I received my PhD in Sociology and Social Research in 2008 from the University of Trento (Italy). Since then, I have done a lot of research work (independently, as well as in a team) at the interface between Medical Sociology and Science and Technology Studies on the one hand and Sociology of Organisations on the other. I have a proven track record of successfully securing research funding from prestigious bodies, including the Wellcome Trust and the British Academy.
Currently, I am a Reader in Technology and Organisations in the Department of People and Organisations in the School of Business and Management at Queen Mary University of London. My main research interests concern the relation between the emergence of new technologies and the co-production of knowledge in health organisations. My current research investigates biomedical innovation and its governance in healthcare, particularly in the context of an increasingly privatised sector. I have significant experience in empirical research and especially in qualitative methodologies.
I am a British Academy Innovation Fellow (value £80K+) and lead a project aimed at improving the quality of information in fertility care in the UK through collaboration with regulators, clinics and patient organisations (value £60k+). Between 2016 and 2023, I was Principal Investigator of the Wellcome Trust funded project “Remaking the Human Body: Biomedical Imaging Technologies, Professional and Lay Visions” (Investigator Award, £500k+) and related public engagement programme (Research Enrichment grant, 2019-2023, £140k+).
In the past 15 years, I have published more than forty book chapters and articles in Italian and international journals such as “Social Science & Medicine”, “Sociology of Health and Illness”, “Health”, “Health and Place”, “Science, Technology & Human Value”, “Organization”, “Management Learning”, “Society and Business Review”, “Rassegna Italiana di Sociologia”, “Studi Organizzativi”.
I am the Research Income Director at the School of Business and Management of Queen Mary University of London, a member of the Italian Society for the Study of Science and Technology (STS Italia), the Association for Studies in Innovation, Science and Technology (AsSIST-UK), the European Association for the Study of Science and Technology (EASST), and the British Sociological Association (BSA). I am one of the editors in chief of Tecnoscienza: Italian Journal of Science and Technology Studies, and I am also affiliated to the Reproductive Sociology Research Group at the Department of Sociology, University of Cambridge.
RESEARCH FUNDING
2023-2024 Queen Mary Impact Fund Award for the project “Enhancing the Quality of Information in fertility care”, £65,350 (Principal investigator).
2023-2024 IHSS Large Grant Seed-corn Award for the project “Evidence-based medicine in the age of big data: the AI turn in fertility care”, £4,980 (Principal investigator).
June 2023 Talent and Stabilization funding from Research England, £3,500 (Principal investigator).
2023-2024 British Academy Innovation Fellowship for the project “Building bridges between fertility patients, clinics and regulators: A collaborative approach”, £81,983 (Principal investigator).
2019-23 Wellcome Trust Research Enrichment grant for a programme of public engagement related to the project “Remaking the Human Body: Biomedical Imaging Technologies, Professional and Lay Visions”, £142,290 (Principal investigator).
2016-2023 Wellcome Trust Investigator Award with the project “Remaking the Human Body: Biomedical Imaging Technologies, Professional and Lay Visions”, £ 507,583 (Principal Investigator).
2017-2022 PhD studentship by the Life Sciences Institute (2015), with the project “Accelerating translational research in Primary care: An East London study and beyond” in collaboration with the William Harvey Research Institute, approximately £50,000 (Co-Investigator).
2015 “Biomedicine and STS: emerging themes”, 3rd STS Italia Summer School, 15th – 19th September 2015, Padova. Application for the funding scheme “International Summer & Winter School di Ateneo” 2015, University of Padova in collaboration with Professor Federico Neresini, € 9,380 (Co-Investigator).
RESEARCH RELATED LEADERSHIP ROLES
SINCE SEPTEMBER 2022 I have been holding the position of Research Income Director at the School of Business and Management, Queen Mary University of London. In this capacity, I am responsible for devising strategies to bolster external grant applications and overseeing all associated activities.
SEPTEMBER 2022 – DECEMBER 2022 I served as the Chair of the Research Ethics Committee (DSREC) at the School of Business and Management, Queen Mary University. In this role, I led a comprehensive review of application procedures and implemented various strategic enhancements.
SEPTEMBER 2021 – JULY 2023 I was the Director of the Organisational Processes and Practices Research Group (OPPRG), at the School of Business and Management, Queen Mary University. In this role, I led a dynamic interdisciplinary research collective consisting of scholars who are actively involved in exploring various aspects of Organization Studies and society.
