Introduction :
This workshop will bring together a group of social science, humanities and policy researchers who are studying – and at times actively engaged in – the emerging domain of environmental epigenetics research. Together we seek to critically engage arguments about the radical novelty and the inter-disciplinary potential of environmental epigenetics through a mapping of emerging research in the biosciences which examines the relationships between a range of contextual and environmental factors, genetics and behaviour. We will consider the social, ethical and legal implications of environmental epigenetics research, and deliberate the conceptual, methodological and ethical issues raised by social scientists’ involvement in this highly multidisciplinary field.