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Literature on scientific controversies has inadequately attended to the impact of globalization and, more specifically, the emergence of China as a leader in scientific research. To bridge this gap in the literature, Professor Lei develops a theoretical framework to analyse global scientific controversies surrounding research in China. Empirically, her talk will discuss the human genome editing controversy surrounding research conducted by scientists in China between 2015 and 2019. It shows how elite scientists negotiated expert– public relationships within and across the national and transnational expert spheres, how unexpected disruption at the nexus of the four spheres disrupted expert–public relationships as envisioned by elite experts, and how the Chinese state intervened to redraw the boundary between openness and secrecy at both national and transnational levels.

Ya-Wen Lei is Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at Harvard University, and is affiliated with the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies and the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs. She is the author of "The Contentious Public Sphere: Law, Media and Authoritarian Rule in China" (Princeton University Press, 2018). Her articles have appeared in American Journal of Sociology, American Sociological Review, Law & Society Review, Socius, Political Communication, and Work, Employment and Society.