The Institute for Science and Society is involved in the new Interdisciplinary Research Priority Area EcoSocieties which studies ecological transitions in our societies and approaches social issues from an ecological perspective. This transdisciplinary research initiative transcends disciplinary boundaries to engage technoscience and society for creating novel approaches and alternatives to current environmental issues.
EcoSocieties examines the socio-political, cultural and scientific making of an environmentally conscious remaking of our societies and combines a variety of methods and approaches from science, engineering, social science and the humanities to analyse and design ecological transitions.
ISS is part of an exciting new collaboration with Sheffield, Leeds and York universities. We will be working with the research centre iHuman and the Science, Technology and Medicine in Society (STeMiS) group, University of Sheffield, the Centre for Health, Technologies and Social Practice (CHTSP), University of Leeds and the Science and Technology Studies Unit (SATSU), University of York.
Our plans include a mobile seminar series rotating around each of our four Universities and an International Summer School in 2020. See our events page for details about future activities and follow us all on Twitter for more STS news from our four cities: @NottmSTS, @thespleeds, @ihumansheff, @UoY_SATSU
ISS is committed to engaging and collaborative research interventions and we will be starting a series of activities to explore how our research can have a transformative impact in the fields we are studying.
We aim to involve Science and Technology Studies (STS) in issues that matter to us and we are planning a series of events and collaborations to explore this challenge. The first event in this series took place at the University of Nottingham in 2019.
ISS is leading an interdisciplinary conversation about Responsible Research and Innovation at the University of Nottingham and beyond. We have set up an RRI network to develop shared understandings and practices of RRI from different perspectives and disciplines. ISS is also leading in the provision of cross-disciplinary training that supports research students and early career researchers in the sciences.
Together with the Graduate School, we are developing a number of courses for EPSRC funded CDTs that explore the social, ethical, regulatory and cultural questions that emerge from the processes and products of scientific and technological innovation.
This Leverhulme funded research programme investigates a series of questions on the relationship between science, politics and publics: What are the challenges involved in making science public, in making public science, in making science in public, in making science more public, and finally in making science private? How are such activities changing science and society, and what are the normative implications for problems relating to political legitimacy, scientific authority and democratic participation?
Gene drive communication: On bombs and bullets
In a recent article for Scientific American, the zoologist and author of a recent book on the history of genetic engineering, Matthew Cobb, lays out the pros and cons of ‘gene drive’. Gene drive is a new genetic technology that could be used to wipe out whole species of insects that transmit, for example, malaria. ...
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Artificial intelligence, dark matter and common sense
In my last post I wrote about a new type of deep learning network, the chatbot ChatGPT, which has stirred up a lot of debate, including between me and my sister. We were skyping and I mentioned the blog post and she said: “Oh, I have just read something in the New York Times that ...
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Institute for Science and SocietySchool of Sociology and Social PolicyLaw and Social SciencesUniversity of NottinghamUniversity Park Nottingham, NG7 2RD