Short Abstract:

This workshop will provide STS scholars with tools to better collaborate with scientists and impact change in scientific research. Participants will walk through the process of creating a training for scientists that applies key feminist/critical race STS concepts.

Long Abstract:

This workshop will provide STS scholars with tools to better collaborate with scientists and impact change in scientific research by relying on STS sensibilities, rather than slipping into problematic narratives of techno-solutionism, cooptation, or utilitarianism. Participants will walk through the process of creating a training that introduces and applies key feminist/critical race STS concepts to researchers that encourage new world-making possibilities. Integrating an orientation towards justice can lead to more accurate and impactful research, as demonstrated by the fields of feminist STS and critical race STS. Biases based in oppression are interwoven into the processes of knowledge production. This is due to the fact that legacies of white supremacy, patriarchy, colonialism, and eugenics are interwoven into the history of science. Thus, traditional norms, practices, frameworks, and assumptions of research reinforces existing power structures. And yet, these histories and their ongoing impact on disciplines is unknown to most scientists, even those committed to equity. Training from STS scholars can teach them that to do more equitable research requires aberration from the status quo.

The Asking Different Questions program at UC Davis has been running a training program that takes up this challenge. Over 500 researchers have taken part in some version of the training, ranging from a quarter-long seminar or one-time workshops. Evaluation of the program shows that participants leave more motivated and better equipped to challenge traditional systems of knowledge production in their field. Participants, particularly those of color, also leave with a greater sense of belonging and sense of identity as a scientist, two major predictors for retention in STEM. STS scholars are well-equipped to make such interventions. Those attending the workshop will learn the structure and theory of change behind the Asking Different Questions program, take part in a sample training, and begin creating their own training session.