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Time zone: Europe/Amsterdam
Note: This workshop will exceptionally NOT be held at VU university, but at an alternative venue.
Bushuis/Oost-Indisch Huis, Kloveniersburgwal 48, Room F.001
Closed workshop by the critical infrastructure lab and REDE (Rede de Pesquisa em Governança da Internet)
The aim of the symposium is to explore what comes next in internet 9:45governance (IG) as a field of inquiry. The proposal is motivated by the perception that the practice of IG has changed considerably since the beginning of the internet, amplifying the historical challenge to define the borders of IG studies. More importantly, we ask how the technical discussions in IG can increasingly dialogue with critical perspectives that de-center western interpretations, center the people and invisible actors, and expand the variables of analysis to include gender, race, ethnicity, disability, the global South, and non-humans in their core. Anti-colonial, anti-racist, anti-fascist, deep ecological, long-durée historical and political economical perspectives are examples of approaches that IG as a discipline has resisted more than other areas to adopt in its representative studies providing an empirical examination of governance mechanisms. The goal of the symposium is, first, to frame the technopolitics of the internet and its governance using more plural and inclusive paradigms, and second, to situate IG studies in view of quick technological transformations within and on top of its infrastructure. In order to reflect and act on these limitations, we call on IG scholars and scholars from adjacent and intersecting disciplines to collaboratively and intentionally shape the field more broadly contributing to a critical turn in internet governance.
Questions: symposium@criticalinfralab.net
Forum 5, main building
HG05A00, main building
Forum 3, main building
Forum 4, main building
Main building, entrance
Have you never felt awkward at an academic conference?
Never felt stressed about presenting? Self-conscious while mingling? Tongue-tied when asked about your research? Left out or overlooked in conversations? Taken aback by an unexpected comment or question?
If these are foreign experiences to you, consider yourself among the 1%!
For everyone else we offer this coaching segment as an opportunity to get mentally and emotionally ready to step in and navigate the social space of the EASST-4S conference.
Online sessions will take place on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, at the edges of the conference programme. You can attend from the comfort of your hotel room or home, in your pyjamas if you like.
The segment is presented by academic life coach Catelijne Coopmans.
Read moreLog in with your account to see the button to join the online sessions (log in link will be available few days before the conference)
Have you never felt awkward at an academic conference?
Never felt stressed about presenting? Self-conscious while mingling? Tongue-tied when asked about your research? Left out or overlooked in conversations? Taken aback by an unexpected comment or question?
If these are foreign experiences to you, consider yourself among the 1%!
For everyone else we offer this coaching segment as an opportunity to get mentally and emotionally ready to step in and navigate the social space of the EASST-4S conference.
Online sessions will take place on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, at the edges of the conference programme. You can attend from the comfort of your hotel room or home, in your pyjamas if you like.
The segment is presented by academic life coach Catelijne Coopmans.
Log in with your account to see the button to join the online sessions (log in link will be available few days before the conference)
Main building, entrance
09:00-10:15, Auditorium, Main building
ECR workshop session
Demystifying Publishing Landscapes for Early Career Researchers (ECRs)
Are you an Early Career Researcher (ECR) navigating the complex world of academic publishing in Science and Technology Studies (STS)? Join us at the EASST/4S Amsterdam meeting for an insightful roundtable discussion titled "Demystifying Publishing Landscapes for ECRs."
This session is designed to provide a space for reflecting on the current STS publishing landscape through the lens of early career scholars. What are some current publishing struggles and difficulties we face as ECRs, and are any of these STS-specific? Are we constrained by available outputs, and could it be otherwise? How do we move beyond entrenched norms of publishing, and what alternative avenues can we pursue?
Through an informal discussion, this roundtable intends to reflect on the state of publishing in STS (the good and the bad), discuss alternative academic outputs for ECRs in STS, and, most importantly, offer valuable career advice for ECRs on navigating this oftentimes puzzling landscape.
Our roundtable features scholars from various career stages and platforms. Post-docs will share their experiences of transforming their theses into books, offering practical insights and strategies. Senior scholars with extensive knowledge of STS publishing will discuss the intricacies of the publishing process, highlight common obstacles, and explore innovative publishing avenues.
