I'm Professor of Medical Humanities and Social Sciences at UCC - where I'm based at the Radical Humanities Laboratory, and in the Department of Sociology & Criminology. A sociologist by training, I have particular interests in sociologies and histories of the psychological sciences, in social and cultural theory, and in urban studies. These themes come together in a book I'm currently working on about green urbanism (indeed, a book generally against green urbanism) called The City of Today is a Dying Thing. This will be a published by Faber & Faber and also by Basic Books (under the title The Living City) in 2024. I am a graduate of University College Cork, the University of Cambridge and the London School of Economics. Before returning to UCC in 2022, I taught or researched at the University of Exeter, Cardiff University and King's College London, and Aarhus University. My work has been supported by the Wellcome Trust, the Leverhulme Trust, the Volkswagen Foundation and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (UK) among others.
Biography
I'm Professor of Medical Humanities and Social Sciences at UCC - where I'm based at the Radical Humanities Laboratory, and in the Department of Sociology & Criminology. A sociologist by training, I have particular interests in sociologies and histories of the psychological sciences, in social and cultural theory, and in urban studies. These themes come together in a book I'm currently working on about green urbanism (indeed, a book generally against green urbanism) called The City of Today is a Dying Thing. This will be a published by Faber & Faber and also by Basic Books (under the title The Living City) in 2024. I am a graduate of University College Cork, the University of Cambridge and the London School of Economics. Before returning to UCC in 2022, I taught or researched at the University of Exeter, Cardiff University and King's College London, and Aarhus University. My work has been supported by the Wellcome Trust, the Leverhulme Trust, the Volkswagen Foundation and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (UK) among others.
Research Interests
Sociology of psychology and neuroscience, history and sociology of urban mental health, critical approaches to nature and green space.Research Grants
| Project | Funding Body | Start Date | End Date | Award | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Philip Leverhulme Prize | Leverhulme Trust | 01-JAN-18 | 31-DEC-22 | ||
| Wellcome Centre for Cultures and Environments of Health Phase 2 | Wellcome Trust | 01-APR-22 | 31-MAR-24 | ||
| The Pandemic and Beyond – The Arts and Humanities Contribution to Covid - 19 Research and Recovery | Art & Humanities Research Council | 01-APR-21 | 31-MAR-23 | ||
| Mental Health, Migration and the Mega - City | Economic & Social Research Council (UK) | 01-JAN-16 | 31-DEC-19 | ||
| Wandering Minds: Experiments in Self - Generated Thought | Volkswagen Stiftung/Andrew W. Mellon Foundation | 01-SEP-15 |
Publications
Books
| Year | Publication | |
|---|---|---|
| (2022) | The Urban Brain: Mental Health in the Vital City. Rose, Nikolas; Fitzgerald, Des (2022) The Urban Brain: Mental Health in the Vital City. Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press. [Details] | |
| (2017) | The palgrave handbook of biology and society. Meloni M.;Cromby J.;Fitzgerald D.;Lloyd S. (2017) The palgrave handbook of biology and society. [DOI] [Details] | |
| (2017) | Tracing Autism: Uncertainty, ambiguity, and the affective labor of neuroscience. Fitzgerald, Des (2017) Tracing Autism: Uncertainty, ambiguity, and the affective labor of neuroscience. Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press. [Details] | |
| (2015) | Rethinking Interdisciplinarity across the Social Sciences and Neurosciences. Callard, Felicity; Fitzgerald, Des (2015) Rethinking Interdisciplinarity across the Social Sciences and Neurosciences. Basingstoke: Palgrave. [Details] |
Peer Reviewed Journals
| Year | Publication | |
|---|---|---|
| (2023) | 'A Forest, a Maze, a Garden, a City: Psychiatry's Architectural Turn' Fitzgerald, Des (2023) 'A Forest, a Maze, a Garden, a City: Psychiatry's Architectural Turn'. Cultural Politics, [Details] | |
| (2022) | 'The publics of public health: learning from COVID-19' Green J.;Fischer E.F.;Fitzgerald D.;Harvey T.S.;Thomas F. (2022) 'The publics of public health: learning from COVID-19'. Critical Public Health, 32 (5):592-599 [DOI] [Details] | |
| (2022) | 'A gigantic vertical zoo Madness and the green city' Fitzgerald D. (2022) 'A gigantic vertical zoo Madness and the green city'. Terrain, (76):164-181 [DOI] [Details] | |
| (2021) | 'Normal Island: COVID-19, Border Control, and Viral Nationalism in UK Public Health Discourse' Fitzgerald D. (2021) 'Normal Island: COVID-19, Border Control, and Viral Nationalism in UK Public Health Discourse'. Sociological Research Online, [DOI] [Details] | |
