VIU International PhD Academy

1st edition, 8-15 January 2016

Science & Technology Studies (STS) is an interdisciplinary field, bringing together sociology, history, philosophy, sociology and related social science and humanities approaches. STS looks at science and technology (S&T) as a means of asking about the creation of facts, technological objects, and scientific knowledge, examining the ways in which S&T are embedded in social life. Rather than rely on common tropes about technological and scientific progress, STS nuances and questions this premise by asking questions like: how did/do scientists and engineers establish and maintain the credibility of their claims? In what way are such claims tied up with broader aspects of culture, as well as more local traditions, and how do technical claims become enmeshed in how our society operates? Ultimately, STS provides a way to critically engage technical claims while retaining a researcher’s own critical detachment from the claims of scientists and engineers. These claims can be far-reaching, engaging not only classical studies of technology, scientific laboratories, and production of scientific knowledge, but also examines issues around innovation, intellectual property, urban study, technological risks, intersection between art and science, and myriad other domains.

Seminars with invited speakers to provide the students with an overview of the possibilities that exist both within or outside academics, for example:  journal editors, eminent scientists working outside of academia (in private research institutes, government labs, etc.), consultants, patent and intellectual property experts, scientists who have spun off companies, science journalists.