Ismael Rafols

Ismael Rafols works on the mapping of interdisciplinary fields and emergent technologies such as biotech or nanotech, combining scientometrics, network analyses and qualitative approaches. The goal of the research is to improve transparency and plurality in technology assessment and foresight, and in evaluations of scientific organisations. He serves as Editorial Advisor for the journal Scientometrics.

His previous focus has been on the analysis of interdisciplinarity on nanotechnology. Although this emergent field is often presented as a an example of interdisciplinarity or technological convergence, there is a lack of empirical studies analysing how and why this field is interdisciplinary. Relying both on qualitative data from interviews and bibliometric analyses, the research aims to identify bodies of knowledge of contributing to various subfields of bionanotechnology, the practices (collaborations, recruitment, in-house learning) used by research groups in order to garner knowledge from various sources, and the drivers or visions leading to these cross-disciplinary practices.