This is an excellent opportunity for ECRs to gain firsthand advice, expand their understanding of the publishing landscape in STS, and engage in meaningful dialogue about how publishing in STS is experienced by and affects ECRs. Don't miss this chance to enhance your academic career with guidance from those who have successfully navigated the path. Join us for this dynamic session and take the next step in your publishing journey!
After the roundtable, there will be time for informal discussions with our panelists (or other ECRs) over coffee and small snacks!
PRIOR REGISTRATION WAS REQUIRED: THIS EVENT IS NOW FULL!
Panelists
Kean Birch (Ontario Research Chair in Science Policy, York University)
Sarah Davies (University of Vienna)
Wolfgang Kaltenbrunner (Centre for Science and Technology Studies, Leiden University)
Julien McHardy (Mattering Press)
Paul Trauttmansdorff, (European New School of Digital Studies, European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder))
Organizers
Sarah Rose Bieszczad, Barkha Kagliwal, Zhaopeng Li, & Pouya Sepehr
09:30 - 10:30, Agora 2, main building
4S Seattle Conference Meet-Up
Interested in being involved in the organising of next year’s 4S meeting in Seattle in September 2025? Join Conference Co-Chairs Daniela Rosner and Anna Lauren Hoffman, as well as 4S President Anne Pollock and 4S Managing Director Amanda Windle, for this session to start the conversation about creative aspirations and concrete plans for 4S-Seattle.
N.B. 12:15 - 16:45 (Athena Institute kitchen)
P136 The makings and doings of food ways in STS research: cooking, tasting, speculating with care - closed event
Convenors: Alexandra Endaltseva (CNRS), Michael Guggenheim (Goldsmiths, University of London), Asaf Bachrach (CNRS).
Chair: Jan-Peter Voß (RWTH Aachen University)
How to care for sustainable eating in STS research? How to know with senses, affects, food work, and transformations that an eating body contains? This is an invitation to collectively investigate these questions by cooking, eating, and relating our experiences. See more here
12:45 - 13:45 (HG-02A24)
EASST Ethics Committee (ECo) meeting - closed event
12:45 - 13:45 (HG-02A00)
Open Meeting for the Student Section of the Social Studies of Science (6S)
The Student Section of the Society for Social Studies of Science invites both graduate and undergraduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and early career scholars to this yearly meeting where Student Representatives lead a discussion about the future of 6S. 6S Reps report their activities for the year 2023-24, receive feedback from you for setting the agenda for the next year, and answer questions. This is a great place to get involved with Council, if you are interested in becoming a representative, and to brainstorm ideas for our community.
12:45 - 13:45 (Aurora, main building)
STS in Spain
This meet up addresses Spanish STS communities to discuss together the current state and future direction(s) of the Spanish STS network ¨Red ES CTS¨ created in 2011 as well as those adjacent including universities’ and research centres’ STS research groups, with a specific twofold focus on (1) reactivating the network and (re)building interdisciplinary and intergenerational alliances and (2) identifying financial opportunities at both national and European level to consolidate the STS network in Spain. In addition to this specific agenda, this meet up seeks to discuss whether there is a shared need and desire for interdisciplinary spaces in which we can problematise, experiment and recognise ourselves in the (dis)encounters between STS and CTS, with divergent genealogies as well as past and present complementarities in the Spanish academic context. We welcome and call for participation to anyone interested in Southern European STS communities to share their interest, views and experiences in this or similar networks and initiatives.
12:45 - 13:45 (Agora 4, main building)
Science, Technology, & Human Values editorial board meeting - closed event
12:45 - 13:45 (Agora 2, main building)
Meet-up with the Sociology of Health Professions Education Collaborative
This meet-up is an opportunity to connect with other STS scholars who study health professions training and work, broadly construed. Sociology may be in the name of our group, but we are shaped by our membership in the STS community and welcome you to join us for casual networking and conversations, regardless of your disciplinary home! Come meet like-minded colleagues, learn about the activities we support through the Collaborative, and share your ideas for the future.
Making Policy and/as STS Scholarship
Speakers: Alondra Nelson and Brice Laurent
Convened and moderated by: Maja Horst and Anne Pollock
This presidential plenary explores the generativity of working across
STS scholarship on the one hand and engagement in policy-making on the
other. In the context of a conference theme that is interested in
impact, we observe that STS both generates and thinks about impact
in diverse ways. The field has provided groundbreaking theories and
academic analyses which have spread far beyond our own academic turf.
