
Dr Peter Winter
BA Hons (joint) English and Philosophy, MSc Social Science Research Methods (STS pathway), PhD Sociology (STS pathway)
Expertise
Current positions
Honorary Senior Research Associate
School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies
Contact
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Research interests
I am an Honorary Senior Research Associate in the School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies (SPAIS), University of Bristol (UK). I hold a PhD in Sociology with specialist training in Science and Technology Studies (STS). I’m especially interested in the epistemic dimensions of algorithmic systems, computer models, and simulations - particularly digital twins - and how representational choices are made, justified, and mobilised as evidence in practice.
From interpretation to representation
My PhD examined embodied knowledge and medical image interpretation - how experts make images meaningful through members’ methods (indexicality, accountability, professional vision). Treating images as co-produced artefacts, I showed how meaning arises from situated practice, instruments, and local standards of evidence. I now extend this lens to computational representation: how algorithmic systems, computer models, and simulations translate bodies, environments, and work into parameters, meshes, datasets, and dashboards - and how representational decisions (data selection, discretisation, model coupling, interface defaults, documentation) shape what counts as credible knowledge, what becomes visible or invisible, and whose work “shows up” as evidence. In short, I move from how experts read images to how we build images that are read by machines, and how both forms of representation organise practice and authority. Since 2021, I’ve developed a growing interest in the development of real-time simulation models - most notably 'digital twins'.
Approach
I mix interviews, observation, and document/video analysis with hands-on engagement in data/engineering workflows. I also work with patients and the public using speculative, creative, experimental, and participatory methods - for example, the BDFI-funded Against Digital Fatalism (2023-2024) project, which culminated in public art exhibitions. My work is informed by STS, with additional attention to phenomenology, ethnomethodology, Responsible Innovation (RI) and practice-oriented philosophy of science, tracing how models, algorithmic systems, and visualisations - from digital phantoms and simulation dashboards to XR interfaces - do epistemic work (i.e. helping scientists and practitioners think, decide, and act) in laboratory and real world settings.
I mix interviews, observation, and document/video analysis with hands-on engagement in data/engineering workflows. I also work with patients and the public using speculative, creative, experimental, and participatory methods - for example, the BDFI-funded Against Digital Fatalism (2023-2024) project, which culminated in public art exhibitions. My work is informed by STS, with additional attention to phenomenology, ethnomethodology, Responsible Innovation (RI) and practice-oriented philosophy of science, tracing how models, algorithmic systems, and visualisations - from digital phantoms and simulation dashboards to XR interfaces - do epistemic work (i.e. helping scientists and practitioners think, decide, and act) in laboratory and real world settings.
Select Publications
- Sociotechnical risks and failures of autonomous systems, Risk Analysis (2025)
- Implementation barriers and faciliators for Digital Twins in Cardiovascular Medicine, Sensors (2023)
- Transparency in medical AI, Medical Humanities (2023)
- Trust and validation in medical AI, Science & Technology Studies (2022)
- Imaging and visual expertise in medicine - chapter in Timescapes of Health, illness and Care (2025)
Grants and recognition
I have secured £337,572.99 in internal and external grants for interdisciplinary projects, including funding from the ESRC, SPRITE+, and RAi-UK. I recently secured SPRITE+ funding to develop an AI Development Best Practice software for UK Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) in collaboration with Oldfield Consultancy, aligned with EU/UK guidance on transparency, assurance, and governance. I was shortlisted for a Wellcome Early Career Award (2023) for a digital twins project, which is currently being revised for a Wellcome Career Development Award.
I have secured £337,572.99 in internal and external grants for interdisciplinary projects, including funding from the ESRC, SPRITE+, and RAi-UK. I recently secured SPRITE+ funding to develop an AI Development Best Practice software for UK Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) in collaboration with Oldfield Consultancy, aligned with EU/UK guidance on transparency, assurance, and governance. I was shortlisted for a Wellcome Early Career Award (2023) for a digital twins project, which is currently being revised for a Wellcome Career Development Award.
