Eurograd message

                Dear all,
<br>
<br>after several requests to postpone the deadline of the call for 
<br>abstracts for the conference 8th STS Italia Conference "DIS/ENTANGLING 
<br>TECHNOSCIENCE: vulnerability, responsibility and justice", and taking 
<br>into account that the current deadline falls on Sunday, we decided a 
<br>*deadline extension until Thursday 31st  October 2019*. The further 
<br>timeline holds unchanged.
<br>
<br>Below you may find the call for abstract, also available at the 
<br>conference website: https://www.stsitaliaconf2020.com/
<br>
<br>We hope this can be helpful for everybody.
<br>
<br>Best wishes,
<br>
<br>Assunta Viteritti, Simone Arnaldi & Stefano Crabu (the board of STS Italia)
<br>
<br>******
<br>
<br>*/Dis/Entangling Technoscience:
<br>/*
<br>
<br>*/Vulnerability, Responsibility and Justice/**/
<br>/*
<br>
<br>*/8/**/^th /**/STS/**//**/Italia/**//**/Conference,/**/University of 
<br>Trieste, Italy, 18–20 June 2020
<br>/*
<br>
<br>CALLFORTRACKS
<br>
<br>The *8th STS Italia Conference* will be held in *Trieste, Italy, 18 to 
<br>20 June 2020*, by the Italian Society of Science and Technology Studies, 
<br>in collaboration with the Department of Political and Social Sciences of 
<br>the University of Trieste.
<br>
<br>We are now inviting proposals for tracks. The selected tracks will be 
<br>subsequently included as part of the formal call for papers. The 
<br>submitted tracks are meant to engage with the general theme of the 
<br>conference: “*Dis/Entangling Technoscience: Vulnerability, 
<br>Responsibility and Justice*”.
<br>
<br>This major theme refers to the complex and ambivalent role of 
<br>technoscience and innovation in constituting societies – making 
<br>possibilities flourish, but also creating new vulnerabilities. The 
<br>emergence of new, severe forms of labour exploitation through digital 
<br>platforms and algorithms, the risk of massive and hidden surveillance 
<br>practices and the related commodification of personal information, the 
<br>emergence of novel forms of genetic discrimination in the context of 
<br>genomic medicine and the public unease with and controversy over the 
<br>public accountability of expert communities are just some of the most 
<br>well known and vivid examples of the epistemic and biopolitical 
<br>importance of re-considering technoscience in the context of justice and 
<br>vulnerability.
<br>
<br>Indeed, in societies intensely shaped by technoscience, vulnerability – 
<br>the exposure to harm and the susceptibility to subsequent loss – can be 
<br>understood as an emergent property of the relationships between human 
<br>actors and material objects, technological artefacts and infrastructures 
<br>and social processes and structures. However, the effects of these 
<br>processes (the levels, intensities and types of vulnerabilities) are 
<br>unevenly distributed and closely interconnected in space and time and 
<br>across different social worlds. Such an unequal distribution points to 
<br>the underlying, fundamental question of justice in a “technologically 
<br>dense society”. More broadly, it refers to exploring the reasons for 
<br>this vulnerability, addressing topics such as the forms and sources of 
<br>power and participation, the limits of control and epistemic 
<br>uncertainty, the expectations, representations and interests of the 
<br>social actors and the (often assumed) neutrality of scientific knowledge 
<br>and technology. It refers to examining how responsibilities for this 
<br>state of affairs are defined and assigned, addressing topics such as 
<br>models of governance and regulation, ethics and values, hegemony and 
<br>contestation and discourse and legitimation. For these reasons, justice 
<br>and responsibility in technologically dense societies not only represent 
<br>an important research object for science and technology studies and 
<br>other related fields, but their exploration is also a way to assert the 
<br>civic commitment of the STS community itself.
<br>
<br>The conference will welcome empirical and theoretical contributions 
<br>addressing diverse aspects of the social study of science, technology 
<br>and innovation from different disciplines and fields, such as 
<br>anthropology, economics, design, history, law, philosophy, political 
<br>science, psychology, semiotics and sociology.