STS scholars have also been involved in various forms of activism, which
has led to profound changes in the world. In this presidential plenary,
we explore how STS scholars have been influential in policy advice and
other forms of embedded policy work, and how working in policy has
informed their scholarship. We aim to discuss the various forms
impactful engagement can take, the motivations for engaging in such work
and the types of competences needed to succeed. In particular, we want
to highlight how, as a community, we can support each other in doing
such work and how we can help each other and early-career researchers
develop the necessary skill set for being impactful, and for being
positively impacted as STS scholars through that policy
engagement.
Widely known for her research at the intersection of science, technology, and society, Alondra Nelson is the Harold F. Linder Professor of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study and there leads the Science, Technology, and Social Values Lab. She served as past president of the Social Science Research Council and on the faculty of Columbia University for a decade, including as their inaugural Dean of Social Science. Dr. Nelson began her academic career on the faculty of Yale University and received its Poorvu Award for interdisciplinary teaching excellence.
Between 2021-2023, she was deputy assistant to President Joe Biden and
acting director of the White House Office of Science and Technology
Policy (OSTP). At OSTP, Dr. Nelson spearheaded the development of the
“Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights,” which has both been incorporated
into both President Biden’s historic executive order on artificial
intelligence and enacted into policy for the federal government. During
her White House tenure, she also issued guidance to expand tax-payer
access to federally-funded research, strengthened evidence-based
policymaking, and galvanized a multisector strategy to advance equity
and excellence in STEM, among other accomplishments. Nature included
Nelson in the list of “Ten People Who Shaped Science” in recognition of
her public service, stating “this social scientist made strides for
equity, integrity and open access.” In 2023, she was named to the
inaugural TIME100 list of most influential people in AI and was
appointed by United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres to serve
on the UN High-Level Advisory Body on Artificial
Intelligence.
Dr. Nelson is a former president-elect of 4S and is the author of
several award-winning books including, most recently, The Social Life of
DNA. She is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and
Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the
American Philosophical Society, and the National Academy of
Medicine.
Please note that the Aula can only seat 900 people, we therefore encourage people to watch the Presidential Plenary and Opening as a live stream on the big screen in one of the following rooms:
- Auditorium, HG-KC07, HG-12A00 (main building)
- Theater 2 (NU building) and
- online (link to join will be posted here few days before the conference)
19:30-21:00 (Nino's Surinam Food Gustav Mahlerlaan 149 1082 MV Amsterdam, Netherlands)
Cornell S&TS at 4S/EASST 2024
Meet up with S&TS Cornellians for Surinamese food and ice cream following the 4S presidential plenary and opening. Nino's is about an 11-minute walk around the corner from Vrije University, close to the Amsterdam Zuid station. Outdoor seating only, so it may be BYOU: bring your own umbrella (or rain jacket).
19:30-22:30 (Dicky’s Grand Café)
Early Career Researchers (ECR) in STS Meetup
20:30-22:00 (De Pijp district)
STS-CH networking event
STS-CH, the Swiss Association for Science and Technology Studies, organizes a special informal networking event to foster connections among Swiss and Swiss-related researchers. They have planned a casual gathering on Tuesday, July 16th, at around 8:30 PM. We will be reserving a table at a bar in the De Pijp district.
If you are interested in joining us, please fill
out the following Google form, and we will provide you with the exact
venue details closer to the date:
For more information about STS-CH, please visit our website.
We look forward to meeting you in Amsterdam!
Have you never felt awkward at an academic conference?
Never felt stressed about presenting? Self-conscious while mingling? Tongue-tied when asked about your research? Left out or overlooked in conversations? Taken aback by an unexpected comment or question?
If these are foreign experiences to you, consider yourself among the 1%!
For everyone else we offer this coaching segment as an opportunity to get mentally and emotionally ready to step in and navigate the social space of the EASST-4S conference.
Online sessions will take place on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, at the edges of the conference programme. You can attend from the comfort of your hotel room or home, in your pyjamas if you like.
The segment is presented by academic life coach Catelijne Coopmans.
