Federico Brandmayr

Federico Brandmayr is a sociologist interested in knowledge, science, and expertise. At Yale, he also holds a lectureship in the Department of Political Science and is a visiting fellow at the Center for Cultural Sociology. Federico studies the role of scientific advice in crisis management, the use of social research in legal and political contexts, the politicization of knowledge, and epistemic cultures in the social sciences. He is currently working on a book manuscript, titled Exculpatory Knowledge: How and Why Social Science Becomes Apologetic, on what happens when research in the social sciences is accused of excusing, justifying, or normalizing unjust practices and institutions. At Yale, Federico teaches a course on the sociology and philosophy of social science (‘Social Science in Action’) and a course on expertise (‘The Politics of Expertise’). Federico has studied political science at the University of Trieste (Italy) and sociology and philosophy of science at Sorbonne University (France). He previously worked as an ATER (research and teaching fellow) at Sorbonne University and as a research associate at CRASSH, University of Cambridge (United Kingdom), where he was part of Expertise Under Pressure, a project that focuses on the dilemmas and challenges experts face in contemporary societies.