easst awards

The tension between the recognition of individual achievement and the appreciation of collective contribution is a long-observed dilemma of the academic endeavour. Although there is some evidence in the wider knowledge system of a shift toward team efforts and greater collaboration, the institutional career reward system has increasingly favoured individually authored publication outputs as the prime measure of performance. This is accompanied by a growing tendency toward competitive point-scoring between institutions.

As an organisation representing a broad collection of professional scholars and researchers, the EASST Council believes there is a need to restore a healthier balance within the reward system between individual achievement and collective contribution. There is a need to recognise more explicitly significant types of collaboration or leadership that have contributed to the cohesion of, and community within, our field. In order to do this a new range of EASST awards was launched in 2012 designed to reward outstanding activities, which have significantly developed interactions between individuals and resulted in novel and influential collaborative results. There is a significant potential for STS scholarship in Europe to influence politics and public dialogue, which is not sufficiently exploited. The creation of awards can help to remedy this by creating more visibility of STS insights.

The three awards were named in honour of individuals who are no longer with us, yet have left an enduring imprint on our distinctive European scholarly identity over the last 30 years. The awards, however, are not exclusively intended for single individuals but can also be given to an organization, a community or a group of people.