Log in with your account to see the button to join the online sessions (log in link will be available few days before the conference)
Main building, entrance
Unfortunately the winner is unable to attend, so this session is cancelled.
Carson Prize: Helena Hansen, Jules Netherland, and David Herzberg: Whiteout: How Racial Capitalism Changed the Color of Opioids in America
The STS Making and Doing Program aims to give visibility to scholarship that relates to our fields of study and action in generative ways, without adhering to the dominant image of impact. It highlights scholarly practices for producing and expressing STS knowledge and expertise that extend beyond the academic paper or book. Projects in STS making & doing provide equal attention to practices of knowledge expression and knowledge travel as integral to experimental practices of knowledge production. By increasing the extent to which participants learn from one another about practices they have developed and enacted, the initiative seeks to foster flows of STS scholarship beyond the field and expand the modes of STS knowledge production.
Note on times:
All Making & Doing stands will be staffed from 12:00-15:00, with participants having the option of staffing their stands from 10:30-17:00. The films start from 12:00.
Locations:
Making & Doing stands will be in three locations:
HG first floor around the Aula; NU building ground floor atrium, NU building second floor.
M&D films are in NU Theaters 2, 5, 8, 9.
12:45 - 13:45 (HG-02A36)
East Asian Science Technology and Society journal editorial meeting
12:45 - 13:45 (HG-08A33)
Meet the editorial team of Science, Technology, & Human Values!
Join the Managing Editor and Editors of Science, Technology, & Human Values (ST&HV) at the EASST-4S meeting! Considering submitting to ST&HV? Curious about editorial processes or the journal's vision? This session is your chance to connect directly with the editorial team! Come along for an informal discussion and gain valuable insights about publishing with ST&HV. Whether you're a seasoned scholar or a early career researcher, we encourage you to attend and ask questions!
12:45 - 13:45 (HG-15A33)
Feminists In Science and Technology Studies (FiSTS) Research Community Meet-up
This meet-up is meant to facilitate networking, brainstorming, and conversations among members of or potential members of the FiSTS group. We conceive of this group broadly. Please, come join us. What programming would you like to see for the community in the coming years? What other ideas, accomplishments, or concerns do you have to share with the community?
12:45 - 13:45 (HG-07A32)
Forging Connections: Middle East STS Meet-Up
This Meet-Up is dedicated to fostering collaboration and knowledge exchange among STS scholars within the Middle East region. Given the grand societal challenges we face, connecting regional academic communities to share insights and engage in collective research endeavors becomes all the more vital. The establishment of STS Türkiye in 2017, now standing at 450 members, signifies an exciting momentum for a deepened STS network in the region. In this session, we aspire to host STS researchers and practitioners to ponder current projects, collaborations, and future directions of STS within the Middle East. Our objective is to identify shared research themes, discuss the nuances of cross-regional collaboration, support emerging scholars, and debate ways to elevate the visibility and impact of Middle Eastern STS research. We invite scholars who have engaged in scholarly work in or about the region, and all those studying STS from within the Middle East context, to join us. We hope to engage with a broad array of perspectives and to incite a constructive discourse that taps into the region’s diverse expertise. Please consider this call to connect and contribute to a vibrant discussion that celebrates our unique regional STS landscape.
12:45 - 13:45 (Auditorium, main building)
Meet-Up for National STS Associations
An invited meet-up for people who are (or have been) actively involved
in organising national STS associations in Europe, to discuss activities
to develop stronger links between EASST meetings. If you would like to
attend, please email s.desaille@sheffield.ac.uk or r.williams@edinburgh.ac.uk to be placed on the list.
12:45 - 13:45 (HG-05A33)
Book launch "Transdisciplinary Research, Sustainability and Social Transformation" by Tom Dedeurwaerdere, Routledge
N.B. 12:15-13:35 (HG-13A33)
Book launch: "At the End of Property: Patents, Plants and the Crisis of Propertization" by Veit Braun
Ever-new things are being turned into property, from data ownership to national control over genetic resources. At the End of Property explores this phenomenon in plant breeding, revealing how plants have been legally and materially transformed into property. Examining property not simply as a legal concept, but as a bundle of laws, practices and technologies, it shows how the ongoing expansion of ownership threatens the seed industry and the institution of property alike.
