Martin read Psychology and Economic History (Bern, Zurich and London) and joined LSE in the mid-1990s, after a post-doctoral fellowship at the Science Museum London. A former Head of the LSE Methodology Department (2008-2010), he currently directs the MSc Social and Public Communication. He is a former Editor-in-Chief of the international journal Public Understanding of Science (2009-2016) [impact 2.552; 2017] and a regular academic visitor in Brazil (Porto Alegre, Campinas and Rio) and recently also to China, where he co-directs the Centre for Study of Science Cultures, an LSE-NAIS-Tsinghua University venture in Beijing.
His research focus is the relationship between science and common sense (‘sensus communis’) through theoretical elaboration and comparative research using national surveys, mass media monitoring and also qualitative enquires. He analysed public controversies over Biotechnology in the 1990s, and he is currently working with colleagues across Europe, India, China, Africa, North and South America on a global database to construct indicators of local 'science cultures' (www.macas-project.com/ & www.MORE-PE.com/). He is a member of the scientific committee of PCST (www.pcst.co/). His papers appeared in Nature, Science, Nature-Biotechnology, Public Understanding of Science, Genetics & Society, SSS, IJPOR, Science Communication and DIOGENE.
Book publications include
- ‘Atoms, Bytes & Genes – Public Resistance and Techno-Scientific Responses’ (NY, Routledge, 2015).
- ‘Textual Analysis – Sage Benchmarks in Social Research Methods’, London, SAGE, 2014 (4 volumes, with Suerdem & Bicquelet).
- ‘Resistance and the Practice of Rationality’, Newcastle, Cambridge Scholars Publishers (with Harre & Jensen)
- ‘The Social Psychology of Communication’, London, Palgrave, 2011 (With Hook and Franks)
- The Culture of Science - how the public relates to science around the globe, NY, Routledge, 2011 (with Shukla & Allum)
- ‘Journalism, Science & Society’, Routledge, 2007 (with Bucchi);
- 'Biotechnology - the making of a global controversy' (Cambridge, CUP, 2002, with G Gaskell).
- ‘Genomics & Society’ (Earthscan, 2006; with G Gaskell);
- ‘Biotechnology 1996-2000 – the Years of Controversy’, London, Science Museum, 2001 (With Gaskell)
- Qualitative researching with text, image and sound: a practical handbook, London, Sage, 2000 (with Gaskell)
- Resistance to New Technology - nuclear power, biotechnology and information technology, (Cambridge, CUP, 1995)