Research interests broadly encompass social and ethical implications of genomics and emerging biotechnology. Specific projects and areas of studies include: human tissue biobanking; genetic testing; human microbiome; soil microbial genomics; salmon genomics; the use of public deliberation and other participatory mechanisms to inform policy and social norms for contentious biotechnologies.

Dr Kieran O’Doherty is Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology, University of Guelph. O’Doherty undertook his undergraduate training at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa, with majors in physics and chemistry. He subsequently completed his honours and PhD degrees in psychology at the University of Adelaide, Australia. Kieran has published in such diverse areas as communication of risk and probability, consumer behaviour, media representations of asylum seekers, public engagement and deliberative democracy, and causal reasoning in the domain of genetic risk. Other areas of interest include human agency, social categorisation, uncertainty, and qualitative methods. His current research program focuses primarily on the social and ethical implications of emerging biotechnologies and the use of public deliberation to help inform policy. Within this topic domain, particular projects have included work on human tissue biobanking, salmon genomics, bioremediation, soil microbial genomics, and the human microbiome project. O’Doherty is currently funded by CIHR.