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Short abstract:

This presentation will focus on three lessons that my participation in the Vaccine Hesitancy TAP Project during 2020 and 2021 has left in my training process as a PhD student learning STS and interested in the impacts of technologies in Public Policy in Latin America.

Long abstract:

One of the primary challenges in graduate school is training to become a researcher. Research assistantships provide ideal opportunities for learning through hands-on experience with real projects. In this presentation, I will reflect on how my participation in the TAP project on vaccine hesitancy has contributed to my development as an STS researcher, particularly in the context of aiming to contribute to accountable technological futures in the realm of policymaking. Specifically, I will discuss three lessons: Firstly, a methodological lesson about how this project introduced me to the Analogical Case Study (ACS). This methodological perspective allows the analysis of the impacts of technologies on societies and illustrates how these impacts are products of intricate social, political, and cultural dynamics. But, most importantly, this experience taught me how to analytically connect the past, with the present and the future of the impact of technologies in society. Secondly, I will discuss a lesson on interdisciplinarity, since the ACS methodology enables researchers from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds to exchange ideas and work collaboratively, capturing the complexities inherent in technological artifacts. Thirdly, I will share both a practical and analytical lesson on how STS can become a potent perspective not only for interpreting reality but also for contributing to technology-related policy decision-making processes.