Irra Rodríguez-Giralt
I'm currently Senior Researcher at the IN3 - Open University of Catalonia (UOC). My field of research is the so-called STS (Science and Technology Studies) and the study of new forms of technical democracy. My work revolves around the forms social experimentation, citizens' mobilization and public debate in highly-uncertain and disputed situations, such as environmental crisis, emergencies, disasters, and public controversies. I'm interested in how citizens, sometimes non-experts, engage in knowledge production and innovation to the issues that affect them. I have recently applied this approach to the understanding of disabled people activism in Spain and in the UK; and to community and grassroots disaster and emergency management.
I hold a degree in Psychology from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (with honours). I received my PhD from Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (with honours) for the PhD thesis entitled “El gir simètric en l’estudi de l’acció col•lectiva: les mobilitzacions per la controvèrsia ecològica de Doñana” ("The symmetrical turn in the study of collective action: the ecological controversy of Doñana").
From 2002-2016 I have been a professor in the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences at UOC. From early 2016, I'm leading the CareNet Research Group (Care and Preparedness in the Network Society) at the Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (IN3) in UOC.
I have been visiting researcher at Loughborough University (2002), Centre for the Study of Invention and Social Process, Goldsmiths College, London (2009; 2010-2012) and Instituto de Sociología, Pontificia, Universidad Católica de Chile (2015).
I am member of the European Association for the Study of Science and Technology (EASST) & of the Society for Social Studies of Science (4S). As member of the Local Committee, I co-organised the 2016 EASST/4S Joint Conference in Barcelona.
In 2014, I received the Amsterdamska award from the European Association for the Study of Science and Technology for the book: "Disasters and Politics: Materials, Experiments and Preparedness" (Wiley/Blackwell, 2014), co-edited with Manuel Tironi and Michael Guggenheim.
Phone: (+34) 934 505 495
Address: Israel Rodríguez Giralt
IN3 - Internet Interdisciplinary Institute
CareNet Research Group
Av. Carl Friedrich Gauss, 5
08860 Castelldefels (Barcelona)
I hold a degree in Psychology from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (with honours). I received my PhD from Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (with honours) for the PhD thesis entitled “El gir simètric en l’estudi de l’acció col•lectiva: les mobilitzacions per la controvèrsia ecològica de Doñana” ("The symmetrical turn in the study of collective action: the ecological controversy of Doñana").
From 2002-2016 I have been a professor in the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences at UOC. From early 2016, I'm leading the CareNet Research Group (Care and Preparedness in the Network Society) at the Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (IN3) in UOC.
I have been visiting researcher at Loughborough University (2002), Centre for the Study of Invention and Social Process, Goldsmiths College, London (2009; 2010-2012) and Instituto de Sociología, Pontificia, Universidad Católica de Chile (2015).
I am member of the European Association for the Study of Science and Technology (EASST) & of the Society for Social Studies of Science (4S). As member of the Local Committee, I co-organised the 2016 EASST/4S Joint Conference in Barcelona.
In 2014, I received the Amsterdamska award from the European Association for the Study of Science and Technology for the book: "Disasters and Politics: Materials, Experiments and Preparedness" (Wiley/Blackwell, 2014), co-edited with Manuel Tironi and Michael Guggenheim.
Phone: (+34) 934 505 495
Address: Israel Rodríguez Giralt
IN3 - Internet Interdisciplinary Institute
CareNet Research Group
Av. Carl Friedrich Gauss, 5
08860 Castelldefels (Barcelona)
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Edited Books & Issues by Irra Rodríguez-Giralt
Bristol: Policy Press. ISBN: 978-1447354437
Disasters are an increasingly common and complex combination of environmental, social and cultural factors. Yet existing response frameworks and emergency plans tend to homogenise affected populations as ‘victims’, overlooking the distinctive experience, capacities and skills of children and young people.
Drawing on participatory research with more than 550 children internationally, this book argues for a radical transformation in children’s roles and voices in disasters. It shows practitioners, policy-makers and researchers how more child-centred disaster management, that recognises children’s capacity to enhance disaster resilience, actually benefits at-risk communities as a whole.
Takes an innovative approach to the relationship between disasters and the nature, composition, and effects of the political: 1) Leading experts scrutinize how events of radical disruption enable a re-evaluation and redefinition of the political, and the tools and processes through which this happen. 2) Comparative case studies give an unrivalled geographic scope, covering Australia, Europe, South America, and the United Kingdom and United States. 3) Brings together disaster studies, political theory, and science and technology studies to stimulate broader sociological debate. 4) Combines empirical and theoretical approaches to provide an essential teaching resource for graduate and postgraduate students and to open up this dynamic field for mainstream sociology researchers and academics
Scientific papers & book chapters by Irra Rodríguez-Giralt
thought: i) its alternative understanding of social action and ii) its alternative definition of the “collective”. Both contributions, I will affirm, allow the opening up of an interesting discussion about the possibility of articulating a non-dichotomic theory of collective action that differs from the dominant traditions in that it takes into account and incorporates the materially heterogeneous and relational character of social movements. To give an example of the fertility of this approach I will focus on an analysis of the actions and reactions of environmentalist groups during the Doñana’s ecological disaster (1998-2002), in Spain.
La tendencia mercantilista y tecnofílica que, en cierto modo, rodea el presente y el futuro del e-learning debe ser balanceada por una mirada que acentúe su dimensión ambivalente y política, así como su papel motor en la construcción de engranajes sociales, en su dimensión social y cultural y, sobre todo, en su papel en la conformación de una nueva justicia social que permita hacer frente, con y a través de la educación, a los retos y las desigualdades crecientes que viven nuestras sociedades.
De este modo y frente al discurso excesivamente publicitario y triunfalista de las posibilidades que abren las tecnologías educativas, es bueno tomar en consideración su dimensión social. Es necesario recoger un acervo importante de prácticas, ejemplos y realidades capaces de articular un sentir y un sentido común sobre la necesidad, la idoneidad del e-learning para el desarrollo, la mejora y la innovación de nuestras empresas, organizaciones y sociedades, o para la formación, sin precedentes, constante y de calidad, de nuestros ciudadanos.
La mirada social al e-learning forma parte de lo que podríamos denominar el compromiso de la universidad en la transformación de la sociedad, aunque más allá de los aspectos ligados a la investigación, entendemos que la universidad debe implicarse en la sociedad, y una forma clara de hacerlo es a través del e-learning.
Existen diferentes formas de analizar las perspectivas sociales y culturales del e-learning, pero lo más significativo es estar abierto a la dimensión social del e-learning, porque detrás aparecen los rostros de personas que con ilusión, esperanzas y utopías, creen en la posibilidad de mejorar sus vidas y sus relaciones y de transformar aquellos aspectos más problemáticos de su entorno. Y toda esta mejora que tiene la posibilidad real de transformar a la sociedad puede ser posible a partir de incorporar en las prácticas, reflexiones, políticas e investigaciones lo que hemos denominado social e-learning.