Funders

First of all, the research would not have been possible without long-term research support. This was provided by the European Research Council (ERC: 283219), the Economic and Social Science Research Council (ESRC: RES-350-27-0002; ES/E00542X/1; ES/I018107/1) and the British Academy/ Leverhulme Foundation (SRF20\200078). Similarly, without UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) funding, the publication would not have been Open Access.

Co-researchers in Projects and University Colleagues

Ideas for this book have developed over a long time span, during which I have benefitted from various project collaborations. In 2007, a two-year ESRC fellowship (RES-350-27-0002) in the Stem Cell Initiative: Capacity Building Awareness Raising (CBAR) Phase II Fellowships, headed by Andrew Webster on stem cell research and society in China and Japan, gave me the opportunity to learn about the governance of regenerative medicine. This fellowship happily coincided with my representation of the University of Sussex as a member of Bionet, a 6th EU Research Framework Programme entitled Ethical Governance of Biological and Biomedical Research: Chinese European Co-operation (2006–2009 [Contract no.: 036788], led by Nikolas Rose). I am much indebted to both CBAR and Bionet for facilitating the organisation of countless meetings and generating a platform that enabled sometimes difficult, but in the end, fruitful conversations and debate.

At around the same time, the project International Science and Bioethics Collaborations, co-led by Cambridge, Durham and Sussex Universities, was awarded ESRC funding (ISBC, January 2007–December 2009). This project helped me to develop research on the drivers and practices of science collaborations in the context of stem cell research. Project meetings of CBAR and Bionet, which partly coincided with ISBC, had a synergetic effect on the research of the governance of biomedical science and international science collaborations in East Asia. I am much indebted to co-investigators Monica Konrad, Bob Simpson and Marilyn Strathern and researchers Seyoung Hwang, Achim Rosemann, Prasanna Kumar Patra, Salla Sariola, Rachel Douglas-Jones, Birgit Buergi and Adele Langlois for their stimulating discussions on science collaboration and bioethics in a diversity of regional and scientific contexts.

ISBC was followed up by an ESRC (December 2011–November 2014, ES/I018107/1) and ERC projects (February 2012–January 2017, ERC: 283219) related to ‘bionetworks’ in the University of Sussex, where a team of European and Asian researchers explored collaborative networks of biobanks (ESRC) and stem cell therapy clusters (ERC) in the field of regenerative medicine. I would like to thank Prasanna Patra, Masae Kato, Suli Sui, Achim Rosemann, Jessica Hung-Chieh Chang, Nattaka Chaisinthop, Adrian Ely, Carolyn Heitmeyer, Choonkey Chekar, Yeyang Su, Xinqing Zhang and Marina Marouda for turning the exploration of the stem cell research initiatives in Asia into a fruitful co-production of insights into bionetworks.

Five years after the end of the ESRC project, I was awarded a BA-Leverhulme Senior Research Fellowship, which allowed me to develop research materials and ideas gathered on science collaborations and the regulation of regenerative medicine over a period of over fifteen years into this book on regulatory violence. The application for funding for the publication of the book has further been supported by the library of Sussex University, without which I would have been lost in the world of Open Access. And, finally, I am also thankful to the Anthropology department of the University of Sussex, which has accommodated my research for many years.

