Geoffrey C. Bowker

Geoffrey C. Bowker is a Professor and Director of the Values in Design Laboratory at the Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences, University of California, Irvine. Previously, he held roles at the University of Pittsburgh and Santa Clara University. His research focuses on information infrastructure, classification systems in medicine and biodiversity, and the ethical dimensions of digital technologies. He earned his PhD in History and Philosophy of Science from the University of Melbourne and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the École des Mines in Paris.

His work explores how digital resources reshape knowledge production across disciplines, such as biodiversity informatics and policy frameworks for sustainability. The Values in Design Lab trains researchers to integrate ethical and social values into information systems. Bowker’s publications include seminal works like Science on the Run and Sorting Things Out (co-authored with Susan Leigh Star), which examine classification systems and their societal impacts.

His recent work addresses distributed scientific collaboration and cyberinfrastructure. He serves on editorial boards of journals including The Information Society and Social Studies of Science.