Policy Practices and Emerging Technologies
Panel Chairs:
Matthew Kearnes, University of Durham, m.b.kearnes@durham.ac.uk
Heidrun Huber, University of Vienna, heidrun.huber@univie.ac.at
Discussant
Herbert Gottweis, Department of Political Science, University of Vienna
Abstract
What is collectively known as 'science policy' has become one of the most significant sites at which contemporary modes of governing are both enacted and reproduced. The relationship between policy and research practice is both contingent and dynamic. Science policy might therefore be characterized as the circulation of discourse, ideas, imaginaries and arguments at the interface between science and politics. Central to this problem is the emergence of new technoscientific research programmes as well as the rise of new regulatory narratives and policy practices dealing with emerging technologies - associated with, for example, stem-cells, nanotechnology and synthetic biology. In this context contemporary approaches to the governance of science increasingly speak of 'setting the conditions' for innovation rather than directly coordinating support for new and emerging technologies.
This panel therefore seeks to engage in interpretive analyses of scientific and policy practices associated with emerging technologies. The panel will explore how discourse, ideas, imaginations and rhetorical strategies underpin the constitution of policy approaches to new and emerging technologies. Drawing on insights from both science and technology studies (STS) and critical policy analysis (CPA) the panel will explore the ways in which science policy instruments embody a range of competing demands regarding the roles and purposes of science and technology.
The panel will invite papers on the following themes:
- Analyses of policy approaches to the development of new technologies
- Case studies of new technologies such as nanotechnology, synthetic biology, biotechnology or environmental technologies as objects of government
- Critical analyses of new modes of scientific governance
