Rachel A. Ankeny is Professor of History and Philosophy and Deputy Dean Research in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Adelaide, and Honorary Visiting Professor in the College of Social Science and International Studies (Philosophy) at the University of Exeter.
She leads the Food Values Research Group and the Public Engagement in Science and Technology Adelaide research cluster. Her research crosses several fields including food and agricultural studies, science policy and public understanding of science, history and philosophy of the biological/biomedical sciences, and bioethics. Her scholarship focuses on excavating the underlying values associated with agricultural and food-related practices, hence redirecting focus away from purchasing preferences and onto community understandings of decisions about agriculture including research prioritisation and regulations, and is recognised as integrating diverse methods from humanities and social sciences to examine and articulate the complexities associated with food decisions in relation to ethical issues including environment and economic considerations.
Rachel has served on several agriculture related projects and committees, including the ACOLA expert Working Group on Securing Australia’s Future (Agriculture) and co-author of the resulting major report (2014-2015); a working group to prepare a question-and-answer document on genetically-modified organisms (2017-2018) and the Expert Working Group on gene drives (2016), both for the Australian Academy of Science; the GM Crop Advisory Committee for the Government of South Australia (2010-present); and the Gene Technology Ethics and Community Consultative Committee (formerly Ethics Committee) of the Office of the Gene Technology Regulator, Commonwealth of Australia (2005-13).
Rachel was made a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Science in Australia in 2022.
[November 2022]