: Faculty of Law University of Wollongong, 27/4/ 2002.
• ‘Conjectures and Exhumations: Citations of HPS in US Federal Courts’, Australasian Association for the History Philosophy and Social Studies of Science Annual Conference, Sydney University, 3/7/2002.
• ‘Judging Metascience: Inoculation or Accommodation’ 2002, Milwaukee, USA, 9/11/2002.
• ‘Science Studies at the Bar’20th Annual Australian Law and Society Conference University of Wollongong, 10/12/ 2002.
• ‘Toxic Torts, Think Tanks and the Vertical Integration of Expertise’, 2003 Annual Meeting of the Society for the Social Studies of Science 4S, Atlanta, USA. 18/10/ 2003.
• ‘ Torts, Junk Science and the Vertical Integration of Expertise’, 21st Annual Australian Law and Society Conference 10/12/2003, Newcastle University.
• ‘Locating the boundaries of expertise in the EMF debate’, Australasian Association for History Philosophy and Social Studies of Science, Annual Conference, Newcastle, 2/7/2004.
• 'The Public Accountability of Vertically Integrated expertise', Plenary Session 4rh Annual IAS-STS Conference: 'Critical Issues in Science and Technology Studies', Institute for Advanced Studies on Science, Technology and Society, Graz, Austria.  25/2/2005.
• 'HEVIE KNOWLEDGE', Hyper-Expertise and Vertical Integration of Expertise: Some theoretical Considerations.Society for Social Studies of Science Annual Conference, 4S: Pasadena: California, USA. 22/10/05.
• 'Legitimating De-specialized Expertise' Australasian Association for the History Philosophy and Social Studies of Science Annual Conference, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand, 7/12/05.
• 'The Trojan Mobile: EMF as an Agent for Technological Change',  5rh Annual IAS-STS Conference: 'Critical Issues in Science and Technology Studies', Institute for Advanced Studies on Science, Technology and Society, Graz, Austria. 26/ 5/06
• 'Anti- Social Epistemologies' 2006 Australasian Association for Philosophy Annual Conference, (AAHPSSS stream) 4/7/06.