Berris Charnley

Short Bio

Berris Charnley is interested in trees, seeds, genes, farms, forests, and food. How are these resources studied, circulated, controlled, measured, owned or shared? And what can the history of human relations with such resources tell us about making their future management more equitable? He is currently a research fellow at the University of Queensland. Previously, he has worked in engagement roles drawing on his own research and, at the University of Oxford and The Royal Society, on the relationship between amateur and professional knowledge production. He has also worked in teaching roles in a range of settings; most recently leading the University of Leeds’ Arts and Humanities International Foundation Year.

Education

2012. Doctor of Philosophy 'Agricultural Science, Plant Breeding and the Emergence of a Mendelian System in Britain, 1880-1930'. University of Leeds.
2005. Master of Arts 'Dr. Arthur Hill Hassall, the Analytical Sanitary Commission and the Origins of Food Analysis: A re-examination of the 'food adulteration crisis' in the 1850s'. University of Leeds.
2003. Bachelor of Science (International) Genetics 'Media Coverage of Genetic Issues: A Model of Current Coverage' [Final-year dissertation]. University of Leeds & Univeristy of South Carolina.

Employment

Research

2022 - . Research Fellow, University of Queensland.
2012-14. Research Fellow, Australian Centre for Intellectual Property in Agriculture (ACIPA), Griffith Law School, Griffith University.
2011-12. Research Fellow, ESRC Centre for Genomics in Society, Egenis, University of Exeter.
2006-7. Research Assistant, School of Philosophy, Religion and the History of Science, University of Leeds.
2006 & 2008. Review Editor, Sage Publishing, Wiley-Blackwell.

Teaching

2019-2020. Senior Teaching Fellow. Arts & Humanities International Foundation Year, Academic Lead.
2017. Tutor, Faculty of History, University of Oxford. Tutoring: History of Science.
2006-2011. Teaching Assistant, School of Philosophy, Religion and the History of Science, University of Leeds. Tutoring: History and Philosophy of Science and Philosophy.
2005-7. Teaching Fellow, School of Philosophy, Religion and the History of Science, University of Leeds. Module leader: History of Genetics, History of Psychology and Philosophy of Psychology.
2005-6. Teaching Assistant, Department of Philosophy, University of Sheffield. Tutoring: Philosophy.

Engagement & Administration

2008- . Co-ordinator and co-founder, The IPBio Network.
2020. Online Facilitator, Genetic Pedagogies Project.
2019. Social Media & Web design consultant. gregoryradick.com.
2014-2017. Postdoctoral Researcher (Engagement), ConSciCom, St Anne's College, University of Oxford.
2011. Impact Officer, School of Philosophy, Religion and the History of Science, University of Leeds / National Institute of Agricultural Botany; NIAB-TAG.
2009-2011. Administrative Assistant to Gregory Radick and Graeme Gooday, School of Philosophy, Religion and the History of Science, University of Leeds.

Publications, Websites and Media

Books

2015. with Charles Lawson (eds) Intellectual Property and Genetically Modified Organisms: A Convergence in Laws, Routledge. [Paperback second edition published 2017]

Journal special issues

2016. with Sally Shuttleworth (eds) 'The Rise of the Science Periodical in the Nineteenth Century'. Notes and Records of the Royal Society, 70: 297–304.

Journal Articles

2016. with Sally Shuttleworth, ‘Science Periodicals in the Nineteenth and Twenty-First Centuries’, Notes and Records of the Royal Society, 70: 297–304.
2013. 'Experiments in empire-building: Mendelian genetics as a national, imperial, and global agricultural enterprise', Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science: Part A. 44(2): 292–300. Author's pre-print.
2013. with Gregory Radick, 'Intellectual Property, Plant Breeding and the Making of Mendelian Genetics', Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science: Part A. 44(2): 222-233. Author's pre-print.
2013. 'Seeds Without Patents: Science and Morality in British Plant Breeding in the Long Nineteenth-Century', Revue Economique, 64: 69-88. Author's pre-print.
2012. with Sabina Leonelli, Alex Webb, and Ruth Bastow, 'Under one leaf: an historical perspective on the UK Plant Science Federation', New Phytologist, 195: 10-13.
2009. 'Rowland Biffen, Little Joss and Yeoman: Looking Back at Two Successes Behind the Birth of NIAB in 1919', Landmark, May: 3-4.
2008. 'Arguing over Adulteration: the Success of the Analytical Sanitary Commission', Endeavour, 32: 129-133. Author's pre-print.
2004. 'Media Coverage of Genetic Issues: A Model of Current Coverage', Biolog-e, 2.

