Workshop
Converging Science and Technologies: Research Trajectories and Institutional Settings
May 14-15 2007, Vienna, Austria
http://www.converging-technologies.org/
The converging technologies paradigm is gaining significance at the level of research programming and funding. Both at the European level and in several national environments, research is actively promoted that seeks solutions to key challenges in the fields of health, education, infrastructure and environment through innovations at the nanoscale and the synergistic combination of insights and techniques from different disciplines. In turn, this is leading to the emergence of new educational curricula and interdisciplinary specializations.
Is this indeed happening at a scale and mode that warrant expecting a major institutional re-engineering of contemporary S&T and a thematic re-orientation? This workshop will address this question by considering developments around four themes:
* the origins, visions and purpose of the converging technology paradigm(s)
* the public and private funding of research in the key nano-, bio, info- and cognitive science (NBIC) fields
* educational curricula and modern career paths in S&T
* media representations and public perceptions of converging technologies.
Location
FFG - Austrian Research Promotion Agency
Österreichische Forschungsförderungsgesellschaft m.b.H.
FFG, Sensengasse 1 (Ground Floor), A-1090 Vienna
Programme
Monday, 14 May 2007
10:30 - 12:30 Opening Panel
Moderator: Ronald J. Pohoryles, ICCR
Short presentation on the NBIC project
Jacquelyne Luce, Zeppelin University
followed by statements by
Raoul Kneucker, Member of the EU High-Level Group on Converging Technologies
Alfred Nordmann, Rapporteur of EU High-Level Group on Converging Technologies
Elie Faroult, DG-Research, European Commission (* to be confirmed)
Emmanuel Glenck, Austrian Research Promotion Agency FFG
Nico Stehr, Zeppelin University
12:30 - 14:00 Lunch break
Session I: Converging Science and Technology: Meanings and Paradigms
Chair: Liana Giorgi, ICCR
14:00 - 14:25 Diverging Convergences: Competing Meanings of Science and Technology Convergence in a Local Context and Implications for Research on Public Perceptions of Converging Technologies
Brice Laurent, Ecole des Mines de Paris & Harvard University
14:25 - 14:50 Is it All About Human Nature? The Challenges of the Metaphysical
Research Programme of NBIC and the Question of an Ethics beyond
Risk Assessment
Arianna Ferrari, TU Darmstadt
14:50 - 15:15 NBIC Interdisciplinarity: A Framework for a Critical Reflection on Inter- and Transdisciplinarity of the NBIC Scenario
Jan Schmidt, Georgia Institute of Technology
15:15 - 16:00 Discussion
16:00 - 16:30 Coffee break
16:30 - 16:55 Identity Work in Nanotechnology; Strategies of Institutional Settings
Monika Kurath and Mario Kaiser, University of Basel
16:55 - 17:20 The Societal Dimensions of Nanotechnology: A Comparative Analysis
and Critique
Josephine Johnston, The Hastings Centre
17:20 - 17:45 Converging Technologies. Visions and Real Developments in Science
and Technology
Bernd Beckert and Michael Friedewald, ISI Karlsruhe
17:45 - 18:30 Discussion
20:00 - 22:00 Dinner for paper-givers and project participants
Tuesday, 15 May 2007
Session II: Converging Science and Technology - Institutional Contexts
Chairs: Nico Stehr, Zeppelin University & Steve Fuller, University of Warwick
09:00 - 09:25 Converging Epistemic Cultures? Scientific Cultures of Non-Knowledge
Karen Kastenhofer, University of Augsburg
09:25 - 09:50 Converging Institutions. Shaping Relationships between Nanotechnologies, Economy and Society
Ingrid Ott and Christian Papilloud, University of Lueneburg
09:50 - 10:15 What Convergence is in the Cards for Future Scientists?
Gregor Wolbring, University of Calgary, Alberta
10:15 - 11:00 Discussion
11:00 - 11:15 Coffee break
11:15 - 11:40 Traditional University Organization and the Emergence of New Technological Fields: Cambridge University and the Rise of Biotechnology
Jong Simcha, University College London
11:40 - 12:05 Mapping bio-nanotechnology as Dynamics of Research Specialties
rather than Disciplinary and Technological Convergence
Ismael Rafols and Martin Meyer, University of Sussex, UK
12:05 - 12:30 Material Transfer Agreements and Policy Implications. Strategies for Research Materials in Biotechnology
Victor Rodriguez, Koenraad Debackere. University of Leuven
12:30 - 13:00 Discussion
13:00 - 14:00 Lunch break
Session III: Media Representations, Public and Popular Perceptions of Converging Technologies
Chairs: Jaqueline Luce, Zeppelin University & Liana Giorgi, ICCR
14:00 - 14:25 The Role of the Media in the Innovation System - the Case of Converging Technologies
Susanne Giesecke, ARCS Systems Research.
14:25 - 14:50 On Boundaries, Definitions and New Fields. Converging Technologies in the Italian Daily Press 2002-2006
Simone Arnaldi, University of Trieste & Gabriele Häbich, University of Rome
14:50 - 15:15 Converging Technologies in Science Fiction
Thomas Michaud, University of Paris I, Sorbonne.
15:15 - 15:40 Converging Technologies; An Analysis for Technology Assessment
Karel Mulder, Delft University of Technology.
15:40 - 16:10 Discussion
16:10 - 16:30 Coffee break
16:30 - 16:55 Beauty or the Beast? Nanotechnology within Public Discussion on a new Healthcare Technology
Fionagh Thomson, PEALS
16:55 - 17:20 The Challenge to Deliberative Systems of Technological Systems Convergence
Jim Whitman, Bradford University
17:20 - 18:00 General Discussion
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