Joeri Bruyninckx (Genk (BE), 1985) received his Master’s Degree (cum laude) in Philosophy in Cultures of Arts, Science and Technology (CAST) at the Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences (University Maastricht) and the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm. He wrote his MPhil thesis on the contribution of the phonograph and spectrograph to knowledge dynamics in 20th century ornithology. As a PhD candidate he will further develop these interests in the role of recording technologies and sonic skills in scientific practice and the mobilization of sound as an object of scientific study.
Summary PhD Project
Title: Sound Science: The Rise of Recording Technologies in Field Sciences
Supervisor(s): Prof. dr. Karin Bijsterveld (promoter) & dr. Joseph Wachelder
Content
This PhD project focuses on the rise of recording technologies and its contribution to knowledge dynamics, primarily in 20th century ornithology but in reference also to anthropology and primatology. In particular, it maps the changing status of sound in the scientific arguments that were made in these disciplines. The project explores how researchers have employed an array of recording technologies, listening practices/skills and representational techniques to introduce acoustic evidence into their knowledge acquisition. As such, the project sides with studies in the material culture of science that emphasize the significance of other sensory skills than the visual. The project will highlight the importance of instruments, craft and tacit skills in science and generate a deeper insight in western conceptions of sound.
From the 1920’s onwards, field students incorporated recording technologies into their research. Anthropologists and biologists used it to record rituals or songs and calls of their respective objects of study, turning these into scientific data for the analysis of behavior. Although such songs had been recorded before, in musical notations or shorthand, the recording process now enabled sounds to be inscribed ‘mechanically’ and hence ‘objectively’ into wax or on magnetic tape. But in order to record such sounds, researchers armed with microphones and recording trucks often transformed the noisy ‘wild’ into a controllable sound recording studio. In addition, other techniques enabled easy editing, manipulation or visualization of sounds, which opened up new perspectives for study. Sounds could be examined closer and played back infinitely, and complex patterns in song or language could be cut up at will. Hence, recording did not just permit a more ‘authentic’ approach to sound; researching it required a number of tacit skills and editing interventions. Furthermore, such ‘objective’ recording techniques were repeatedly colored by Western and musical conceptions of sound. As such, the study of sound in scientific practice also engages with the flexible boundaries between natural sciences and the arts.
Professional publications
Beumer, K., & Bruyninckx, J. (2007). Scar Wars. Scarification als een illustratie bij een groeiende lichaamsobsessie. Mosaïek. Interdisciplinair Cultuurwetenschappelijk Tijdschrift 4(8).
Bruyninckx, J. (2007). Sois functionelle et tais-toi. Kritische mogelijkheden van design. Rekto:Verso. Tweemaandelijks Tijdschrift voor Kunstkritiek 24.
Bruyninckx, J. (2006). Veiligheid of drift. Design in het paniekerige tijdperk na 9/11. Rekto:Verso. Tweemaandelijk Tijdschrift voor Kunstkritiek 16.
Contact information
Background
I studied Philosophy of Science Technology and Society at the Twente University, specializing in STS and a ‘technical component’ in chemical engineering. My thesis was about technological citizenship in sustainable domestic wastewater treatment. I worked in several places as a junior researcher starting at the Twente University evaluating a research program aiming for transition towards societal accepted animal husbandry and subsequently worked in this field at the Animal Sciences Group (Wageningen UR). At the UMC St. Radboud I worked on a research on ways to improve the use of current knowledge on alternatives for animal testing.
Summary
T
itle: Responsible early diagnostics for Alzheimer’s DiseaseSupervisor(s): Promotor Huub Schellekens, Supervisors Ellen Moors and Harro van Lente
Contact InformationBackground Koen Dortmans studied physics and philosophy at the Radboud University in Nijmegen and the Freie Universität Berlin. In 2005 he graduated with a thesis with the title “Causality and quantum physics. Ernst Cassirers answer in the ´Crisis of causality´”. Since 2001 Koen has worked as free lance science writer and journalist as well as a organizer of public debates at LUX Nijmegen. He has organized debates on public health, science and genomics (commercial genetic testing, storage of embryo stem cells, biofuels, behavioral genetics).
