EASST Review: Volume 35(3) September 2016

In 2016 the University of Edinburgh is celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the establishment of the Science Studies Unit (SSU) and the 30th Anniversary of our interdisciplinary programme of technology studies. This provides a timely occasion to reflect not only on how our field was constituted but also how we have managed to sustain and grow our community.

This short article provides an introduction to three ongoing projects in Science, Technology and Innovation Studies (STIS) at the University of Edinburgh; Making Genomic Medicine, Medical Translation in the History of Modern Genomics, and Engineering Life. Although they are independent and pursued by three different PIs (Steve Sturdy, Miguel García-Sancho and Jane Calvert respectively) the projects complement each other well enough to make for a collective case study. Each addresses the biological sciences from the late twentieth century to the present and bioscience’s promised utility in medical or industrial contexts. Each project thereby shares a commitment to the closer integration of historical and sociological method. Their more specific questions and interests are unpacked below.

Nordic Journal of Science and Technology Studies is an open access, fully peer reviewed journal, distributed online (www.nordicsts.org). We publish twice a year and are dedicated to providing authors with a high quality publication process through solid and constructive peer review within a reasonable period of time. We publish empirical or theoretical work in, or engaging with, STS, as well as essays, interviews and book reviews, and are open to other more innovative genres. For scholars from universities who cover the costs we have recently began charging a modest fee for the processing of peer-reviewed articles, in order to be able to keep our publication open and free to the public. We would be happy to receive your manuscript suggestions, so please get in touch! Before we continue our shameless sales pitch, however, how did we end up here?

The Workshop ‘Social Studies of the Economy in Latin America’ examined economic life in Latin America from a close-up STS perspective. In particular, it engaged ethnographic and historical perspectives on assemblages of lateral epistemic objects, that is, objects which play a critical but relatively humble role in making the economies of the region, e.g. indexes, databases, news and regulatory figures.

What does it mean to make science more public, open or accountable? How is ‘the public’ imagined and constituted? How does this relate to challenges of legitimacy and moderation in politics and policymaking? These questions have been explored by ‘Making Science Public’, a five-year research programme (2012-2017) funded by the Leverhulme Trust and based at the University of Nottingham in collaboration with the Universities of Sheffield and Warwick. The End of Award Conference on 22 June showcased findings from across the programme’s nine projects and two doctoral studentships, and considered implications for the future. While contemporary configurations of science, politics and publics show instances of promise, imagination, and experimentation, further work is needed to (re-)build institutions, conditions and capacities for public reason(ing) and political accountability.

In March 2016, the Department of Sociology and the Centre for Science Studies at Lancaster University hosted its 6th annual Postgraduate Science and Technology Studies Conference. The annual conference reflects the interdisciplinary and engaged nature of STS work in the North West. The event provides an opportunity for postgraduate students to present their work in a supportive and engaging atmosphere and brings together researchers to create one of the annual forums to discuss STS related concerns. For the second year, the organisers invited students working in STS from the University of Manchester and the University of Liverpool as well. Our hope is that this event will continue to develop productive links between STS scholars in the North West of England and beyond.