Book Chapters

2020. [Reprint 2013]. ‘Seeds Without Patents: Science and Morality in British Plant Breeding in the Long Nineteenth-Century’ in B. Sherman & S. Chapman (eds.) Intellectual Property and Agriculture. Volume 1. pp. 69-88 [original pagination]. Edward Elgar.
2018. ‘Genetics and the Institutionalization of Plant Breeding Expertise, 1900-1930’, in M. Ohno (ed) Institutionalisation of Science and the Public Sphere in Modern Britain, pp. 196-208. Aichi Prefectural University.
2016. 'Geneticists on the Farm: agriculture and the all-English loaf', in Charlotte Sleigh and Don Leggett (eds.) Scientific Governance in Britain, 1914-1979 pp. 181-198. Manchester, Manchester University Press.
2015. with Charles Lawson 'Intellectual property and genetically modified organisms' in C. Lawson and B. Charnley (eds.) Intellectual Property and Genetically Modified Organisms: A Convergence in Laws, pp. 1-6. Routledge.
2015. 'Cui bono? Gauging the successes of publicly-funded plant breeding in retrospect' in C. Lawson and B. Charnley (eds.) Intellectual Property and Genetically Modified Organisms: A Convergence in Laws, pp. 7-26. Routledge.
2013. 'Why didn’t an equivalent to the US Plant Patent Act of 1930 emerge in Britain? Historicising the boundaries of un-patentable innovation', in Charles Lawson and Jay Sanderson (eds.), The Intellectual Property and Food Project: From Feeding the World to Rewarding Innovation and Creation, pp. 103-123. Farnham, Ashgate. @Amazon, @WorldCat.
2013. 'Mendelism in British Agricultural Science, 1900-1930: "Systematised plant breeding"', in Graham Dutfield and Stathis Arapostathis (eds.), Knowledge Management and Intellectual Property: Concepts, Actors and Practices from the Past to Present, pp. 200-215. Cheltenham, Edward Elgar. @Amazon, @WorldCat.
2010. with Gregory Radick, 'Plant Breeding and Intellectual Property Before and After the Rise of Mendelism: The Case of Britain', in D. J. Kevles et al. (eds.), Living Properties: Making Knowledge and Controlling Ownership in Modern Biology, pp. 51-55. Berlin, MPIWG.

Reviews

2016. Essay Review: 'Plasmids, patents and the historian’, Studies in History and Philosophy of Science: Part C, 60: 109-113.
2013. 'A "Fantastical" Experiment: Motivations, Practice, and Conflict in the History of Nuclear Transplantation, 1925-1970, by Nathan Paul Crowe', Dissertation Reviews.
2012. 'Noel Kingsbury, "Hybrid: The History and Science of Plant Breeding"', Technology and Culture, 53: 6-7.
2010. 'Philip J. Pauly, "Fruits and Plains: The Horticultural Transformation of America" and Alan L. Olmstead and Paul W. Rhode, "Creating Abundance: Biological Innovation and American Agricultural Development"', British Journal for the History of Science, 43: 308-309.

Miscellaneous publications

2015. 'Going into rooms and saying things: Academic presentations", CONSCICOM Blog.
2015. 'People Powered Science', CONSCICOM Blog.
2014. with S. Frampton, 'People Power at the Museum of the History of Science, Oxford', CONSCICOM Blog.
2013- . Intellectual Property and the Biosciences Quarterly Newsletter, IPBio Network, ipbio-listserv@ipbio.org.
2013. with S. Sherrie, ACIPA-CGIAR 'Intellectual Property, Access and Benefit Sharing and Genetic Resources Bibliography'. Australian Centre for Intellectual Property in Agriculture Research Resources.
2012. with S. Sherrie, 'Genetic Resource Map', Australian Centre for Intellectual Property in Agriculture Research Resources.

Websites

Prof. Gregory Radick

Prof. Radick's personal page. multi-page, wordpress.

acipa.edu.au

Homepage for the Australian Centre for Intellectual Property in Agriculture (ACIPA), based at the Griffith Law School, Griffith University. A multipage, static website built using html, css and google maps API, incorporating a quarterly newsletter.

ipbio.org

Homepage for the IPBio Network. Multipage, static website: html, css, flash, with a wordpress install for forum and blog, listserv, newsletter, and youtube, twitter, linkedin, soundcloud and facebook pages. The site acts as a platform for a wide range of videos, audio recordings and scholarly articles. Management of hosting and DNS registration.

owninganddisowninginvention.org

Home page for "Owning and Disowning Invention: Intellectual Property, Authority and Identity in British Science and Technology, 1880-1920", an AHRC funded project. Single page, static, html and css. Video and audio content. Management of hosting and DNS registration.

