Dr Stephen Hughes is a Lecturer (Teaching) in Responsible Innovation and Director of UCL's Responsible Innovation short course. Stephen grew up in Co Wicklow, in Ireland and began his academic career studying English, Media and Cultural Studies at the Institute of Art, Design, and Technology in Dun Laoghaire.

Stephen is fascinated by cases where responsible innovation and public engagement with science are characterised by discomfort, difficulty, and controversy. He approaches these cases from a unique perspective and with novel methods which seek to uncover and respond to the affective, political, and material dimensions of technosocial issues.

Stephen has spent the last couple of years building UCL's programme of responsible innovation. This includes the delivery of workshops and online courses to EPSRC-funded centres for doctoral training (CDTs) and the development of a commercial short course that brings STS concepts around equity, justice, and responsibility in science, technology and innovation to industry. He teaches public engagement and responsible innovation to undergraduate and postgraduate students across faculties. Stephen is Wellbeing Champion for the Department of Science and Technology Studies and a member of the department's Equality and Equities committee.

Stephen has a PhD and MSc in Science Communication from Dublin City University, in which he explored public engagement with controversial technologies such as fracking.