Title: Talking genomics: experts and publics at DNA public dialogues and events
Supervisor: Dr. Annemiek Nelis
Summary
Our aim in this project is to organize and study public debates and events as possible interactive dialogues in order to move and affect participants. Not only the usual suspects – the lay individuals who in the deficit model are the ones with a lack of understanding science – should be moved and affected by pubic debate. Dialogue is a collective process in that also and especially affects (or: touches, moves, influences) invited experts and organisers. Even when experts explicitly are invited to join a dialogue they tend to act and be approached primarily as information providers. Experts rather choose “the one-way normative notion of public understanding of science” (Wynne, 2007), which raises the question to what extent genomics experts are really aware of their role in public debate.
However, this is not just a question for experts. The considerations of the organizers of public debates – like the researcher in this project – often reinforces this techno-scientific framing. Organisers are the ones that invite experts as key note speakers, enable them to set the agenda (often a techno-science topic such as prenatal diagnostics) give them a stage (so they literally stand above the public), a microphone (so they can interrupt as they like) and thus enforce a particular power-relation between experts and publics through the set-up and organization. The researcher in this project not only studies dialogue, but also actively takes part in shaping it and act as interactive researcher.
Societally relevant issues related to genomics (e.g. the increasing tendency to diagnose mental illness or deviant behaviour on the basis of biological information) will present the starting point. Genomics researchers are stimulated to position themselves in the public discussion and to reflect on the question how such might affect their daily practice. Main question is: how can live public debates with genomics experts and citizens be organized and shaped as dialogue in order to allow issue articulation and collective setting of research agendas?
Publications
Peer-reveiwed, scholarly and professional publication
Societal dialogue needs more than public engagement, Radstake, M., Heuvel van den-Vromans, E., Jeucken, N., Dortmans, K. & Nelis, A. Embo reports vol. 10, no. 4, 2009
Meepraten, Dortmans, K., Radstake, M. & Nelis, A. De Helling, jaargang 21, nr. 4, 2008
Technologie houd je niet tegen, Dortmans, K. De Helling, jaargang 21, nr. 4, 2008 "Mediating online DNA-Dialogues", STI Studies vol. 5, nr. 1, 2009
Contact InformationBackground
Summary
Title: Responsible innovation in food technology: about the intricate web of soft impacts, (ir)responsibilities, and mutual lack of trust.
Supervisor(s): Prof. dr. Philip Brey & prof. dr. Tsjalling Swierstra
Content
It has become generally accepted that responsible innovation of technologies cannot be left to the experts but requires a stakeholder dialogue. The prime goal of this research is to focus on the difficulties that cripple the chances of success for these debates. One of the difficulties is that experts and non-experts tend to have incommensurable perceptions of the societal impacts of technological innovation, especially in relation to soft (i.e. cultural, moral and political) impacts. There is systematic but not necessarily overt disagreement between stakeholders on the attribution of responsibilities. The dialogue between technology and society is structurally marred by controversy about what kinds of impacts should be taken seriously during technological innovation. In particular, soft impacts are by default denied by current risk assessment exercises. This diagnosis constitutes the starting point for my research: How can engineers, consumers, and other stakeholders, dialogue about soft impacts, so that at least some of these might gain access to research agendas and be taken into account in a common attribution of responsibilities? The problems pertaining to the definition of impacts, to the allocation of responsibilities, and to the organization of mutual trust, can all be traced in the (lack of) debate regarding food innovation. In particular, functional foods serves as an interesting example where conceptions of “naturalness”, “personal health” and the cultural significance of “the common meal” may diverge and invite for public deliberation. The goal of this research is to critically analyze the ways that soft impacts are framed in public discussions on food technology; to show how these conceptual and institutional framings imply a specific, implicit (lack of) attribution of responsibilities; and to explore alternative innovation repertoires that account for soft impacts as a legitimate concern in the science-society dialogue.