INTUTE virtual training suite: "Internet For History And Philosophy Of Science" (2007)

Working Veiko Palge and Samuel Schindler, produced text and gathered resources for an interactive tutorial, guiding students to the internet's best history and philosophy of science resources.

International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) technology time line (2006)

Working with Graeme Gooday and Leucha Veneer, produced text for an interactive timeline of twentieth-century technological innovations, used on the IEC's website and as a CD and booklet distributed to celebrate the institute's centenary.

Media

2022. Podcastː ‘Mendel's 200th Birthday’, The Naked Scientists.
2017. With D. Opitz. Podcastː ‘Domestic Science in the 19th Century’, The Conversationalist.
Audio and video recordings available on the ConSciCom and IPBio youtube channels.
2014 - 2017. Conscicom Twitter account.
2008 - . IPBio Network Twitter and Linkedin accounts.

Presentations and Symposia

Invited Speaker

2023. Joint Session of Council of Heads of Australasian Herbaria (CHAH) and Managers of Australasian Herbarium Collections (MAHC), CSIRO Black Mountain.
2023. School of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Sydney.
2023. School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry, University of Queensland.
2022. Mendel @ 200, MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit, University of Bristol.
2018. The Citizen in Citizen Science Workshop, University of Birmingham.
2018. AHRC Digital Transformations Workshop, Furtherfield Commons.
2017. ‘A Corner in Wheat (1909): Large Technological Systems and the History of Genetics’, Natures, Cultures, Knowledges Group, University of Cambridge.
2017. ‘A Corner in Wheat (1909): Large Technological Systems and the History of Genetics’, History of Science Technology & Medicine Seminar Series, University of Oxford.
2017. ‘Genetics and the Institutionalization of Plant Breeding Expertise, 1900-1930’, Aichi Prefectural University.
2017. ‘Citizen Science’. European Philosophy Forum. London School of Economics.
2016. ‘The Forensics of Predatory Publishing’, Max Planck Institute für Wissenschaftsgeschichte (MPIWG).
2016. ‘Citizen Science in Context’, Université de Genève.
2015. 'Miss Ormerod’s feeling for Community', TECHNIS online seminar 2015.
2015. with Geoffrey Belknap, ‘"[M]any are better than one, when hard work is to be done": Studying People-Powered Research in the 19th and 21st Centuries', Center for Spatial and Textual Analysis, CESTA Stanford University.
2015. 'The Unexpected History of Genetics', JIC Friday Seminar, John Innes Centre.
2012. 'Why didn’t an equivalent to the US Plant Patent Act of 1930 emerge in Britain? Historicising the boundaries of un-patentable innovation', ACIPA IP and Food Symposium, Griffith University.

2011. 'Why didn’t an equivalent to the US Plant Patent Act of 1930 emerge in Britain?' (invited respondent and session chair) Plants, Animals and Ownership Workshop, Yale University.
2011. "The Work and Legacy of Sir Rowland Biffen", National Institute of Agricultural Botany History Day, NIAB-TAG.
2009. 'From the Origin to Cairo: Rogues and Purity in British genetics, 1900-1925', ESRC Centre for Genomics in Society, Egenis, University of Exeter.

