Announcement of the Workshop for PhD students organised by the Dutch Research School ‘Science, Technology and Modern Culture’ (WTMC)

Techno scientific Futures: Seeing Risks
and Creating Utopias

9-11 May 2007, Soeterbeeck, Ravenstein, the Netherlands

Attempts to forecast our future can take many forms and serve multiple purposes and have become increasingly important in late modern societies. Be it a prediction about the use of genetic passports in medicine or the consequences of environmental pollution: many of us produce images of probable, possible and desired futures—often to evoke policy changes.

In this workshop, we will focus on how STS scholars study the kinds of futures imagined by artists, architects, engineers, scientists and policy makers. Jules Vernes, Leonardo da Vinci, Le Corbusier, Stanley Kubrick and the Wachowski brothers have all created imaginations of the future that are inspired by and have inspired emerging technologies. Scientists and engineers produce expectations and promises, both about particular technologies and about the ‘knowledge society’ generally, so as to acquire money for new projects and technologies. Policy makers attempt to forecast our future in order to reduce uncertainties and to assess the developments to be supported or discouraged. A major theme within STS is how these futures produced by artists, scientists and policy makers interact. Some STS scholars criticize ‘the futures’ industry’ for not taking the embedded, socio-technical character of science and technology into account. Others actively contribute to the techniques of scenario-building.

Yet another position is to understand how our society struggles with conceptions of future risks, or how ‘imaginations’ actually co-construct our futures. In this workshop, lecturers will introduce the various ways in which STS scholars study utopian and dystopian futures as well as the risk society. In addition, you will have the opportunity to study relevant manifestos, write a research proposal that might influence your own future and participate in a debate about the future of STS.

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If you would like to attend this Workshop, please complete the online registration form before 1 March 2007.

Costs for WTMC members:
- meals 10 EUR /day 

Costs for everyone else:
-fee:  EUR 370
-accommodation: EUR 45 (incl. breakfast)/night
-meals: EUR 25 for lunch and diner/day 

If you have any questions related to this workshop, please contact Marjatta Kemppainen (u.m.kemppainen@utwente.nl) for practical things, or Els Rommes (E.Rommes@pwo.ru.nl ) for content-related issues.