We are happy to announce that the lecture series of the winter term 2024/25 will revolve around the topic of Expanding Science and Technology Studies.
Transformation is the present-day topic. Sustainability, climate change, war situations, authoritarianism, and many other major challenges are on the fore – including the insight that old recipes, convictions and strategies no longer lead to solutions without difficulty. And science makes no exception here. It appears relevant but increasingly controversial. Hopes that in knowledge societies, through the spread of knowledge, conflicts would be more easily pacified, have been largely disappointed. On the contrary, it is apparent that conflicts that are fought out with the means of scientific knowledge can deepen conflicts and ambivalences. Uncertainty and non-knowledge become much more sharply visible. Science is no longer regarded as an unchallenged problem-solving machine for social problems. Science is disputed. Science is ignored. Science is powerful and at the same time powerless. What does this mean for endeavours reflecting on science, its form and roles in present-day societies?
Over the decades, Science and Technology Studies (STS) have developed many different approaches for investigating the relationship between science and society and to dig deep into the cultures of research, the ways science is conducted. E.g., scholars have investigated the local cultures and politics underlying processes of knowledge production, the biases and gender divisions informing the organization of academic institutions, or the reception of future technological visions in different publics. There is a rich knowledge. However, it seems that science studies are not well prepared for the transformation challenge. Against this background, the purpose of this lecture series is to understand first the transformation challenge and its consequences for science studies and second to explore different pathways of future science studies.
Various speakers, including the sociologist David Kaldewey (University of Bonn) and the philosopher Sabina Lionelli (University of Exeter), will be guests at the KHK c:o/re and shed light on “Expanding Science and Technology Studies” from different disciplinary perspectives.
Please find an overview of the dates and speakers in the program.
The lectures will take place from October 9, 2024 to January 22, 2025 every second Wednesday from 5 to 6.30 pm in presence and online.
If you would like to attend the lectures, please send a short email to events@khk.rwth-aachen.de.