Convener or organiser

2017. ‘Why we write’, with Professor Sunetra Gupta. Royal Society.
2017. ‘Studying Citizen Science’, University of Oxford.
2017. ‘Don’t Panic! Promises and Threats of Science and Technology’, Pegasus Theatre and Oxford Museum of the History of Science.
2016. ‘Public health and Private pain: A night of medical history and drama’, Pegasus Theatre and Oxford Museum of the History of Science.
2015. 'Twilight Science: A Scientific Soiree', The Royal Society.
2015. 'The End of the Scientific Journal: Transformations in Publishing', The Royal Society.
2014. Intellectual Property and the Biosciences: Past Trends and Future Directions Workshop, Griffith University.
2013. '[Roundtable] Patenting Life: genes and generations,' International Society for History Philosophy and Social Studies of Biology.
2012. 'Genetics, Plant Breeding and Institution Building: International Perspectives from Britain, New Zealand and Italy', 3-Society meeting.
2012. 'Making Data Accessible to All', GARNet/ESRC Centre for Genomics in Society, Egenis Workshop, University of Exeter.
2012. Graham Dutfield, 'Did Kary Mullis Really Invent PCR?' inaugural event for the Egenis/SCuLE/IPBio/Business School Seminar Series, University of Exeter. WIth responses from Berris Charnley, Naomi Hawkins, Sabina Leonelli and Elena Simakova.
2012. Paul Thompson, 'Ethical Issues in Agriculture: Genetically Modified Crops and the Organic Movement', ESRC Centre for Genomics in Society, Egenis, University of Exeter. With responses from Michel Morange, Jean Gayon, Michael Winter and Berris Charnley.
2011. Myles Jackson, 'Intellectual Property and Molecular Biology: Biomedicine, Commerce, and the CCR5 Gene Patent', White Rose IPBio Public Lecture, University of York.
2010. 'Intellectual Property and the Biosciences', White Rose IPBio Symposium and Summer School, University of Leeds.
2010. 'Managing Knowledge in the Techno-Sciences, 1850-2000', 2-8 July, University of Leeds.
2009. 'Owning and Disowning Invention', AHRC Project Workshop, 23rd - 24th March. Berris Charnley, 'Mendelism in British Agricultural Science, 1901-1926: systematic activity in the practical sciences'. University of Leeds.

Fellowships, Grants and Awards

2023. Internal Research Fund. School of Law, University of Queenslan. $4,500 (ongoing).
2018-21. University of Leeds, Visiting Fellowship.
2016. Rethinking Science and Public Participation, Université de Genève, Visiting Fellowship.
2014. Sydney Centre for Foundations of Science, University of Sydney, Visiting Fellowship.
2014. 'Intellectual Property and the Biosciences: Past trends and future directions'. Griffith University International Workshop Awards, AEL, $12,000 (completed).
2014. 'Intellectual Property, Tradition and Modernity'. Griffith University Short Term Visiting Research Fellowship Scheme, $8,000 (completed).
2013. 'Plant Genetic Resources in the Colonial West Indies 1800-1950'. Griffith Law School Research Support Scheme, $9,710 (completed).
2012. Remaking the Field: the agricultural enterprise of early British geneticists, 1900-1925', Griffith Law School Research Support Scheme, $7,895 (completed).
2012. Co-applicant with John Dupré, “A Process Ontology for Contemporary Biology”, European Research Council, 60 months, £1.6million (funded).
2012. with John Dupré, “Biology as Process”, Arts and Humanities Research Council, 36 months, £300,000 (funding awarded but declined).
2012. with Gregory Radick, “Food Security in the European Region: Building Responsiveness to Future Challenges”, European Union FP7 Marie Curie International Training Network, 36 months, £2.1million (unfunded).
2011. with Gregory Radick, “Food Security in the Biotech Age: The National Institute of Agricultural Botany from 1970 to the Present”, Arts and Humanities Research Council, 36 months, £520,000 (funded).
2011. with Gregory Radick and Graeme Gooday, Research Impact and Innovation Fund, University of Leeds, 6 months, £5,000 (completed).
2009-2010. with Gregory Radick, White Rose IPBio Project, White Rose Consortium, 24 months, £15,000 (completed).
2009-2012. with Gregory Radick, “Forging a Science of Food Security: Testing, Statistics and Regulation at the National Institute of Agricultural Botany, 1919-1969”, Arts and Humanities Research Council, 36 months, £260,000 (completed).
2008-2012. Co-author with Graeme Gooday, Gregory Radick, and Christine MacLeod, "Owning and Disowning Invention: Intellectual Property, Authority and Identity in British Science and Technology, 1880-1920”, Arts and Humanities Research Council, 36 months, £800,000 (completed).
2008-2011. Arts and Humanities Research Council PhD funding, awarded by grant holders, Owning and Disowning Invention Project.
2008-2014. Various small grants and awards from: British Council, Royal Historical Society, Yale University, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, EURONET, International Society for History Philosophy and Social Studies of Biology, Society for the History of Technology, World Economic History Congress 2009.
2001 & 2002. University of South Carolina President’s Honours Roll.

Professional Service

Member of TECHNIS; Technology, Internet, Society. An intellectual property and innovation research group (2015-).
External Member of the Australian Centre for Intellectual Property in Agriculture, Griffith University (2014-).
Academic advisor for ‘Cultivating Innovation’ at University of Leeds (2014-2015).
Founding member and webmaster for the IPBio Network (2008-).
Postgraduate travel awards committee member International Society for History Philosophy and Social Studies of Biology, 2010-2011.
Facilitator for the Royal Society Dialogue on Genetics and Health, 2002.