Contact InformationTitle
Spatial Perception and Participation in Digital Games: The Lived Image
Keywords
Media theory,
philosophy, visual culture, new media, transformations of the image
Summary
Martijn Hendriks (1973) received his Master's Degree in Arts and Sciences at the
University of Maastricht’s Faculty of Arts and Culture, where he completed the
interdisciplinary doctoral program of Visual Culture with honors. For his
Master's thesis, entitled 'Enter the Image. Toward a Comparative Analysis of
Virtual Space,' he was awarded the University of Maastricht’s 2003 Price for
Scientific Achievement. Prior to his Doctoral education in Visual Culture, he
studied at the Tilburg Academy for the Visual Arts and worked as a graphic
designer, illustrator and organizer in the Dutch skateboarding scene. As a PhD
candidate at the University of Maastricht, he is currently doing research into
the phenomenology of new media. His project is part of the research programme Transformations
in Arts and Culture, funded by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific
Research, NWO.
The aim of his PhD project is to explore the significance of the visual perception of new media in relation to media theoretical notions about what new media mean to our conception of space and the body. In particular, in his project he investigates the complex phenomenological structure of participation and perception in digital culture by focusing on the spatial dimension of new media objects such as games. While spatiality has been the subject of much speculation and criticism in new media theory, little attention has been given to the complexity of its actual experience and conception by embodied spectators. That the issue of digital spectatorship is far from resolved is expressed by the predominance of two accounts of the cultural significance of digital space that seem to oppose and to exclude each other. The first holds that, in comparison with more traditional spatial representations such as perspective painting and cinema, the space of digital media invites a sense of total absorption, as it positions the player in the space of representation and requires her attention and activity within the space of the image to such a degree that she is completely immersed in the virtual space and oblivious of the real world outside. The second account emphasizes the spectator’s distance and control. Where traditional spatial representation relied on the willingness of the spectator to conform to a constructed point of view, spatial representation in digital culture allows the spectator the freedom to act, to move around, to make choices, and to manipulate or even construct the spectatorial positions suggested by the representation.
The research of new media transformations that resulted in Martijn Hendriks’ Master’s thesis suggests that both accounts are too one-sided. Playing digital games, for example, seems to rely on the tensions and exchanges between both positions. New media theorists still show a tendency to overlook this complex phenomenological structuring of spectatorship because they tend to focus on the virtual reality experience. VR seems to hold the cultural promise that the virtual and the real could somehow become one and that the illusion of immersion could be complete. Thereby the material presence of the visible screen and its function to separate virtual from physical space would tend to lose its cultural significance. The continuing popularity of screen-based media shows that the opposite might be true. In spite of the technological possibilities to develop interfaces that go beyond the screen, digital culture is still as much a ‘screen culture’ as film culture. In digital games the visual acknowledgement of the screen has even come to demand a pivotal role. This recognition allows us to trace both continuities and discontinuities between ‘analogue’ and digital media culture. Thus, while the experience of space by the film spectator is produced largely in spite of the spectator’s reflection on the materiality of the screen, the unreality of the film, and her active motor agency in relation to what is shown on the screen, the experience of space in digital games and many other new media is produced through this active, embodied and reflective position outside of the image.
This PhD project critically tests and develops this suggestion by combining theoretical research on the conceptualization of spatial and bodily experience in analogue and digital media with concrete case studies of new media forms in popular culture and the arts. The project starts from phenomenological studies of perception, media and technology foregrounding the connections between embodied perception, technological mediation and cultural signification (Merleau-Ponty, Deleuze, Sobchack, Ihde), in order to formulate a vocabulary that will allow us to systematically investigate the constituents and structure of screen-mediated spatial experience. This is followed by a ‘close reading’ and comparative analysis of a small corpus of popular new media objects that solicit the lived, physical experience of the viewer. A central role will be assigned to the relation of the visual interface to the bodily and sensorial experience of digital space by the flesh-and-blood spectator. The analysis of the cases in turn will serve to critically evaluate and develop the theoretical framework of new media theory.
Drs MRes. M. Hendriksen Contact Information Title Collections of Perfection Supervisors Prof. Dr R. Zwijnenberg and Dr Rina Knoeff Summary This project is part of the NWO project ‘Cultures of Collecting: The Leiden Anatomical Collections in Context’ and aims at an analysis of how the early modern anatomical collections (mainly 18th century) of Leiden University were rooted in ideals of perfection in different fields of knowledge and expertise. It starts from the premise that collections (institutional as well as private) generally represented and generated knowledge. Anatomical exhibits were made objects. They were meant to show the anatomy of the body (according to contemporary physiological ideas), but were at the same time portraits of their makers, of their image of the ideal body and of the intimate experience of their own body. For the Leiden anatomists Rau, Albinus, Van Doeveren, Bonn and Brugmans perfection was at the core of their decisions. Aesthetically, the objects had to be presented according to fixed proportions, perspectives and other aesthetic conventions. Technologically and scientifically, the anatomical collections were aimed at showing ever more perfect methods of revealing and preserving nature. Ethically, the collections functioned like mirrors and helped in the educational and therefore ethical perfectibility of man. There was even a theological meaning of perfection as some collectors sought to represent the perfect order of creation.