All people interested in participating can either attend in person or join via online.
Chair: Warwick Anderson
Author: Shannon Cram
Critics: Vivian Choi, Emily Yates Doerr, and Michal Nahman
Fleck Prize: Shannon Cram, Unmaking the Bomb: Environmental Cleanup and the Politics of Impossibility
17:15 - 18:15 (Auditorium, main building)
Session on the future of conferencing
17:45 - 19:30 (Forum 3, main building)
Science as Culture advisory panel
18:00 - 01:00 (Bar Buka, Albert Cuypstraat 124 1072 EA Amsterdam)
Queer STS meetup
We are happy to announce the Queer STS meetup, to be held on Wednesday, 17 July from 6pm onwards, in conjunction with the 4S/EASST Amsterdam Conference.
The Queer STS meetup is conceived as a social and networking event for scholars working at the intersection of queer studies and STS.
This year Bar Buka, an independent lesbian bar, is opening up especially for the 4S community. People of all genders are welcome to join in for an exciting evening and (re)connect with queer STS scholars from across the world.
Located in the vibrant Albert Cuyp neighbourhood, Bar Buka is easily accessible from the VU conference venue and offers you a taste of Amsterdam LGBT nightlife.
Bar Buka has a great selection of drinks and cocktails (menu). They also serve nice finger food (menu). The Bar is surrounded by other places where you can get food (pizza, poke bowl, sushi, etc.), which you are welcome to bring back with you and eat at Buka. Let them know, so they can provide you with plates and cutlery.
More info: lucy.vandewiel@kcl.ac.uk
Please sign up as capacity is limited: https://www.outsavvy.com/event/20118/queer-sts-meetup-4s-easst-amsterdam
Main building, entrance
VIEW LIVESTREAM (click EASST)
The Bernal Lecture will feature presentations by Annemarie Mol and Geoffrey Bowker, as well as a celebration of the life and work of Adele Clarke.
12:45 - 13:45 (HG-08A33)
Transforming Chemistry and Society in STS? Open exchange and networking
The aim of the meeting is to 1) bring together the collective expertise and engagement in this area gathered at EASST/4S, 2) share empirical findings, and 3) identify common issues and concerns. This could include STS research and perspectives on current scientific advances in chemistry, new modes of chemical production, the chemistry of energy transitions, the exploration of new resource bases and the creation of new industrial value chains and circular economies, as well as public engagement with chemistry. Following the critical assessments of existing chemosocialities (Shapiro & Kirksey 2017) and alterlives (Murphy 2017) by STS researchers, we aim to jointly explore the molecular basis of 21st century cultures and societies. Contact persons: Nona Schulte-Römer, Patrick Bieler, Janine Hauer and Jörg Niewöhner.
12:45 - 13:45 (HG-06A32)
“Decolonizing Data Infrastructures” meetup
This meetup convenes a group of STS scholars engaged in critical data studies across Latin America, Africa, and Asia. With the growing emphasis on decolonization in AI and data to reshape global approaches and practices of responsible and inclusive innovation, there is an urgent need to explore different regionally-informed understandings of decolonization and alternative approaches to technoscientific imaginaries and understandings of datafication and resistances to it. This gathering aims at cultivating a scholarly network and fostering a community around the project of “Decolonizing Data Infrastructures”. Key agenda items at the meeting include potential publication projects, the development of a community teaching syllabus and readings list, and planning for future conferences and workshops centered on the theme. The meetup builds on the momentum of the 4S 2023’s “Decolonizing Data Infrastructure” panel series, and remains open to anyone interested in network building and sharing ideas dedicated to AI and data studies in global contexts
12:45 - 13:45 (HG-02A00)
[CANCELLED] Reaching new audiences through interactive multimedia publishing
This meet-up is for creating links between publishing and gamification. For STS researchers who want to reach new audiences and bridge the gap between academia and other sectors of society, there is an alternative to one-way dissemination: interactive publishing in the form of Serious Games. A Serious Game is played not for entertainment but for learning, awareness raising, enabling collaboration, etc. The game format gives audiences an interactive experience with the research material. Using tried-and-tested game templates, research can be turned into a playable format without needing any expertise in game design. Another option is to work with students or other groups on creating games themselves using templates. Whether playing or creating a Serious Game, the process is engaging, interactive, and creates a non-threatening environment where people from different backgrounds can all participate. This approach is particularly useful for working with diverse audiences and cross-sectoral groups.
