Researchers from different universities and research centres in Catalonia, including the UAB, have created the Catalan Association of Science and Technology Studies (STS-CAT). The official presentation will take place on 28 February at 9:30 a.m. at the Barcelona Research Residence. The inaugural lecture will be given by Wiebe E. Bijker, one of the leading thinkers in this field.
STS-CAT was created as a platform for academics, professionals and citizens interested in exploring the interactions between science, technology and society. Its aim is to contribute to give visibility and relevance to science and technology studies (STS) both in academia and society at large.
The new association is formed by an interdisciplinary team of professionals and academics from different universities committed to the creation of an active and collaborative community. Its activities include the organisation of conferences, seminars, publications and educational programmes, as well as the promotion of the influence of science and technology studies on public policy.
UAB lecturers Joan Moyà, from the Department of Social Psychology, and Òscar Coromina, from the Department of Audiovisual Communication and Advertising, are members of the STS-CAT board of directors as secretary and treasurer, respectively. They are joined by Eduard Aibar (Arts & Humanities Studies, UOC), who assumes the position of president; Nuria Vallès (researcher at the Artificial Intelligence Research Institute - CSIC), who is the vice-president, and Violeta Argudo (Department of Anthropology, UB), Enrique Baleriola (Department of Social Psychology, UAB), Rosana Ramírez (Department of Social Psychology, UAB) and Marina Prat (Hospital Clínic de Barcelona Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer, IDIBAPS), who will act as members.
Conference by Wiebe E. Bijker and round table
The presentation event will feature an inaugural lecture by researcher Wiebe E. Bijker, one of the leading thinkers in this field. Professor Bijker is one of the fathers of STS at international level and one of the main exponents of the theory on the social construction of technologies. Bijker studies the relationship between the development of technology and society, the impact of the emergence of new technologies on democracy, and how it can lead to the emergence of a new social order.
Bijker is engineer, philosopher and holds a PhD in Sociology and History of Technology from the University of Twente (The Netherlands). He is currently a consultant to the Dutch government as an expert on the relationship between democracy and technology and is co-author of the books The Social Construction of Technological Systems: New Directions in the Sociology and History of Technology (1987) and Shaping Technology / Building Society Studies in Sociotechnical Change (1992), landmark works that mark the beginning of the sociology of technology.
The lecture will be followed by a round table entitled "STS in Action" on different research studies related tot he current STS practices existing in Catalonia. It will include the participation of Blanca Callén (Department of Social Psychology, UAB), Israel Rodríguez (UOC), Ismael Ràfols (Ingenio CSIC-UPV & Univ Leiden) and Vincenzo Pavone (IPP-CSIC), and moderated by the vice-president of the STS-CAT, Núria Vallès (IIIA-CSIC).
The closing speech will be given by Miquel Domènech (UAB), lecturer from the Department of Social Psychology and the Institute for the History of Science at the UAB.
Attendance is free, but prior registration in required:
