Sarah Maslen

Biography

My research is about knowledge, learning, and expertise in occupational contexts, and I have published in the areas of sociology of risk, and sociology of the senses. My work on risk is focuses on knowledge management in complex sociotechnical systems for disaster prevention. I have delivered three funded research projects in this area, on topics including the development of professional expertise and values among early-career engineers, senior executive incentive arrangements and decision-making motivations in hazardous industries, and the extent to which incident reporting systems function as collective knowledge. I am currently extending this work by examining safety frames, and interviewing elites. My work on the senses engages with fundamental questions about human learning, communities, identity, and expert practice. My major study in this area is on hearing in four occupational contexts, including musicians, Morse operators, adventurers, and doctors. It engages with how hearing is acquired, how it is used, and its guiding principles in different specialized contexts. I am extending this work by examining new work technologies and work futures.

Research Interest

Knowledge Expertise and decision-making Learning Senses Safety and disasters Work Technology Research Theories / Models of Interest Microsociology Symbolic Interactionism Organisational Sociology Organisational Safety Interpretivist Sociologies of Knowledge Research Methods of Interest . Qualitative research methods Ethnography