12:45 - 13:45 (HG-06A00)
Pathways of STS in South Asia: where we came from and where we can go
The meet-up envisions bringing together scholars and researchers from South Asia to weave together possibilities for building a collaborative framework for future STS research in the region. Rich scholarship in science and technology studies has emerged from South Asia over the last few decades and has significantly contributed to how we now understand and critically imagine the socio-political reality around us. However, we still seem to situate ourselves in fragments, often lacking a formal community to channel and stabilize our scholarship. To this end, a group of academics in India have begun the efforts to establish an STS Network to bring together STS scholarship from and about India. We think it is crucial to also establish a larger network for the South Asian region that can provide a space for meaningful collaborative research, organizing events, and sharing knowledge from the margins. Building a vibrant community that addresses not only the unique transdisciplinary and interdisciplinary research from different domains that have emerged from South Asia in the past but also discusses the possibilities of fruitful collaboration in the future is the goal of this meet-up.
12:45 - 13:45 (HG-07A32)
Meet the Editors of Catalyst
Meet-up with the Editorial Team of Catalyst: Feminism, Theory, Technoscience.
Whether you're curious about submitting to the journal, seeking tips on
the peer review process, or just wondering how the journal is run, our
editorial team is here to answer
your questions. Expect an informal conversation and a supportive
community eager to help you amplify your research. Don't miss this
chance to demystify the publishing process and connect with like-minded
individuals passionate about the field of feminist STS!
12:45 - 13:45 (HG-08A20)
Editorial board meeting of New Genetics and Society
12:45 - 13:45 (HG-07A33)
Meet the Editorial Team of Science & Technology Studies!
Science & Technology Studies, the Diamond Open Access official journal of the European Association for the Study of Science and Technology (EASST) published by The Finnish Society for Science and Technology Studies, invites you to join our editorial team for an informal discussion. This session offers a unique opportunity to learn about the journal’s vision, the submission process, and the intricacies of our editorial work. We will also explore the future of Open Access publishing, the evolution of the journal, and commemorate our 35 years of history as a journal. Whether you have specific questions or just want to learn more, we welcome your participation!
VIEW LIVESTREAM (click EASST)
Making and Doing Transformations:
Persistances of transformation-oriented scholarship in STS over four decades in three people-places
Current calls for scholarship that contributes to transformations revive questions regarding the roles, commitments, and approaches of STS with and for society: How can we, through our own involvement in scholarship that speaks to societal challenges, both frame transformations in STS terms and participate in making and doing them? How can we continue to bring our commitments into our scholarship while extending our repertoires? How can we continue to highlight flows of learning between STS and its fields rather than slip into linear-model images like ‘impact’ or ‘revolutionary transformation’? How can we become part of making and doing contributions to transformations through mobilizing STS sensibilities?
In this session, speakers from three institutes located on three continents address these questions in their own unique ways. These institutes share that associated scholars have been working on transformation-oriented scholarship for about four decades. They all have a story to tell about what it means to persist. They strongly differ in terms of how their work is made through their respective people-places, and how their work developed over time. By attending to their narratives of persistence and change, this session aims to foster reflection on what comes with making and doing, how STS scholars and their interlocutors are made and done in their ecologies, and how this can help to consider such scholarly practices beyond a normative imperative to intervene alone.
STS Making & Doing for Inclusive and Sustainable Development: Learnings and proposals
Lucas Becerra & Paula Juarez (Institute of Science and Technology Studies, National University of Quilmes)
The presentation shows how (and why) an STS research group, from National University of Quilmes-Argentina, performing “Making & Doing”(M&D) improve and foster the development of new knowledge, capabilities and materialities.
In three differentiated moments we discuss: 1) the distinctive character of STS M&D and why the definition of political goals is important, 2) the long-term Latin America debates in relation with science and technology autonomy and the currently challenges of the STS field, and 3) departing from our own M&D projects, our proposal of socio-technical strategic planning for inclusive and sustainable development.