The project will result in a better understanding of ideals of perfection, and will enhance our understanding of the contemporary quest for the perfect body as a cultural phenomenon. It discloses the origin of many contemporary (and public) images of the perfect body. The project Collections of Perfection, in short, shows that the quest for the perfection of man is no newcomer to our culture and can therefore historically inform the current debate on the perfectibility of the human body.
Publications Scholarly: ´Pourquoi la cuisine n´est-elle pas un art´ in Deshima. Revue française des mondes néerlandophones., 2007, 1, pp. 163-180 Professional: ´Koken is juist kunst´ in Bouillon! Cultureel gastronomisch magazine, zomer 2007, pp. 44-51 Drs. M. HermansMarijke Hermans holds a Bachelor degree in Communication Studies (Xios Hogeschool, Belgium, 2003), and a Bachelor of Arts in Arts and Culture (Maastricht University, 2006). She completed her studies with a two-year interdisciplinary Research Master in Cultures of Arts, Science and Technology (CAST) (Maastricht University, 2008). Before starting her PhD in 2009, Marijke worked as a junior researcher on two projects concerning risk controversies around mobile phones and base stations at the department of Technology and Society Studies (Contribution to WP 3 of European project ‘Implications of Biomedicine for the Assessments of Human Health Risks’, and a report for the Dutch Health Council).
Title: Beyond controversy. Interdisciplinary research on municipalities, mobile phone base stations and health risks.
Supervisor(s): Prof. Dr. Ir. M.B.A. Marjolein van Asselt (promotor), Prof. Dr. W.F. Wim Passchier (promotor), and Dr. Ragna Zeiss (co-promotor)
Summary
Content Risk and uncertainty are important features of modern life. Our current society is increasingly referred to as a risk society (Ulrich Beck), in which society is challenged to manage potentially negative outcomes of new scientific and technological developments. This PhD project focuses on one societal controversy dealing with risks and uncertainties in particular: the controversy around wireless communication technologies (GSM, UMTS, C2000, Wifi, etc).
While the majority of scientific experts emphasize that to date no consistent evidence has demonstrated health risks from the electromagnetic fields generated by these new technologies, there remain some uncertainties about long-term effects and effects on children. Contradictory media headlines – inspired by disagreeing experts – leave citizens more confused than enlightened about the possibility of risk, which nourishes societal anxiety and even resistance. Resistance is especially manifest against the siting of base stations and antennas for wireless communication technologies in the vicinity of residential areas in municipalities. Local citizens that mobilize against the siting of base stations often gather a remarkable amount of technical, scientific, legal and organizational knowledge about the issue with which they challenge the claims made by scientists, governments, city councils and legal courts. Municipalities increasingly find themselves in the middle of a conflict.
Although studies on technological developments often focus on the macro-level of policy regulation, the centre of risk controversies is mostly very local. This project therefore aims to study the controversies in municipalities in the Netherlands and Belgium. The project focuses on the dynamics and mechanisms underlying and determining the level and course of controversy by analyzing how different actors involved (experts, telecom industry, policy actors, housing corporations, legal actors, citizens, social movements, etc.) deal with uncertainty and risk and (scientific) knowledge. This PhD project hopes to contribute to ideas about responsible governance of innovation in view of risk.
Drs. L. Hessels Contact Information Title Transformations in the knowledge infrastructure: Science and the struggle for relevance Background BSc in Chemistry, MSc in Enivronmental Chemistry, MA in Philosophy of Science (all at University of Amsterdam) Summary PhD Project Transformations in the knowledge infrastructure: Science and the struggle for relevance (supervisors: Ruud Smits, Harro van Lente, Rogier Donders, John Grin).
