[Seminar] Making sense of science in contemporary societies

Seminar

Title: Making sense of science in contemporary societies

Speaker:  Pierre Delvenne

Affiliation: University of Liège, SPIRAL Research Centre

Abstract:

In advanced technological societies, new scientific developments create promises and expectations, but also entail great uncertainty with regard to societal impacts. New genetic testing, biobanks, digitized work environments, 3D printed tissues or high-level radioactive waste produce ethical, societal and legal challenges that require both (1) engaging in an imaginative dialogue between science, policy, and society and (2) developing institutionalized mechanisms to politically assess the outcomes of science and technology in society. This presentation will first rely on four decades of contributions from social studies of science and technology (STS) to examine the conditions of possibility of a fruitful dialogue to make sense of, and govern science in contemporary societies. With numerous examples, it will address scientific and technological production in its political, economic, social and cultural dimensions. The various postures of social science — critical to new forms of participatory or “embarked” research — will also be discussed.
Second, with a specific focus on Technology Assessment processes, the presentation will address a series of tools for socio-political understanding of the major changes that currently affect the relationship between science, policy and society. Salient questions will be considered, such as, for example: Is scientific and technological development a force beyond human control, or can it be governed? Can only scientists judge the value of scientific research programs or the validity of scientific results? How practices of sense-making and governance of science can they be reconciled?

Speaker's biography:
Pierre Delvenne holds a PhD in Political and Social Sciences of the University of Liège. He is currently Research Associate of the Fund for Scientific Research (FNRS) and Lecturer at the University of Liège (Department of Political Science), where he coordinates the research unit in science, technology and society at the SPIRAL research centre.
His current project is about the co-production of new technologies and politico-economic orders, with a focus on biotechnologies and 3D printing technologies. Pierre has published extensively in his areas of
expertise: Technology Assessment, bioeconomy in Europe and Latin America, regulation and development of biotechnologies and, more broadly, science and technology in society. Previously he was a visiting Research Fellow in King's College University (United Kingdom), Harvard University (USA), Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (Brazil), Universidad de Quilmes (Argentina) and University of Westminster (United Kingdom). Pierre is also a founding member of the Belgian Network for Science and Technology in Society Studies (BSTS).

A cycle of seminars entitled “Making sense of Science in policy-making” will take place in ITQB. It will be organized under the European project PACITA (Parliaments and Civil Society in Technology Assessment),  is a four-year EU financed Action Plan (FP7), aimed at supporting knowledge-based policy-making on issues involving science, technology and innovation.

Science and technology intersect with countless areas of public policy.
Take for example, the debate over privacy and the use of genetic data; funding for embryonic stem cell research as a major political issue; debate over the reality and extent of climate change; etc. Discussion of these issues often turns back to a common set of questions about the relationship between science and policy. Is scientific and technological development a force beyond human control or can it be governed? Can only scientists judge the value of scientific research programs or the validity of scientific results? How can practices of sense-making and governance of science be reconciled?

Speakers with different backgrounds, experiences and views will be invited to discuss the relationship between science and policy and also to introduce the concept of Technology Assessment as a tool that can contribute to policy-making on science and technology.