From democratic dialogue to material agency and back? There’s no such thing as Dutch Making & Doing and this is a story about it
Michiel van Oudheusden & Teun Zuiderent-Jerak (Athena Institute, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)
There may not be such a thing as Dutch STS, nor Dutch Making & Doing, but there are hi-stories to be told about the emergence, development, and persistence of STS in the Netherlands and its relation to transformation-oriented scholarship. These stories encompass democratic dialoguing, engagements with material agency, and feminist doings of differences, among others. We explore these stories, using the lens of digital methods in the transformation of epistemic practices in health. While digital methods are arguably more successful than dialogic ones in changing health knowledge practices, it may be harder to preserve the democratization of knowledge in- or exclusions. Could it be time for a return to dialogue in such digital making and doing practices?
Ground Up Making and Doing: 40 years of research inquiry under Yolŋu authority in East Arnhem Land
Michael Christie & Michaela Spencer (Northern Institute, Charles Darwin University)
Ground Up is a long-term initiative within the Northern Institute, Charles Darwin University Australia. Pursued in partnerships with Aboriginal authorities and their places, our inquiries address ‘problems of the moment’ and are committed to rendering multiple traditions of knowledge making and doing mutually visible. Most of the participants in Ground Up projects enact their making and doing according to very different epistemic and moral commitments than the modern university. In this presentation two spokespeople from a much broader group of collaborators draw on episodes from our 40-year history of Ground Up work maintaining epistemic accountabilities within Aboriginal people-places and the modern university. Presenting these at EASST/4S Amsterdam, we see these episodes as making and doing STS knowledge; seeking to effect, time and again, generative cross-institutional work in which the practices of disparate cosmologies and their institutions are kept separate, but also partially connected, in going on together.
Moderator: Noela Invernizzi (Universidade Federal do Paraná)
Please note that the Aula can only seat 900 people, we therefore encourage people to watch the Theme plenary - Making and Doing Transformations: Persistances of transformation-oriented scholarship in STS over four decades in three people-places as a live stream on the big screen in one of the following rooms:
- Auditorium, HG-KC07 (main building)
- Theater 1, Theater 3 (NU building) and
- online (link to join will be posted here few days before the conference)
VIEW LIVESTREAM (click EASST)
EASST President Maja Horst and 4S President Anne Pollock convene this celebration of the authors who have been honoured with prizes from each of the societies.
EASST
Amsterdamska Award: John Nott and Anna Harris: Making Sense of Medicine: Material Culture and the Reproduction of Medical Knowledge
Freeman Award: Andreas Birkbak and Irina Papazu: Democratic Situations
Ziman Award: CreaTures (Creative Practice for Transformational Futures) project
4S
Ludwick Fleck Prize: Unmaking the Bomb: Environmental Cleanup and the Politics of Impossibility, by Shannon Cram
Rachel Carson Prize: Whiteout: How Racial Capitalism Changed the Color of Opioids in America, by Helena Hansen, Jules Netherland and David Herzberg
David Edge Prize: “An (Un)Natural History: Tracing the Magical Rhinoceros Horn in Egypt,” in Isis: The Journal of the History of Science Society, by Taylor M. Moore
Nicholas C. Mullins Prize: "Situated Indications: Queer STS Experiments on Global Datafication" from the book Queer Data Studies, book chapter in Queer Data Studies, by Suisui Wang
Infrastructure Prize: Editorial Collective for the journal Engaging Science, Technology, and Society (ESTS)
Bernal Prize: Geoffrey C. Bowker and Annemarie Mol
The Forest Festival on 18 July provides an exciting moment for us to gather and celebrate outside of the confines of the conference. Based in the nearby city forest, the Amsterdamse Bos, delegates are invited to enjoy a complementary mini festival full of delicious food, lively conversation, and some nice surprises.