The relation between science and society is undergoing change. Various bodies of literature (e.g. 'The New Production of Knowledge' (Mode 1/Mode 2), 'Triple Helix', and 'Post-normal Science') report the blurring of boundaries between science (on the one hand) and the state, the market and civil society (on the other hand).
I study this development by investigating changes in the way scientists and their stakeholders deal with relevance. The (societal) relevance of a particular research project is conceived as the expected possibilities for extra-scientific actors to benefit from its outcomes. My starting assumption is that one can distinguish three manifestations of a struggle for relevance: first, scientists mutually compete for relevance; second, scientists and their stakeholders continuously negotiate about the meaning of relevance; third, scientists face difficulties when trying to reconcile the demands of relevance with their own plans, values and ambitions.
My approach consists of a set of case-studies of scientific (sub-)disciplines in the Netherlands. I aim to analyze how the struggle for relevance has changed in the period 1975-2005. Special focus will be on practices of quality control, as I consider these as locations where the struggle for relevance is particularly visible.
Publications
A. Hollander, L. Hessels, P. de Voogt, D. van de Meent. Implementation of depth-dependent soil concentrations in multimedia mass balance models. SAR and QSAR Environmental Research 2004 No.15 (5-6), p.457-468.
J. Hoeffken, MA Contact information Background - M.A. in International Relations, Dresden Technical University, Germany - Thesis: “The Sixth Framework Programme of the EU - Its positioning in the European Research and Technology Policy”
Title
Civil society organizations in research and technological development: the
case of Indian water management technologies
Supervisor(s): Prof. Dr Ir. Wiebe E. Bijker, Dr Thomas Conzelmann
Content Changes seem to be taking place in the field of science, technology and policy: non-academic, societal actors are engaging themselves with research and technological development. This phenomenon is not only likely to impact on the very fabric of knowledge production, but will also have implications for the governance of science and technology.My research investigates forms, modalities and consequences of the engagement of civil society organisations with science, technology and policy in the field of water management in India. In doing so, both fabric and governance of Indian water management will constitute the empirical focal points of this project. Based on this the research aims to develop recommendations and approaches for policy-making which contribute to the democratization and sustainable development of science and technology.
Publications Das Sechste Forschungsrahmenprogramm der EU: Einordnung in die Europäische Forschungs- und Technologiepolitik, VDM-Verlag Dr. Müller, Saarbrücken, 2007. ISBN: 978-3-8364-5274-8 Contact InformationBachelor’s in Physics (
Summary PhD Project
Title: Collection Pathological
Anatomy
Supervisors: Prof. dr. Rob Zwijnenberg, Dr. Rina Knoeff
This project is part
of the NWO-project ‘Cultures of Collecting: The Leiden Anatomical Collections
in Context’. It investigates the historical and educational import of the
nineteenth-century pathological collection at
In the nineteenth
century, anatomy focused more and more on pathology. At the same time,
anatomical collections became less accessible to the public, artists became
less involved in the construction of anatomical objects and both the education
and the practice of medicine changed. Boerhaavian medicine was replaced by a
medicine more concerned with practical knowledge of pathology and healing than
with theoretical knowledge of old anatomy and physiology. The project
researches how these changes are reflected in the university’s pathological
collection, and what the collection can tell us about nineteenth-century
pathological anatomy in the
Contact Information Background From 1994-2001 I studied Cultural Anthropology at the University of Nijmegen. For my MA thesis I decided not the go abroad for research, but I completed an internship at a profit organisation called Institute on Inter-Ethnic Management, located in Nijmegen. For this institute I conducted a research on inter-ethnic communication between health care professionals and patients within primary health care practices. In my MA thesis I related cases on inter-ethnic communication to theories about ethnic nursing and ethnic-sensitive care. Summary
Title: Pragmatic trials in practice; A qualitative analysis of the mutual shaping of research and primary care practice.
Supervisor(s): Prof.Dr. M.Berg (promotor), Dr. R.Bal (co-promotor), Dr. M. Foets and Dr. A. de Bont (daily supervisor)
In my thesis the central object is a medical pragmatic trial called Quattro. Conventional randomised controlled trials (RCTs) are organised in such a way that the influence of daily medical practice and treatment preferences of medical professionals and patients are minimized. To gather as objective and ‘hard’ outcomes as possible, conventional trials are organised by means of methodological procedures, like randomisation, blinding and standardized, objective measurements.
