Short Abstract:

In this “authors meet critics” roundtable, panellists will discuss The Handbook of DOHaD and Society: past, present and future directions of biosocial collaboration, a wide-ranging collection on interdisciplinary research in the field of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease.

Long Abstract:

In this “authors meet critics” roundtable, panellists will discuss The Handbook of DOHaD and Society: past, present and future directions of biosocial collaboration, a wide-ranging collection on interdisciplinary research in the field of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease. DOHaD research has had a fundamental impact on our understanding of how environmental experiences and contexts influence the development of health and disease over the entire life-course, and beyond DOHaD concepts have had profound mobility and circulation. DOHaD has been characterised from its outset by interdisciplinary collaboration. As a field it has been a forerunner of the integration of the critical social sciences in life-course research as best practice, and scholarship in STS, feminist technoscience, and allied disciplines has been integral to shaping the field. In this sense, DOHaD presents an exemplar in biosocial collaboration between the sciences and social sciences/humanities. But how do social scientists mobilise their critical work in collaborations with life scientists, and conversely how do life course scientists integrate social science insights into study design and practice?

Contributing authors to the volume will meet with critics Professors Charles Dupras, Des Fitzgerald and Sarah Davies for a critical examination of the meanings and practices of biosocial collaboration. This roundtable will speak to the constitution of evidence, innovative trial designs, feminist praxis in research and the challenges of remaking research infrastructures.