Main building, entrance
Theater 1, NU building
12:45-13:45 (Theater 2, NU building)
Knowledge of AIDS Research Collaboration Network and friends
This meet-up will convene members of the “Knowledge of AIDS” Research Collaboration Network (RCN) and friends of the RCN. All 4S/EASST attendees with interests in building community around HIV/AIDS scholarship in STS are invited and encouraged to attend. The Knowledge of AIDS RCN is funded by the STS Program within the United States National Science Foundation, led by Co-PIs David Ribes, Marika Cifor, Stephen Molldrem, and Andrew Spieldenner. The RCN is a three-year effort organized around the themes of “the archive,” “expertise,” and “participation” in the history of HIV/AIDS. The network focuses on building the transnational community of scholars in STS who study the HIV/AIDS epidemic in North America and its global relations. In the first year, we are exploring the “Archive of AIDS” theme, which encompasses the historical, sociocultural, and technological aspects of archiving HIV/AIDS-related materials and the cultural memory of the pandemic. The meet-up will serve as a space to make introductions, have discussions about current trends and future directions for HIV/AIDS scholarship in STS, and to build community and mentorship opportunities around these topics. Learn more about the RCN at KnowledgeofAIDS.net or by attending this meet-up.
12:45-13:45 (HG-01A33)
STS in education (STudieS) meet-up, with keynote given by Sergio Sismondo
The STudieS network (https://stsinfrastructures.org/content/studies-sts-education) is holding its yearly meeting at the EASST conference. The one-hour session is an excellent opportunity to get to know and network with educational scholars that employ STS insights. Sergio Sismondo will kick off our meet-up and will discuss with us, over lunch, various research orientations, research questions, and focal challenges that STS in educational research could (and should) take up in the future (see under). During the event, moreover, we will further discuss the thematic lines of the network, planned and ongoing publications, and future meetings.
STS for Education? Principles and tensions
Sergio Sismondo, Queen’s University, Canada
In this talk I set out some overlapping principles and sensibilities that have animated research in STS. Starting with the innocuous principle that knowledge is constructed — which has an equally innocuous analogue in Education research — I articulate the immense value of these ideas in STS, and some practical tensions that arise if they are too-simply applied in Education.
12:45-13:45 (HG-06A00)
STS Food and Agriculture Network (STSFAN)
STSFAN is an open network for STS scholars interested in food and agriculture topics to network, share work in progress, and collaborate. We have ongoing, monthly meetings via zoom and an active Slack channel. All are welcome to join us for an informal meet-up and planning and netowkring session.
12:45-13:45 (HG-02A00)
U.S. National Science Foundation outreach meet-up - learn about NSF funding opportunities
This is an opportunity to learn about funding opportunities available at the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF). The aim of this meet-up is to raise awareness in the research community about various NSF funding opportunities and it provides an opportunity to get to know the Science and Technology Studies (STS) Program at NSF. STS Program Director Christine Leuenberger will be available for Q&A.
12:45-13:45 (Forum 3, main building)
Science as Culture advisory panel
NB! 12:45-14:15 (VU ART SCIENCE gallery, NU building)
ART SCIENCE dialogue | Hands, minds and robots: Creating the Future
Speakers:
Jorrit Paaijmans, Artist
Margarita Boenig-Liptsin, Department of Humanities, Social and Political Sciences, ETH Zurich
Chair:
Makoto Takahashi, Athena Institute, VU
Join us for the first ART SCIENCE dialogue of Let's Work! on Friday, July 19.
Artist Jorrit Paaijmans and Margarita Boenig-Liptsin will discuss the balance between making, doing and thinking in an increasingly technological world. As technology and digitalization form an ever greater role in our day-to-day and work lives, how do we experience and give shape to society. And more importantly, how do we form our own identity when what we do is mediated through screens or robots?
Jorrit Paaijmans’ work raises questions on the effect of mechanization on labour. Central to his practice is Paaijmans' interest in the tension between craftsmanship and conceptualisation. His handmade drawing machines explore the process of drawing from concept to final result.
Prof. Dr. Margarita Boenig-Liptsin is Associate Professor at the Department of Humanities, Social and Political Sciences of ETH Zürich. Boenig-Liptsin's research area focuses on identity, selfhood and citizenship in technological societies. In her work she explores how the technological and scientific interact with society and contemporary human notions of self.
The talk will be moderated by Makoto Takahashi. Dr. Makoto Takahashi is Assistant Professor for Transdisciplinary STS at the Faculty of Science, Athena Institute at VU Amsterdam. He works on science communication and crises of public trust. His recent work has explored how art can be used to foster dialogues around controversial topics.
The dialogue will take place on Friday, July 19, from 12:45 - 1.45 PM at the VU ART SCIENCE gallery.
Entrance is free of charge and open to the public.