However, the implementations of trial results on optimum care show a compliance gap for guideline use (medical professionals) and treatment adherence (patients).
In pragmatic trials the influence of treatment preferences of both medical professionals and patients are readmitted (e.g. randomization and/or blinding may not be used), to overcome implementation difficulties in daily medical practice of the end results.
By means of a ethnographic case study on the Quattro Study I want to show what the practice of conducting a pragmatic trial comprises, and that its results are influenced by four actors, medical professionals, researchers, participating patients and policy makers (insurers). The Quattro Study can be characterized as a pragmatic trial on the effectiveness of secondary prevention of cardiovascular diseases in primary health care centres in deprived neighbourhoods in Rotterdam and The Hague, by means of multidisciplinary patient care teams
Central themes in this thesis: rationalisation, standardisation (RCT, evidence-based medicine) versus uncertainty, risk (for researchers, medical professionals, patients, and insurers)
Contact Information Background I have studied Regional Studies of Latin America in Germany (University of Cologne) which is a combination of Political Sciences, History and Spanish/Brazilian Literature and Linguistics. I concluded this study with an MA in Political Sciences (The Migration Policy of the EU from Maastricht to Nice - On the Way to Communitariasation?). Furthermore, I worked as a student assistant to F.W. Scharpf at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies in Cologne for four years. Summary Title: Issues of Social Accountability in Health Care Organisations Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Roland Bal and Prof. Dr. Pauline Meurs While the introduction of performance indicators in the Dutch health care system has mainly triggered discussions between protagonists and antagonists, I will focus on the empirical analysis of what such indicators actually 'do' in health care organisations and systems. Contact information BackgroundInformation on Bachelors Degree, Masters Degree, MA-thesis et cetera
Title: Text Technologies & Epistemic Reading
Supervisor: Prof. Paul Wouters
Summary
This project aims to investigate how innovations in text technologies are related to changes in text scholarship circa 1600 and today. Policy makers and historiographers alike frequently refer to the advent of the printing press and the emergence of digital tools for disciplines such as literary studies, philology, and theology as revolutionary events that give rise to distinctively new epistemic regimes in the study of texts. Thus, a heroic image of technology as a singular phenomenon that invades and radically alters text scholarship is created.
This project on the contrary shifts the focus of attention on how novel text technologies are embedded in early modern and contemporary practices of knowledge production. The idea of technologically determined changes is replaced by slow processes of negotiation in which the configuration of material tools, epistemological assumptions and the social organization of text research is is gradually altered. The project addresses four key issues: 1) How are novel text technologies integrated in everyday practices of text scholarship circa 1600 and today? 2) How are novel text technologies co-constructed by political and religious authorities, policy makers, scholars and other relevant parties? 3) How is the use of (novel) text technologies related to the performance of scholarly identity? 4) What does the historical view on changes in text scholarship circa 1600 imply for the much-hailed perspective of an emerging e-science infrastructure in the Humanities today?
Publications
Peer reviewed
Kaltenbrunner, W. (2007). Wissenschaft(skritik) bei Gottfried Benn und Primo Levi. Sprachkunst 38(2), 263-283. (http://hw.oeaw.ac.at/0xc1aa500d_0x0019d8d9.pdf)
Kaltenbrunner, W. (2005). Soziokulturelle Herkunft im Akkulturationsprozess durch westliche Bildung – Cheikh Hamidou Kanes L’aventure ambiguë und Dambudzo Marecheras The House of Hunger. Occasional Papers, 5, 1-21. (http://www.univie.ac.at/afrika/Occasional/KALTENBRUNNER_Occasional%2005_August%202006.pdf)
Other Publications
Kaltenbrunner, W. (2008). Connaisseurs and Haters. Art-related Communities on YouTube. Cultures of Art, Science, and Technology 1(1), 72-89. Conference Presentations
Kaltenbrunner, W. & Wouters, P. (2009). Controversial digitization: e-Humanities between cost-reduction and methodological innovation. Paper presented at 5th Internation Conference on e-Social Science 25/06/2009. (http://www.ncess.ac.uk/resources/content/papers/Kaltenbrunner.pdf)
Contact informationBackground
While January 2009 marks the starting point of his current PhD project, Fabian de Kloe (1982) received his MA “Arts & Culture” (Cum laude) in 2006 from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Maastricht University. He graduated with a thesis that explores the ways in which a scientific fact is constructed and appropriated as it travels across various cultural domains (i.e. science, politics and journalism) by zooming in on debates between AIDS dissidents and the scientific community. After his graduation Fabian went on to work as a teaching assistant at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, teaching in various courses of the BA “Arts & Culture” in Maastricht.
