Newcastle University

Roles and Responsibilities

Degree Programme Director for Politics and Economics
Politics Subject Advisor for Combined Honours

 Background

I am a native of Pennsylvania. I came to England for postgraduate study in 1998 after teaching for several years in Jiangxi, China and Luxor, Egypt.

Qualifications

PhD: University of Durham: Philosophy
MA: University of Durham: Theology
BA: York College of Pennslyvania: International Politics

Previous Positions

2004-2006: BIOS Centre, London School of Economics: Research Fellow
2001-2004: PEALS, University of Newcastle: Research Associate

Languages

Mandarin Chinese: intermediate

Research Interests

The rise of China and Sino-Western relations; soft power; biosecurity and dual use ethics; the implications of the life sciences for the study and practice of international relations

Postgraduate Supervision

I am currently supervising three PhD students in Politics, working on: i) Chinese soft power in SE Asia (Zhang Yu); ii) cybersecurity in Taiwanese international relations (Ji-Jen Hwang); and iii) energy security and the rise of China (Andrew Campion).

I am interested in supervising students on topics related to my research interests listed above.

Esteem Indicators

Contributor to Dual Use Bioethics Educational Module Resource, an open access resource to support life scientists and educators in learning about biosecurity, 2010

Guest Editor, 2008. Bioethics: Special Issue on The Bioethics of Security, 22:9. Blackwell. (with Williams and Haimes)

HASS Faculty Futures participant, 2008/09.

Visiting Fellow, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences/Peking Union Medical College (Xiehe Yiyuan), Spring 2008

Funding

Newcastle University HASS Faculty REF Fund, 2010

Alfred P Sloan Foundation, Sustaining a Global Network for Biosecurity: The Life Sciences and Dual Use Research, collaboration on grant with PI Dr Brian Rappert (Exeter), and Prof Malcolm Dando (Bradford), 2009-2010

UK-China Fellowship of Excellence, Department of Innovation, Universities, and Skills, 2008.

Wellcome Witness Seminar: Medical Ethics Education in Britain 1963-1993. Oral history conference funds, 2006.

Wellcome Trust Biomedical Ethics Grant. A comparative study of participation and non-participation in the North Cumbria Community Genetics project (with Haimes as PI), 2001-2003.

Projects

• Biosecurity in China (UK-China Fellowship of Excellence)
  Project Leader(s): Michael Barr
• Building Dual Use Bioethics Capacity in China
  Project Leader(s): Michael Barr
• UK-China Fellowhip of Excellence
  Project Leader(s): Dr Michael Barr

Undergraduate Teaching

POL2084 Contemporary Chinese Politics (Module Leader)

Postgraduate Teaching

POL8052 The Rise of China (Module Leader)

• Barr M. Who's Afraid of China? The Challenge of Chinese Soft Power. London: Zed Books, 2011.
• Barr M. Nation branding as nation building: China's image campaign. East Asia: An International Quarterly 2012, (epub ahead of print).
• Barr M. Mythe et réalité du "Soft Power" de la Chine. Etudes Internationales 2010, 41, 503-520.
• Barr M, Zhang JY. Bioethics and Biosecurity Education in China: Rise of a Scientific Superpower. In: Rappert, B, ed. Education and Ethics in the Life Sciences: Strengthening the Prohibition of Biological Weapons. Canberra: Australian National University Press, 2010, pp. 115-129.
• Barr M. The role of China as an international biosecurity actor. In: B Rappert and C Gould, ed. Biosecurity: Origins, Transformations and Practice. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009, pp.121-132.
• Barr MT, Rose D. The great ambivalence: factors likely to affect service user and public acceptability of the pharmacogenomics of antidepressant medication. Sociology of Health and Illness 2008, 30(6), 944-958.
• Barr MT. Cures that kill: biosecurity and the dual use dilemma. China Security 2008, 4(4), 35-43.
• Barr MT. 'I'm not really read up on genetics': biobanks and the social context of informed consent. BioSocieties 2006, 1(2), 251-262.
• Barr MT. Informed consent and the shaping of US and UK population based genetic research. In: Guston DH; Sarewitz D, ed. Shaping Science & Technology Policy: The Next Generation of Research. Madison, Wisconsin, USA: The University of Wisconsin Press, 2006, pp. 291-311.
• Barr MT. Beyond biosafety: biosecurity as an ethical concern. Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 2008, 18, 71-74.