Eurograd message

                Dear Colleagues,
<br>
<br>we would like to draw the attention of all STS scholars working in 
<br>German Institutions to the lunch meeting at the EASST2018 meeting in 
<br>Lancaster on
<br>
<br>*Thursday 26th 12:30-14:00 hrs in the "Markedplace" in the County South 
<br>Building at Lancaster University*
<br>
<br>The meeting aims at taking the first step towards forming a German 
<br>Association for the Studies of Science & Technology (deSTS). Suggestions 
<br>will be collected about which areas and formats to mobilize to reach 
<br>this aim. The meeting furthermore aims at gathering the people 
<br>interested in contributing to transforming the ideas into action.
<br>
<br>Below, you'll find further information about the background and ideas.
<br>
<br>Any STS scholar not attending the EASST2018 meeting is encouraged to 
<br>e-mail their reactions/ideas/expressions of interest to 
<br>estrid.sorensen@rub.de
<br>
<br>All best,
<br>
<br>Tanja Bogusz (Kassel), Endre Danyi (Frankfurt), Tahani Nadin (Berlin), 
<br>Jörg Niewöhner (Berlin), Martin Reinhardt (Berlin), Martina Schlünder 
<br>(MPIWG), Estrid Sørensen (Bochum)
<br>
<br>
<br>*deSTS e.V.*
<br>
<br>*Preamble*
<br>
<br>This initiative is a platform-in-becoming, a network connecting 
<br>like-minded STS groups and scholars.
<br>
<br>The objective is a) to foster the production of interdisciplinary, 
<br>international, explorative and reflexive knowledge in the area of 
<br>science and technology – knowledge that is good to think with and invent 
<br>around; and b) to create better visibility and appreciation of STS in 
<br>the academic landscape, with funding agencies and with political bodies 
<br>in Germany and beyond.
<br>
<br>Germany has a strong tradition in the study of science and technology 
<br>and is home to different groupings dedicated to and active in this area. 
<br>Their contributions have been central to the recent noticeable increase 
<br>in institutional and scholarly interest in STS in Germany. Our 
<br>initiative owes its formation to this work, and it is our intention to 
<br>support this diversity and nourish partial connections. Together with 
<br>existing associations, deSTS Germany aims at collectively establishing 
<br>STS as a generative and integral element within national and 
<br>international research.
<br>
<br>We believe that this is best done through shared intellectual practices 
<br>that grow and unfold beyond single acts of representation.
<br>
<br>*What is STS?*
<br>
<br>STS is an umbrella term for a set of thought styles and research 
<br>practices that strive to better understand and intensify informed 
<br>engagement with the complex dynamics of science and technology. The 
<br>cornerstones of STS are interdisciplinarity, international scholarship, 
<br>exploration and reflexivity. We value STS as an open scientific 
<br>community that thrives on generative tensions with established 
<br>scientific disciplines.
<br>
<br>*Scope*
<br>
<br>Since the late 1970s, STS has been enormously successful in 
<br>demonstrating the historical and socio-material contingency of 
<br>scientific knowledge and technology. It has grown internationally into a 
<br>sizeable community of scholars. Its seminal works have found their way 
<br>into many disciplines. Even though STS has not departed from its 
<br>originally strong emphasis on constructivism, the challenge for STS 
<br>today is to develop research practices that care for and engage with de- 
<br>and reconfigurations of science and technology in society.
<br>
<br>Advances of this ethos will likely come from heterogeneous sources: from 
<br>experimental and explorative forms to new forms of digital and 
<br>quantifying methods. Key will be the close and continuous exchange with 
<br>the disciplines that currently shape the phenomena we study: natural and 
<br>life sciences; economics, politics, and governance; planning and design; 
<br>law, informatics and engineering.
<br>
<br>We thus suggest the following scope for deSTS:
<br>
<br>The German Association for the Studies of Science and Technology (deSTS) 
<br>is a scientific platform for all STS scholars dedicated to the 
<br>scientific study of the societal dynamics of science and technology in 
<br>all their aspects. The platform assembles empirical, conceptual, 
<br>experimental and exploratory social research and fosters practices of 
<br>co-laboration within and across disciplines. It also cultivates 
<br>exchanges beyond academia, with politics, enterprises and activists. 
<br>deSTS supports the diversity of intellectual practices.
<br>
<br>deSTS will represent its members nationally and internationally in 
<br>scientific, funding and political contexts. deSTS will support the 
<br>development of such practices through its annual meetings, 
<br>interdisciplinary panels, workshops and conference sessions, 
<br>publication-support networks, pre-submission support for funding 
<br>applications and other formats. In doing so, we seek to foreground the 
<br>need to nurture the craft of 'doing STS'.
<br>
<br>
<br>-- 
<br>Prof. Dr. Estrid Sørensen
<br>Faculty of Social Science
<br>Chair of Cultural Psychology and Anthropology of Knowledge
<br>Centre for Anthropological Knowledge in Scientific and Technological Cultures - CAST
<br>Ruhr-University Bochum
<br>Universitätsstr. 150
<br>44801 Bochum
<br>
<br>Building: FNO 02/15 and GB 04/149
<br>Tel.: +49-(0)234 32 27947
<br>Fax: +49-(0)234 32 14744
<br>Secretary: irene.scamoni-selcan@rub.de / +49 (0)234 32 - 28167
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