SINCE MAY 2021 I have been a member of the Board of the Doctoral programme in Economic and Social Science of the Department of Social Sciences and Economics and of the University “La Sapienza” of Rome, Italy.
SEPTEMBER 2017 – MARCH 2020 Co-director of the Queen Mary Ethnographers Network (QM-Ethno-net) with Prof. Dane Goodman. QM-Ethno-net was an inter-departmental network to bring together academics using ethnographic methods working at Queen Mary.
SINCE MARCH 2016 I have been leading a small research team consisting of postdoctoral and PhD researchers. These researchers were recruited as a part of the several grants I secured over the years, and our focus has been on investigating various aspects of biomedical innovation in fertility care.
OTHER ACTIVITIES RELATED TO RESEARCH AND TEACHING
SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES
2013-2015 Vice President of the Italian Society for the Study of Science and Technology (STS-Italia).
EDITORIAL BOARDS
2019→2022 Member of the Associate Board of the journal Sociology [ABS4] (https://journals.sagepub.com/home/soc)
2016→ Editor in chief of “Tecnoscienza: Italian Journal of Science & Technology Studies” (www.tecnoscienza.net)
2015→2022 Member of the editorial board of the journal “Reproductive BioMedicine and Society Online” (www.rbmsociety.com)
2010→ Member of the editorial board of “Tecnoscienza: Italian Journal of Science & Technology Studies” (www.tecnoscienza.net)
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
BOOKS
1. Forthcoming, Perrotta M., Biomedical Innovation in the Hope Market: Evidence Challenges and Commercialization in Fertility Care, Bristol University Press, ISBN 978-1-5292-3674-3.
2. 2011 Magnini, B. and Perrotta, M., (Eds.) Adolescenti digitali [Digital teenagers], Trento: FBK Press, ISBN 978-88-905389-8-8.
ARTICLES IN JOURNALS
1. 2024, Geampana, A. and Perrotta, M. “Using interview excerpts to facilitate focus group discussion", Qualitative Research, forthcoming.
2. 2023, Hamper, J. & Perrotta, M. “Blurring the divide: Navigating the public/private landscape of fertility treatment in the UK”, Health & Place., 80, online open access.
3. 2023, Perrotta, M. & Hamper, J. “Patient informed choice in the age of evidence-based medicine: IVF patients’ perspectives on medical evidence and fertility treatment add-ons”, Sociology of Health and Illness, 45 (2), pp. 225-241, online open access
3. 2022 Hamper J.A. & Perrotta M., “Watching embryos: Exploring the geographies of assisted reproduction through encounters with embryo imaging technologies”, Social & Cultural Geography. [Five year Impact Factor: 2.766; SCImago Journal Rank (SJR): 1.428], online open access.
4. 2022 Geampana A. & Perrotta M., “Accounting for complexity in healthcare innovation debates: Professional views on the use of new IVF treatments”, Health: An Interdisciplinary Journal for the Social Study of Health, Illness and Medicine, forthcoming [Five year Impact Factor: 1.635; SCImago Journal Rank (SJR): 0.636] DOI 10.1177/13634593221074874.
5. 2021 Geampana A. & Perrotta M., “Predicting Success in the Embryology Lab: The Use of Algorithmic Technologies in Knowledge Production”, Science, Technology & Human Values, OnlineFirst [Five year Impact Factor: 3.647; SCImago Journal Rank (SJR): 1.094]. online open access.
6. 2021 Perrotta M. & Geampana A., Enacting evidence-based medicine in fertility care: tensions between commercialisation and knowledge standardisation, Sociology of Health and Illness, vol. 43, n. 9, pp. 2015-2030 [Five year Impact Factor: 2.394, SCImago Journal Rank (SJR): 1.146] online open access.
7. 2021 Perrotta M. & Hamper J.A., The crafting of hope: Contextualising add-ons in the treatment trajectories of IVF patients, Social Science & Medicine, Article 114317, ISSN: 0277-9536, [5-Year Impact Factor: 4.241, SCImago Journal Rank (SJR): 1.913] online open access.
8. 2020 Perrotta, M. and Geampana, A., “The trouble with IVF and randomised control trials: Professional legitimation narratives on time-lapse imaging and evidence-informed care”, Social Science & Medicine, vol 258, August 2020, Article 113115, ISSN: 0277-9536, [5-Year Impact Factor: 4.241, SCImago Journal Rank (SJR): 1.913] online open access.
