April 21, 2015, by Warren Pearce

Call for papers: Democratising science and technology policy in times of austerity

Myself and Sarah Hartley are convening a panel entitled ‘Democratising science and technology policy in times of austerity’ at the Policy and Politics conference in Bristol on September 15-16th. We invite abstracts (300 words) before the deadline of May 1st, with a particular interest in papers which straddle the boundary between STS and public policy.

Go to the Policy and Politics website for more details about the conference and the submission procedure. For informal enquiries, please feel free to email me or Sarah.

PANEL ABSTRACT:

“In the efforts to rebuild the UK economy, science has assumed increasing power based on the belief that economic growth requires continual advances in science and technology. The UK Government argues that science is the ‘bedrock of our economic future’ and selected ‘eight great technologies’ to stimulate growth and establish the UK as a global leader. In this context, the links between science and economic growth need to be scrutinised and scientific developments better aligned with societal needs.

One response has been the democratisation of science and technology policy to empower a broader range of voices whose values go beyond economic growth, e.g. through up-stream public engagement, ‘responsible innovation’ and stakeholder engagement in European risk assessment. We invite papers that examine efforts to democratise science, particularly where it takes place in traditionally expert domains. We welcome papers that attempt to link the Science, Technology and Society and policy literatures.”

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