<br>
<br>*Track proposals should be submitted* via email to the organising 
<br>committee, , *by 31 
<br>October 2019*. Along with traditional *academic sessions*, the 
<br>submission of alternative formats is encouraged. These can include (but 
<br>are not limited to) roundtables, *workshop-style sessions, theatrical 
<br>debates*, and other *performances*. Applicants are encouraged to engage 
<br>with the general theme of the conference.
<br>
<br>We welcome proposals covering a wide variety of topics and domains, 
<br>including (but not limited to) the following:
<br>
<br>● Co-creation in science and technology
<br>● Communication, media and digital technologies
<br>● Critical perspectives on consumption practices
<br>● Design practices in and outside of official/conventional research and 
<br>development settings
<br>● Coping with vulnerability in and through education
<br>● Engaging art in technoscience
<br>● Environmental sustainability, adaptation and resilience
<br>● Expectations, promises and visions of science, technology and innovation
<br>● Forms and practices of public participation and engagement
<br>● The gender–technology relationship
<br>● Grassroots innovations for sustainable development
<br>● Hackerspaces, makerspaces and DIY centres
<br>● Information infrastructures and infrastructuring practices
<br>● Platforms, algorithms and the organisation of society
<br>● Political economy of science, technology and innovation
<br>● Medical practices and the public shaping of biomedical research
<br>● Postcolonial technoscience: science and technology in non-Western 
<br>countries
<br>● Responsibility in science and innovation
<br>● Science, technology and innovation policy
<br>● Work, organisation and technology
<br>
<br>Submissions for thematic tracks should be written in Italian or English 
<br>using the template available in attachment**and at the following link: < 
<br>bit.ly/2krHKE0  >. They should include a short 
<br>description of the proposed theme (max. 400 words) and information about 
<br>the convenors (max. 50 words for each convenor, including email 
<br>addresses). Convenors will be notified of track acceptance by 18 
<br>November 2019.
<br>
<br>Convenors will independently set session topics and organise each track 
<br>according to the numerical constraints specified by the conference 
<br>organisers. Convenors who consider an abstract interesting but not 
<br>suited to their thematic track will be free to redirect the abstract to 
<br>the scientific board for submission to another track. If a track draws 
<br>fewer than three abstracts, the scientific board will decide whether to 
<br>run the track or merge it with another track.
<br>
<br>*IMPORTANT* *DATES*
<br>
<br>  * October 31, 2019: Deadline for track submission
<br>  * November 18, 2019: Notification of track acceptance or rejection
<br>  * November 25, 2019: Conference announced with a call for abstracts
<br>  * February 9, 2020: Deadline for abstract submission
<br>  * March 2, 2020: Notification of abstract acceptance or rejection
<br>  * March 29, 2020: Early registration deadline
<br>  * April 19, 2020: Closing date for registration
<br>  * May 24, 2020: Publication of the final conference programme
<br>  * June 18–20, 2020: Conference
<br>
<br>/-----------------------------/
<br>
<br>/Download the "Call for Track 
<br>"/
<br>
<br>/Download the "Template " for submitting thematic 
<br>tracks /
<br>
<br>/CONTACTS: *stsitaliaconf@gmail.com 
<br>*/
<br>
<br>*SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE*
<br>
<br>Simone Arnaldi (University of Trieste)
<br>Attila Bruni (University of Trento)
<br>Stefano Crabu (Politecnico di Milano)
<br>Marina Maestrutti (Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne)
<br>Paolo Magaudda (University of Padova)
<br>Federico Neresini (University of Padova)
<br>Giuseppina Pellegrino (University of Calabria)
<br>Manuela Perrotta (Queen Mary University of London)
<br>Sara Tonolo (University of Trieste)
<br>Assunta Viterriti (The Sapienza University of Rome)
<br>Paolo Volonté (Politecnico di Milano
<br>
<br>****
<br>
<br>***
<br>
<br>FURTHER INFO:https://www.stsitaliaconf2020.com/**
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