Dr S. Lohse (Simon)

I am a philosopher of science interested in epistemic practices in the social and life sciences, also as they relate to policy. My work focuses on epistemic pluralism and on questions at the intersection of philosophy of biomedicine, ethics and social studies of science. In my current research, I seek to better understand the potential and limitations of new developments in precision medicine and animal-based research in biomedicine, using an approach that is sensitive to the entanglement of conceptual, methodological and societal issues.

In addition, I lead a project (funded by Volkswagen Foundation) that investigates how science informed public health policy during the COVID-19 pandemic and assesses normative implications for evidence-based policy. The expected key results of this project are a deep understanding of sociological and epistemological inhibitors for interdisciplinary knowledge integration in this context and strategic starting points for improvement of the status quo.