4S Mission

Fostering interdisciplinary and engaged scholarship in social studies of science, technology, and medicine across the globe.

Latest 4S News

Editor-in-Chief of Social Studies of Science - Call for Interest

Published On: Nov 20, 2023

Deadline: May 1, 2024

The journal Social Studies of Science (SSS) is inviting expressions of interest for the position of Editor-in-Chief. The aim is to have a new Editor-in-Chief (EiC) in place by September of 2024, to serve initially in collaboration with the current EiC, Sergio Sismondo, with the transition to be completed by September 2025.

2024 STS School in Singapore

Published On: Nov 6, 2023

Sponsored by Science, Technology, & Human Values (STHV), hosted by National University of Singapore & Singapore Management University, and with support from Sydney Southeast Asia Centre & Deakin Science and Society Network.

CFP for Thematic Collection on "Critical STS Pedagogy"

Published On: Oct 11, 2023

Deadline: Dec 5, 2023

The editors of Science, Technology, & Human Values and guest editors John Aggrey, Liora Goldensher, Marie Stettler Kleine, Christine Labuski, Jane Lehr, Cora Olson, Desen Ozkan, and Kari Zacharias are calling for short essays (up to 4,000 words max) for an upcoming Thematic Collection on Critical STS Pedagogy. Interested scholars should send proposals for full papers (200-250 word abstract, plus 100-150 word biographical note per author) to sthvjournal@gmail.com before December 5, 2023. We e...

4S Publications

Science, Technology, and Human Values

For more than forty years, Science, Technology, & Human Values has provided the forum for cutting-edge research and debate in the field of science and technology studies.

“This Is Not What I Signed up for”: Sociotechnical Imaginaries, Expectations, and Disillusionment in a Dutch Military Innovation Hub

Sofie van der Maarel

Science, Technology, & Human Values, Ahead of Print.
Many militaries envision a technologically advanced future with a strong innovative capability and therefore invest in so-called innovation hubs focused on experimenting...

Judging Importance before Checking Correctness: Quick Opinions in Mathematical Peer Review

Christian Greiffenhagen

Science, Technology, & Human Values, Ahead of Print.
Peer review has never been a uniform practice but is now more diverse than ever. Despite a vast literature, little is known of how different disciplines organize peer review....

Drawing Data Together: Inscriptions, Asylum, and Scripts of Security

Sarah Perret

Science, Technology, & Human Values, Ahead of Print.
Data have become a vital device of border governance and security. Recent scholarship on the datafication of borders and migration at the intersection of science and technology...

Intersectionality and Science and Technology Studies

Patrick R. Grzanka

Science, Technology, & Human Values, Ahead of Print.
Over the past thirty years, intersectionality has become a nearly ubiquitous framework for understanding, critiquing, and intervening in complex social inequalities. Emerging...

The Birth of Green Chemistry: A Political History

Laura Maxim

Science, Technology, & Human Values, Ahead of Print.
Few authors have investigated the origins of green chemistry (GC). Most literature relies on a narrative of its birth at the US Environmental Protection Agency in the 1990s...

Engaging Science, Technology and Society

Engaging Science, Technology, & Society is an online, open access publication of The Society for Social Studies of Science.

Towards Transnational STS

Published On: Aug 31 2023

Clément Dréano, Noela Invernizzi, Duygu Kaşdoğan, Ali Kenner, Angela Okune, Grant Jun Otsuki, Sujatha Raman, Tim Schütz, Federico Vasen, Amanda Windle, Emily York

Transnational dialogues in STS matter and are at the heart of ESTS, exemplified by this issue. Two Original Research Articles, the first by Luca Cspedes (2023) and the second co-authored by Gonalo Santos, Naubahar Sharif, and...

Sociolinguistic and Translingual Practices in the Discourse of Astronomers in Argentina

Published On: Feb 26 2023

Lucía Céspedes

This paper examines the sociolinguistic practices of a particular scientific and discourse community. To that end, I analyze seminars delivered by PhD students of astronomy at the Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Astronomy...