Title: Beyond Babel: Science and Universal Language in the Early Twentieth Century.
Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Ir. Wiebe E. Bijker, Dr. Geert J. Somsen, and Dr. Nico Randeraad
Summary
Fabian’s research project focuses on a specific moment in the development of scientific internationalism: the attempts to create a universal scientific language in the early twentieth century. From about 1900 onwards, several prominent European scientists set themselves to the task of ridding communication of the “dead weight” of national cultures – as the German chemist Wilhelm Ostwald called it – by creating a new language that would directly reflect the logic of reason. This new language was meant to be for science in order to support the traffic of knowledge through publications and at conferences. But it was also to be of science in that it was supposed to be the expression of both the rationality of science and its supranational character. These attempts are especially remarkable as they happened in a period when language was one of the most important vehicles of nationalism.
During the period between 1880 and 1914 language had become the principal identifier of national communities, both in the hands of nationalist agitators and in the work of government statisticians. On the one hand, the advocates of universal language broke this association of language with nation, since their aims lay at a global level. On the other hand, they copied from the nationalist movements the use of linguistic means for defining and promoting community – in this case international community. To expose the mechanism of this specific case of scientific internationalism, it is the aim of this research project to explore these paradoxes by investigating how scientific language schemes were and were not related to 1) dominant strands of nationalism, 2) other 19th and early 20th century internationalist movements, and 3) 19th and early 20th century developments within the scientific community. In this it draws on the constructivist approaches to the study of nations, as developed by Eric Hobsbawm and others, and it will pay particular attention to the various local roots (in Germany, France, and elsewhere) of the internationalist initiatives. Other research aims are to examine the reception of universal language proposals within the scientific community and their fate during and after the First World War.
Contact information Background Haico te Kulve received his MSc “Philosophy of Science, Technology and Society” in 2000. After graduation he conducted several research projects at the department of Philosophy of Science & Technology and the Science shop of the University of Twente. Subsequently he worked three years as a co-worker Management Support & Quality and as Marketing Manager Customer Services at Thales Netherlands, a defence company designing and manufacturing surveillance, fire control and combat management systems. In 2005 he started his current PhD project at the University of Twente at the School of Business, Public Administration and Technology; department Science, Technology, Health and Policy Studies (STeHPS).Summary
Title: Three level dynamics and scenarios of nanotechnology
Supervisor: Prof Dr. Arie Rip
The general aim of this project is to understand how expectations, promises, practices and heuristics shape alignment and de-alignment processes in the co-evolution of science, technology & society with respect to nanotechnologies; how governance occurs in relation to alignment and de-alignment processes and how this can be made more reflexive in order to support the construction of socio-technical do-able problems.
The research questions of this project are:
1) What are the multi-level dynamics in the co-evolution of science, technology and society of new & emerging technologies?
2) How does governance of new & emerging technologies occur?
3) How can strategies of actors be made more reflexive in the case of new & emerging technologies through socio-technical scenarios in order to support the construction of socio-technical do-able problems?
Publications
Te Kulve, H. & W.A. Smit (2003). Civilian-Military Co-operation strategies in developing new technologies. Research Policy. pp. 955-970
Smit, W.A., R. De Penanros, H. te Kulve, B. Hagelin & I. Goudie (2001). Naval shipbuilding in Europe. In: Serfati, C et al. (eds.). The restructuring of the European defence industry: Dynamics of Change. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities.
Te Kulve, H. & W.A. Smit (2001). Public-private partnerships in the development of dual use products: the creation of socio-technical networks. In: Montanheiro, L. & M. Spiering (eds.). Public and Private Sector Partnerships: The Enterprise Governance. Sheffield: Sheffield Hallam University. pp. 339-351.
