EASST Review: Volume 34(3) September 2015

This short piece introduces the Centre for the Study of Invention and Social Process, an interdisciplinary research centre based in the Department of Sociology at Goldsmiths, University of London. CSISP supports work in the broad area of science, technology, society and the environment, and hosts events, research, and projects that facilitate mutual intervention across disciplines and practices that touch on the social broadly conceived, such as design and social science, computing and sociology, the arts and environmental science. The article gives an overview of recent projects and activities hosted by CSISP and discusses the distinctive approach they take to invention, as not only a topic but also a resource for STS.

CSISP projects, events and publications are catalogued on the CSISP website (www.gold.ac.uk/csisp) and documented at CSISP online, the Centre’s blog (www.csisponline.net).

This short article presents a brief introduction to the MISTS project as an example of the research carried out within CSISP. MISTS is an ERC funded research programme which investigates the rise of market based initiatives designed to resolve collective concerns regarding, for example, health and the environment. The research explores possibilities ofered by drawing together recent Science and Technology Studies work on markets with more long standing concerns in science and technology policy. The research seeks to be inventive through participatory experiments in economic exchange alongside more traditional ethnographic methods.

The 2nd Nordic STS conference, held in Copenhagen 2015, was an occassion to take stock of the current trends and developments of Nordic STS. In this paper, the leading organizer reflects on the event and characterises contemporary Nordic STS as colourful (spanning a wide range of perspectives and empirical topics), courageous (critical, reflexive but also willing to take on collaborative roles), and community building (sharing commitment to a number of topics and issues). Speculating on future developments, he suggests that Nordic STS will be receive impetus for change and transformation from at least four sources: (1) The steady stream of new controversial scientific and technological developments. (2) The increasing commitment to gather interdisciplinary collaboration and research funding around grand societal challenges. (3) Methodological developments wihin STS. (4) The increasing number of collaborative roles that STS, as a mature discipline, will be invited to take up.

This note focuses on the scope that Energy and energy-related presentations had during the 14th Austrian Annual STS Conference “Critical Issues in Science, Technology and Society Studies”, held in Graz. It reflects on the idea of friction zones as a fruitful lens for looking at transformations of the energy paradigm and on the relevance of the local, in particular households and grassroot energy initiatives, as a key level of inquiry.