Colleagues, Friends and Experts in the Field

In the course of this period, I have received hospitality and advice from countless colleagues and researchers, to whom I feel greatly indebted. In the People’s Republic of China (PRC), I am in particular grateful to Renzong Qiu, Xiaomei Zhai, Guangxiu Lu, Duanqing Pei, Peng Xiang, Qi Zhou, Ole Doering, Wolfgang Hennig, Yali Cong, Huanming Yang, Ruipeng Lei and Wei Zhu, who have kindly introduced me to colleagues and collaborators. In Japan, I am particularly grateful to help received from Tohru Masui, Kazuto Kato, Ryuichi Ida, Koji Kawakami, Shin Kaneko, Norio Nakatsuji, Azumi Tsuge, Yoko Matsubara, Shin Enosawa, Akihiro Umezawa, Shinichi Nishikawa, Masayoshi Murakami, Shin Kawamata and Doug Sipp. I would also like to thank experts in Thailand for their helpful introductions to fellow experts, in particular Hongeng Suradej, Nipan Israsena and Pruksananonda Kamthorn. In India, the introductions by Anish Majumder, Nandini Kumar and Sachin Chaturvedi to their institutions, regulators, medical professionals and patient organisations are very much appreciated. In Europe, I would like to thank Christine Mummery, Nick Medcalf and Clare Blackburn for bringing me in contact with other experts.

Experts and Lay Experts

Without the help of archives, scientists, managers, patients and regulators, attendants of conferences, workshops and other meetings I would not even have been able to begin to understand the importance of drivers of regulation and international collaboration. I therefore would like to express my gratitude to numerous pseudonymised people in Thailand, Singapore, India, Japan, China, The Netherlands and the UK, including international and national patient/health groups. I thank them for allowing me to learn from them, for their generosity and patience in explaining their views and for taking an interest in my exploration of international science collaboration and the regulation of regenerative medicine. I would particularly like to thank the pseudonymised gatekeepers of scientific institutes, companies and hospitals, who opened their doors for me widely and on trust. I am much indebted to all who took the trouble to speak with me, and I am grateful for what they taught me. Of course, there may be much in the book to disagree with, and I take responsibility for any erroneous views that remain.

Journals, Authors, Comments on Chapters and Institutions

Some sections of chapters draw on published work. In providing the global historical background of the book, Chapter 2 draws for a large part on an article published as ‘Comparing national home-keeping and the regulation of translational stem cell applications: An international perspective’ in Social Science and Medicine (2016), 153: 240–249. I would like to thank the co-authors Choon Key Chekar, Alex Faulkner, Carolyn Heitmeyer, Marina Marouda, Achim Rosemann, Nattaka Chaisinthop, Hung-Chieh (Jessica) Chang, Adrian Ely, Masae Kato, Prasanna K. Patra, Yeyang Su, Suli Sui, Wakana Suzuki and Xinqing Zhang for their comments on it. The argument of Chapter 3 partly draws on the notion of regulatory capacity building, introduced in a publication entitled ‘Regulatory capacity building and the governance of clinical stem cell research in China’ in Science and Public Policy (2018), 45(3): 416–427. The first, re-written case study derives from this. I would like to thank Haidan Chen and Achim Rosemann for providing comments on a draft of it. In Chapter 4, the first example of Beike Biotech draws on a case published in an article entitled ‘The large grey area between “bona fide” and “rogue” stem cell interventions – ethical acceptability and the need to include local variability’ in Technological Forecasting and Social Change (2016), 109: 76–86. I use the notion of regulatory brokerage and examples in the first half of Chapter 8 that I introduced in ‘Regulatory brokerage: Competitive advantage and regulation in the field of regenerative medicine’, published in Social Studies of Science (2019), 49: 355–380. I would like to thank Nattaka Chaisinthop for identifying the international scientific collaboration around the robotic machine and for her insightful comments on Chapter 5. I would also like to thank the (anonymised) health organisation representatives and other participants in the international network workshop in Brighton. The ensuing conversations and discussions were the main reason for writing Chapter 7. I am particularly grateful to Masae Kato, Hung-Chieh (Jessica) Chang, Komal Kamra, Louis Stanislas, Suli Sui, Yeyang Su and Tammy Sun who commented on this chapter and a former version of it.

Reviewers and Readers

Many thanks also to Cambridge University Press’s Cambridge Bioethics and Law series editors for their advice and guidance. I also would like to thank the anonymous reviewers and Joy Zhang, Yeyang Su, Doug Sipp and Alex Faulkner for their comments on various stages of the manuscript. Alex’s encouragement and support have been invaluable to the writing of this book.