Translating STS in China: Disciplinary Struggles and Future Prospects

Published On: Feb 26 2023

Gonçalo D. Santos, Naubahar Sharif, Jack Linzhou Xing

This article analyzes a debate in Mainland China over how to designate and integrate the international field of STS (science and technology studies) in Chinese academia. Emerged at the turn of the millennium, this debate confirmed...

TRANSnationalizing STS: Places, Spaces, and Politics

Published On: Feb 23 2023

Duygu Kaşdoğan, Angela Okune

Why, how, and for whom does it matter to walk through, attend and attune to plural and complex STS places/spaces? By building on the STS Across Borders and Innovating STS exhibits held at 4S 2018 and 2019 meetings, this thematic...

4S Blog: Backchannels

Interference

James Merron
Nov 20, 2023
In this post, James Merron describes the tensions and contestations over registering, describing and organizing frequencies in the electromagnetic spectrum, based on his ethnographic experience at the Ghana Radio Astronomy Observatory (GRAO) just outside of Accra, Ghana.

Celebrating TrevorFest: Taking Trevor’s Legacy Forward

Amanda Domingues, Lissette Lorenz and Barkha Kagliwal
Nov 13, 2023
In this post, Amanda Domingues, Lissette Lorenz and Barkha Kagliwal take us to a weekend of reflection, recollection, and celebration of Trevor J. Pinch’s work, recounting his unique legacy in the field of STS.

STS and epidemiological scientific production using large databases in Brazil

Mariana Pitta Lima e Bethânia Almeida
Oct 30, 2023
In this post, Mariana Pitta Lima and Bethânia Almeida aim to explore initial reflections from an STS perspective on the production of science in epidemiology and data for health research in Brazil. They suggest that STS can deepen critical reflection on the production of research involving the relationship between population data and health outcomes in specific studies that explore how "the social" enacts on health and disease.

"We embody the revolt": report of a Brazilian participatory art experience inspired by the works of Hélio Oiticica

André Sarturi, Carolina Scartezini, Luiz Falcão & Rafa Novak
Oct 16, 2023
The power of embodied resistance is a major theme of this intriguing LARP initiative in Brazil, as reported by André Sarturi, Carolina Scartezini, Luiz Falcão & Rafa Novak

Backchannels content is contributed by our members to highlight news relevant to their work.

STS News

Items submitted by the community and emailed to members monthly.

Recent Member Publications - November 2023 update

Nov 20, 2023
Recent publications by 4S members. If you would like to feature a recent publication on a future edition of this monthly list, please use this form: https://members.4sonline.org/members/form.php?orgcode=4S&fid=5679535. Access is restricted to the 4S community.

DSI Excellence Program for PhDs – Scholarships available!

Nov 20, 2023
The Digital Society Initiative (DSI) offers an Excellence Program for new and prospective doctoral students at the University of Zurich (UZH) who are interested in digital transformation. As a complementary curriculum to a doctoral program, general doctorate or doctoral subject, it prepares students from all disciplines for an environment in which interdisciplinary collaboration on digitalization topics is a top priority. The program promotes interdisciplinary collaboration across all UZH Facult...

Joint ICOHTEC-SHOT 2024 Annual Meeting Viña del Mar (Chile), 9-14 July 2024

Nov 20, 2023
The technological environments we inhabit require continual repair and maintenance in order to function. Yet the people on whom such repairs rely—along with their knowledge and labor—too often remain unseen and undervalued, becoming visible only in cases of infrastructural breakdown or spectacular disaster. The routine invisibility of repair facilitates grand proclamations of technological solutionism, distracting from the requirements for living equitably in an increasingly fragment...

Bridge to Faculty Postdoctoral Research Associate – COMMUNICATION - University of Illinois Chicago

Nov 20, 2023
The Department of Communication at the University of Illinois at Chicago invites applications for a Bridge to Faculty Postdoctoral Research Associate specializing in AI and Minority Representation. The position focuses on the ways artificial intelligence engages in and impacts minority representation, conceived broadly. Areas of interest include algorithmic bias and oppression; AI and data justice; black box design; minority histories and cultures of computing, and other counters to deficit appr...