| (2020) | 'Brexit as heredity redux: Imperialism, biomedicine and the NHS in Britain' Fitzgerald D.;Hinterberger A.;Narayan J.;Williams R. (2020) 'Brexit as heredity redux: Imperialism, biomedicine and the NHS in Britain'. Sociological Review, 68 (6):1161-1178 [DOI] [Details] | |
| (2019) | 'What was sociology?' Fitzgerald D. (2019) 'What was sociology?'. History of The Human Sciences, 32 (1):121-137 [DOI] [Details] | |
| (2019) | 'Mental health, migration and the megacity' Fitzgerald D;Manning N;Rose N;Fu H; (2019) 'Mental health, migration and the megacity'. International Health, 11 (S1) [DOI] [Details] | |
| (2019) | 'What is a Psychological Task? The Operational Pliability of Task in Psychological Laboratory Experimentation' Morrison, H;McBriar, S;Powell, H;Proudfoot, J;Stanley, S;Fitzgerald, D;Callard, F (2019) 'What is a Psychological Task? The Operational Pliability of Task in Psychological Laboratory Experimentation'. Engaging Science Technology And Society, 5 :61-85 [DOI] [Details] | |
| (2016) | 'Revitalizing sociology: urban life and mental illness between history and the present' Fitzgerald D;Rose N;Singh I; (2016) 'Revitalizing sociology: urban life and mental illness between history and the present'. British Journal of Sociology, 67 (1) [DOI] [Details] | |
| (2016) | 'Living well in the Neuropolis' Fitzgerald D.;Rose N.;Singh I. (2016) 'Living well in the Neuropolis'. Sociological Review, 64 (1):221-237 [DOI] [Details] | |
| (2015) | 'Interdisciplinary collaboration in action: Tracking the signal, tracing the noise' Callard F.;Fitzgerald D.;Woods A. (2015) 'Interdisciplinary collaboration in action: Tracking the signal, tracing the noise'. Palgrave Communications, 1 [DOI] [Details] | |
| (2015) | 'Being asked to tell an unpleasant truth about another person activates anterior insula and medial prefrontal cortex' Littlefield MM;Dietz MJ;Fitzgerald D;Knudsen KJ;Tonks J; (2015) 'Being asked to tell an unpleasant truth about another person activates anterior insula and medial prefrontal cortex'. Frontiers In Human Neuroscience, 9 [DOI] [Details] | |
| (2015) | 'Social Science and Neuroscience beyond Interdisciplinarity: Experimental Entanglements' Fitzgerald D.;Callard F. (2015) 'Social Science and Neuroscience beyond Interdisciplinarity: Experimental Entanglements'. Theory Culture & Society, 32 (1):3-32 [DOI] [Details] | |
| (2014) | 'Contextualizing neuro-collaborations: reflections on a transdisciplinary fMRI lie detection experiment' Littlefield MM;Fitzgerald D;Knudsen K;Tonks J;Dietz MJ; (2014) 'Contextualizing neuro-collaborations: reflections on a transdisciplinary fMRI lie detection experiment'. Frontiers In Human Neuroscience, 8 [DOI] [Details] | |
| (2014) | 'What's so critical about Critical Neuroscience? Rethinking experiment, enacting critique' Fitzgerald D;Matusall S;Skewes J;Roepstorff A; (2014) 'What's so critical about Critical Neuroscience? Rethinking experiment, enacting critique'. Frontiers In Human Neuroscience, 8 [DOI] [Details] | |
| (2014) | 'The trouble with brain imaging: Hope, uncertainty and ambivalence in the neuroscience of autism' Fitzgerald D. (2014) 'The trouble with brain imaging: Hope, uncertainty and ambivalence in the neuroscience of autism'. BioSocieties, 9 (3):241-261 [DOI] [Details] | |
| (2014) | 'Experimental control: what does it mean for a participant to 'feel free'?' Callard F;Fitzgerald D; (2014) 'Experimental control: what does it mean for a participant to 'feel free'?'. Consciousness and Cognition, 27 [DOI] [Details] | |
| (2014) | 'New modes of understanding and acting on human difference in autism research, advocacy and care: Introduction to a Special Issue of BioSocieties' Eyal G.;Fitzgerald D.;Gillis-Buck E.;Hart B.;Lappé M.D.;Navon D.;Richardson S.S. (2014) 'New modes of understanding and acting on human difference in autism research, advocacy and care: Introduction to a Special Issue of BioSocieties'. BioSocieties, 9 (3):233-240 [DOI] [Details] | |
| (2013) | 'The affective labour of autism neuroscience: Entangling emotions, thoughts and feelings in a scientific research practice' Fitzgerald, Des (2013) 'The affective labour of autism neuroscience: Entangling emotions, thoughts and feelings in a scientific research practice'. Subjectivity, [Details] |
Book Chapters
| Year | Publication | |
|---|---|---|
| (2011) | 'Entangling the Medical Humanities' Fitzgerald, Des; Callard, Felicity (2011) 'Entangling the Medical Humanities' In: The Edinburgh companion to the critical medical humanities. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. [Details] |
Contact details
- Des Fitzgerald
Professor of Medical Humanities and Social Sciences - desfitzgerald@ucc.ie