Robert Dingwall is a consulting sociologist and part-time Professor of Sociology at Nottingham Trent University, UK. He is a widely published author and editor in the fields of medical sociology, law and society, and science and technology. A former UK government adviser on ethical aspects of national pandemic planning, and consultant to Roche Pharmaceuticals, he co-edited the Handbook of Qualitative Health Research (2010) and was editor of the four-volume Qualitative Health Research (2008).

Lily M. Hoffman is Associate Professor of Sociology at City College and The Graduate Center of The City University of New York, USA, where she directs the MA program in Sociology. A specialist on urban governance issues, she is a former chairperson of the Urban and Community section of the American Sociological Association. Prof Hoffman co-edited Cities and Visitors: Regulating People, Markets and City Space (2003), and is the author of The Politics of Knowledge: Activist Movements in Medicine and Planning (1989).

Karen Staniland is a Senior Lecturer in Nursing at the University of Salford, UK, and holds a PhD in sociology. Her research focuses on sociological and ethnographic studies of healthcare work, applied to improving the quality of care. In addition to co-editing The Nurse Mentor and Reviewer Update Book (2010) and Clinical Skills: The Essence of Caring (2009), she has written open-learning materials on pandemic influenza for healthcare professionals.