Wind up: ways forward for ISSTI? 2013 ISSTI Retreat Wind up: ways forward for ISSTI? Professor Robin Williams Director Institute for the Study of Science, Technology and Innovation

STS marches on? Continued development of concepts perfomativity; promissory work, anticipation application in new technoscientific fields STS concepts extended to understand Monitoring & policy formation/implementation How technologies of markets – and markets for technology – are constructed Infrastructures – sociomateriality over extended time & space Affordances of expertise How traditional and scientific knowledge combined (or not) Interesting to see STS concepts moving out eg to understand sociology of markets, or SY work on policy implementaiton. Already a full array of research – eg yesterday – technology of markets and markets for technology are constructed Continual renewal of theoretical base – reworking of work on performativity, on assessment on sociology of promise

Disciplinary configurations New foci of research activity - bring more complex disciplinary configurations Law School - intellectual property, regulation (Mason Institute; SCRIPT and CREATe) Edinburgh College of Art – design, architecture Increasing activity of Business School, international development, Public Health Interdisciplinary research funding eg from EPSRC, RAEng for ‘deep’ collaborations with science, engineering and medicine New coordination challenges Epistemological challenges cannot presume central position for science and technology studies perspectives Very rich intellectual context – STS has powerful tools Building our knowledge in tandem and for ourselves

Disciplinary configurations One specific issue that we may debate this year: What is the relationship between science and technology studies and innovation studies? (and related work in area of science and technology policy, technology management) Mutual benefit or mutual incomprehension ? Edinburgh unusually combines diverse traditions here Discussing an international network with other centres that share this broad orientation received history of STS – need history of STSs There are other dividing forces – often tacit covert baggage of strands of analysis – methods, concepts, narrative commitments, culture

Upcoming Grand Challenges? Big data, knowledge and information infrastructures Dynamics of e-science/open science Data in biomedical research New business and work models Digital Social Research The Brain programme: The next post-genomics edgy technoscience? ???? Our priorities driven by public anxieties and where we can trade upon them

Organisation of ISSTI ISSTI success as network of networks Deliberately lightweight, flexible organisational form Linking together various different nodes to identify mutual synergies - without undue coordination costs Involve gatekeepers from each of these nodes – to identify/exploit opportunities Newsletter, webpage, PhD students group – other fora?

Thanks are due to: STIS for co-funding this event Anne Valentine and Geraldine Debard for careful assistance in sorting out all the arrangements Valeri for photography An excellent array of speakers and panel organisers and especially our guast speaker: Trevor Pinch and of course the pandas Can I propose a quick round of applause

A quick round of applause