In this 2018 essay, Verran describes her experience arriving at Deakin University in the late 1980s, and working in the Science Studies Unit with scholars such as Max Charlesworth, David Wade Chambers, and David Turnbull. For Verran, Deakin STS research and teaching has been characterized by a concern with 'difference'.
Cathy Bow, Matt Campbell, Jennifer Macdonald, Yasunori Hayashi, Greg Williams, Michaela Spencer, and Michael Christie of Charles Darwin University have written a response to Verran's essay, titled 'Doing Difference Differently: Deakin STS in the late 1980s'. It discusses Verran's influence on 'Northern Australian STS' and the current work of STS scholars working at Charles Darwin University, particularly in relation to their focus on Indigenous approaches to knowledge production.