The 2023 conference of the Swiss Association for the Studies of Science, Technology & Society (STS-CH) will take place at the University of Basel, from 31 August to September 1st, 2023. invites empirical, methodological and theoretical contributions from the field of STS. The event aims to promote the community of STS scholars by fostering exchange between various disciplines and fields of research that address issues relating to science, technology, policy, and society.
The meeting connects Swiss and international researchers and welcomes participants from all career levels. It also welcomes contributors with knowledge and expertise from adjacent communities of practice working on these issues outside of academia.
Argument
The short history of the SARS-COV-2 virus has impressively displayed how scientific knowledge simultaneously co-constructs political and social worlds and, in turn, is shaped by these spheres. The virus overhauled our daily lives all over the globe and brought unprecedented challenges to conventional modes of governance and established regimes of scientific expertise.
From an STS perspective, these challenges may not appear to be entirely novel in nature. However, in these times of crisis discourse on topics such as, for example, climate change, the loss of biodiversity, and energy supply, STS studies are attaining new societal relevance. STS approaches and concepts offer relevant analytical frameworks to analyse current trends, to unpack the social imprints of scientific knowledge production and to develop new options for action. At the same time, recent STS debates on the Covid-19 crisis have also displayed the limits of STS theories and concepts. Scholars have pointed to the need to develop new approaches that rethink, reflect, reshape, rehabilitate the place of knowledge in policy and society to imagine and pursue more sustainable futures.
Against this background, the conference aims to address the questions of how diverse knowledge regimes shape social identity, political citizenship, and cultural heritage. How are knowledge claims fashioned, represented and questioned? What kind of features and mechanisms influence their success or defeat? How do current societal transformations influence different knowledge claims and their residues of non-knowledge, such as subjugated, lay, or amodern forms of knowledge? In short, we are particularly interested in the ways in which such modes of producing knowledge claims essentially shape our views and our relationship with the world around us.
Call for panels
We invite proposals for panels of 90 minutes’ duration. Panel proposals include a title and a description (in English, maximum 2000 characters) to be used for the call for papers as well as name, e-mail address and institutional affiliation/function of the convenor(s).
As a rule, the composition of the panels shall be open, but you may indicate potential participants.
Panel proposals may address any research topic related to science, technology and society and are not restricted to the conference theme.
Deadline for panel submissions: 1. March 2023
Veranstaltungsort
Kosten