9. 2018 Perrotta M., Spilker K. and Crabu S., Guest Editors’ Introduction to the Special Section “Sliding Cells. The Situated Making of Bio-Objects in IVF”, Tecnoscienza: Italian Journal of Science & Technology Studies, vol. 9, n. 1, pp. 5-8, ISSN: 2038-3460.
10. 2016 Gherardi S. and Perrotta M., “Re-thinking induction in practice: Profession, peer group and organization in contention" (re-printed paper on an anniversary issue with foreword), Society and Business Review, vol. 11, n. 2, pp. 193 - 209, ISSN: 1746-5680.
11. 2016 Gherardi S. and Perrotta M., “Daughters Taking Over the Family Business: Their Justification Work within a Dual Regime of Engagement”, International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship, vol. 8, n. 1, pp. 28 – 47, ISSN: 1756-6266.
12. 2015 Gherardi S. and Perrotta M., “Le forme del sapere pratico: percorsi d’apprendimento nell’imprenditoria artigiana femminile” [The forms of practical knowledge: learning paths in female artisan entrepreneurship], Quaderni dell’Artigianato, Quaderni di Ricerca sull’artigianato, vol. 69, n. 1, pp. 25-42, ISSN 1590-296X.
13. 2014 Gherardi S. and Perrotta M., “Between the Hand and the Head: How Things Get Done, and How in Doing the Ways of Doing are Discovered”, Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management, vol. 9, n. 2, pp. 134-150, ISSN 1746-5648.
14. 2014 Bruni A. and Perrotta M., “Entrepreneuring Together: His and Her Stories”, International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour and Research, vol. 20, n. 2, pp. 108-27, ISSN 1355-2554.
15. 2013 Perrotta M., “Creating Human Life Itself. The Emerging Meanings of Reproductive Cells among Science, State and Religion”, Guest Editor’s Introduction to the Special Issue on “Re-conceiving Life in the Labs: The Emerging Meanings of Cells in the Italian Reproductive Biomedicine and Beyond”, Tecnoscienza: Italian Journal of Science & Technology Studies, vol. 4, n. 1, pp. 7-22, ISSN: 2038-3460.
16. 2012 Parolin L.L. and Perrotta M., “On the Fringe of Parenthood: Othering and Otherness in the Italian Assisted Kinship”, About Gender. International Journal of Gender Studies, vol 1, n. 2, p. 100-31, ISSN 2279-5057.
17. 2012 Örtenblad A., Snell R., Perrotta M., and Akella D., “On the Paradoxical Balancing of Paceneaism and Particularism within the Field of Management Learning”, Introduction to the Special Issue on “Universalist, Local and Glocal Perspectives on Management Learning”, Management Learning, vol. 43, n. 2, pp. 147-155.
18. 2011 Gherardi S. and Perrotta M., “Egg dates sperm: a tale of a practice change and its stabilization”, Organization, vol. 18, n. 5, pp. 595-614.
19. 2011 Perrotta M., “Il pre-embrione (non) è uno di noi: breve storia di una innovazione inter-organizzativa tra istituzioni, comunità professionali e tecnologie” [The pre-embryo is (not) one of us: a brief history of inter-organizational innovation among institutions, professional communities and technologies], Sociologia del Lavoro, n. 122, pp. 194-206.
20. 2011 Bosisio M., Collecchia G., Mangiagalli A., Ciminaghi R., Parolin LL, and Perrotta M., “Attribuibilità degli eventi cardiovascolari in medicina generale” [Attributability of cardiovascular events in general practice], Ricerca & Pratica, n. 27, pp. 48-58.
21. 2010 Gherardi S. and Perrotta M., “Where is induction? Profession, peer group and organization in contention”, Society and Business Review, vol. 5, n. 1, pp. 84-98.
22. 2009 Lusardi R. and Perrotta M., “Da Alfa ad Omega: la riconfigurazione del corpo nelle organizzazioni sanitarie” [From Alpha to Omega: the reconfiguration of the body in health care organizations], Rassegna Italiana di Sociologia, n. 4, pp. 609-633.
23. 2007 Bruni A. and Perrotta M., “Apprendimento inter-organizzativo e biotecnologie: dai network al networking” [Inter-organizational learning and biotechnologies: from networks to networking], Studi Organizzativi, n. 1, pp. 197-214.