Once again, SFIS had a successful presence at the EASST/4S 2020 conference. Several students, faculty and alumni presented at the August conference, which took place virtually due to COVID-19. The theme this year was “Locating and Timing Matters: Significance and agency of STS in emerging worlds.” Participants examined world changes over the past four years, and how changes that generate feelings of urgency and powerlessness make research relevant to wider academic and non-academic publics.
“Having the opportunity to meet and engage with scholars from all over the world has expanded my view of my own work and the field as a whole,” said Anna Muldoon, conference participant and Human and Social Dimensions of Science and Technology PhD student. “I would strongly encourage students of all levels to engage with the presentations and scholars at 4S to see the breadth of approaches possible within STS.”
SFIS faculty and students also took part in the Making & Doing program in which 4S members share scholarly practices of participation, engagement and intervention that go beyond standard presentation formats. Assistant Professor Lauren Withycombe-Keeler and HSD students presented “Emoji technology assessment: experiments in sociotechnical engagement,” and Assistant Professor Christy Spackman and the Emerge events team presented “Making Food Futures Accessible Across Ages: Emerge 2020 – Eating at the Edges.”
While the virtual format offered a new set of challenges, students who participated found ways to make the best of it.
“Conferences can be a chance to step away from your day-to-day and get inspired,” said Chris Barton, Innovation in Global Development PhD student. “That’s hard to do with online conferences – but I dont think it’s impossible. It just takes extra planning. Pretend you’re actually leaving. Cancel everything else. Put an out of office response on your email. Actually focus on the conference and make it your priority.”
SFIS presentations at EASST/4S 2020 conference:
- “Mapping Capacity for Public Engagement in Anti-Pipeline Coalition Networks” – Assistant Professor Kirk Jalbert
- “Uplifting Technological Appropriation: Reflecting on the integration of sociotechnical ideas” – HSD Student Martin Andrés Perez Comisso
- “Clocking Value in the Bioeconomy” – Alumna Tess Doezema
- “Science and Technology as a Global Challenge: Evaluation of Attitudes and Notes from the course “Global Innovations” – HSD Students Octavio Mucino-Hernandez and Martin Andrés Perez Comisso, Assistant Professor Lindsay Smith, Clinical Associate Professor Mary Jane Parmentier
- “Emeryville is Weird:” Cosmopolitics of Urban Renewal in San Francisco Bay Area’s Biotech Corridor” HSD Student Annie Hammang
- “Visualizing Perspectives on Arizona Helium Extraction” – HSD Student Noa Bruhis, Assistant Professor Kirk Jalbert
- “Communicating Coronavirus: Public Panic and Rapid Response” HSD Student Anna Muldoon
- “From Affect to Action: Choices in Attending to Disconcertment in Interdisciplinary Collaborations” – Associate Professor Erik Fisher
- “Theorizing from Monstrous Flesh: On Sex Offenders, Data and Personhood” – Affiliate Faculty Jenny Brian
- “Yucky today, okay tomorrow? The embodied rationality of rejecting recycled water in spite of Arizona’s water crisis” – Assistant Professor Christy Spackman
- “Ambiguous & Wicked: Integrating energy, adaptation, and climate Intervention governance” – Professor of Practice Elisabeth Graffy
- “Migrant Technologies: On the Border of Security and Human Rights” – Assistant Professor Lindsay Smith
- “Towards A Critical Medical STS – I: Challenging Hegemonic Ideas in Biomedical Establishment” – Session Organizer: SFIS Alumna Rebecca Monteleone
- “Institutional interdependencies and resilience” – SFIS Alumnus Changdeok Gim, Professor Clark Miller
- “How to “make a better world” for humans with technologies?” – Session Organizer: HSD Student Martín Perez Comisso
- “Reciprocal Social Innovation – Reimaging university service learning enterprises” – HSD Student Joshua Loughman
- “Connecting The Logic Of Scientific Inquiry With The Logic Of Local Government Action” – IGD Student Chris Barton
- “Towards A Critical Medical STS – II: Perspectives Of the Body In Biomedicine” – Session Organizer: SFIS Alumna Rebecca Monteleone