Projects I’m currently developing and seeking funding for
- A comparative ethnography of medical digital twins, analysing how models are assembled, validated, and made clinically meaningful
- Developing AI Development Best Practice software for UK SMEs (SPRITE+), aligned with EU/UK guidance on transparency, assurance, and governance
- Digital Twin-enabled climate resilience in the NHS integrating infrastructure and health data for adaptive planning
Teaching, collaboration, and service
I collaborate with engineers, clinicians, patients and publics, policymakers, and SMEs across healthcare, industry, and public services. I have taught across both sociology and medical schools, and I have broad teaching expertise. Whilst primarily centred on STS, this experience spans sociology, critical data studies, critical algorithm studies, Responsible Innovation, medical sociology, medical education, AI governance and AI regulation, and social science research methods (including patient and public engagement). I have taught, supervised, and mentored at Bristol, Sheffield, Cardiff University, and De Montfort University. I received the Dedicated Outstanding Thesis Mentor Award at Sheffield (2020).
I collaborate with engineers, clinicians, patients and publics, policymakers, and SMEs across healthcare, industry, and public services. I have taught across both sociology and medical schools, and I have broad teaching expertise. Whilst primarily centred on STS, this experience spans sociology, critical data studies, critical algorithm studies, Responsible Innovation, medical sociology, medical education, AI governance and AI regulation, and social science research methods (including patient and public engagement). I have taught, supervised, and mentored at Bristol, Sheffield, Cardiff University, and De Montfort University. I received the Dedicated Outstanding Thesis Mentor Award at Sheffield (2020).
Across this work I ask: what counts as evidence, who has the authority to make it credible, and how are risk and uncertainty made accountable in practice? How do standards, datasets, and interfaces configure what simulations and algorithmic systems can do - and what they hide? When do assurance and documentation yield usable transparency rather than performative compliance? My aim is interdisciplinary work that helps build models, algorithmic systems, simulations, and digital twins that are explainable, auditable, and robust under uncertainty - so computational systems serve people and public value.
Projects and supervisions
Research projects
FinFraudSIM
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
School of Sociology, Politics and International StudiesDates
01/02/2025 to 31/03/2025
Transparency Regulation Toolkits for Responsible Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Principal Investigator
Role
Co-Investigator
Managing organisational unit
School of Sociology, Politics and International StudiesDates
01/02/2024 to 01/08/2025
Implementing Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Anesthetics Practice: Exploring Stakeholder Perspectives
Role
Co-Investigator
Managing organisational unit
School of Sociology, Politics and International StudiesDates
01/09/2023 to 31/07/2024
Against digital fatalism: Resisting technology hype through hopeful artful interventions with immersive futures
Role
Co-Investigator
Managing organisational unit
School of Sociology, Politics and International StudiesDates
10/07/2023 to 31/07/2024
Regulatory requirements for evolving functionality in autonomous systems
Principal Investigator
Role
Researcher
Description
Existing regulation on the functionality of autonomous systems (what they are meant to do, what they do, and what they could do) is based on quasi-static design principles where technologies…Managing organisational unit
School of Sociology, Politics and International StudiesDates
01/04/2021 to 30/04/2024
Publications
Recent publications
05/11/2025‘Sorry If I Was a Bit Whistle Stop!’: Boundary Work and Whistle Stop Teaching in X-Ray Image Interpretation with Medical Students
Timescapes of Health, Illness and Care
Applying the “SOTEC” framework of sociotechnical risk analysis to the development of an autonomous robot swarm for a public cloakroom
Risk Analysis
Steering through uncertainty: a systematic review of liability communication in autonomous vehicles
Transport Reviews
Steering through uncertainty: a systematic review of liability communication in autonomous vehicles
Transport Reviews
Soft Gripping
2024 IEEE 7th International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft)