Drs. A.L. van der Laan ContactBackground
My background is in Medicine (drs.) and a year study of Philosophy. This combination of medicine and philosophy brought me to the field of Medical Ethics. I wrote my master thesis on fundamental philosophical and ethical implications of screening on Alzheimer’s disease. From 2005 – 2009 I worked as coordinator of the Erasmus Mundus Master of Bioethics, at the Radboud University Nijmegen, Medical Centre. During that period I also participated as a research assistent in a NWO-project on ethical aspects of genetic research in Alzheimer’s disease.
Summary
Title: Responsible translation practices in the development of novel Alzheimer’s disease diagnostics.
Supervisor(s): Prof. dr. Philip Brey; Prof. dr. Tsjalling Swierstra; Dr. Marianne Boenink
Content
My project is part of the larger NWO-project Responsible early diagnostics for Alzheimer’s disease. This project aims to contribute to the design of a responsible practice for Alzheimer’s disease diagnostics, focussing on the question how to respond to the uncertainties in innovation of AD diagnostics. My research part concerns the responsible translation practices in the development of novel Alzheimer’s disease diagnostics. When data generated by new diagnostic tools are translated to scientific knowledge and clinically relevant results, there are a lot of uncertainties to be dealt with. How is this done? Which criteria and procedures are used in the scientific practices concerned? Does the way researchers deal with these uncertainties lead to clinically relevant and morally and socially acceptable applications? In addressing these kind of questions I will take into account the perceptions and opinions of all potential stakeholders in the Netherlands as well as in the UK.
Publications
Van der Vorm A, van der Laan AL, Borm G, Vernooij-Dassen M, Rikkert MO, van Leeuwen E, Dekkers W, Experts’ opinions on ethical issues of genetic research into Alzheimer’s disease: results of a Delphi study in the Netherlands. Clinical Genetics 2010: 77: 382-388
E. van Loon, MSc Contact
Supervisor(s): Prof. Dr. Roland Bal / Dr. Teun Zuiderent-Jerak
Content
This research is focussed on the integration of development, implementation and spread of improvement instruments in the care sector. I look at the way experience based design strategies are being used in design and implementation phase and in what way design interacts with practice. The dissemination of these instruments is will preferably take place in an existing quality improvement collaborative, which is also an object of research.This research is an evaluation of the Care for Better collaborative, focussed on instruments that are being developed, implemented and spread in the elderly care in order to support professionals in this sector to adhere to Norms for Responsible Care. The research is a mix of quantitative and qualitative research. My focus is on the qualitative part. Ethnographic observations of meetings, interviews with key figures and analysis of documents will be performed, focussing on a subset of 6 improvement projects in depth.
Publications
Not yet
I. Mutsaers, MSc ContactI have a background in Biology as well as Philosophy. I graduated from the Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands in 2000 with an MSc degree in Biology. In 2003-2004, in between jobs, I received a scholarship from the Radboud Foundation and studied Philosophy at the Faculty of Philosophy of the Radboud University Nijmegen. I followed several different master courses ranging from political philosophy, Russian political philosophy to antique and mediaeval philosophy. I finished it by writing a thesis, entitled Globalisation and its remedies; rationally justified consensus or ineradicable discord? Furthermore, I have been working as a project advisor European research programmes (6th and 7th Framework programme) and as a policy advisor public health at the municipality Utrecht.
Summary PhD Project
Title: Between Uncertainty and catastrophe, viral genomics as an imaginative science
Supervisor: Prof. dr. H. Zwart
For a variety of reasons public audiences and mass media tend to be receptive to the idea that we are heading for an anthropogenic (man-made) catastrophe, a dramatic event of global import that can only be prevented if we change our behavioural patterns and basic attitudes, - or develop a new generation of technologies and new forms of expertise in order to prevent disaster. But, we know from history that every now and then mass disasters do strike and bleak prophecies come true. As for lethal infectious diseases, paradigmatic examples are the Black Death; the 1918 Spanish flu (that killed 20 to 40 million people); and smallpox (killing 300 over million people in the twentieth century, much more than were killed by the wars of that century). Although by the 1970s it had become common to believe that infectious disease would be eliminated through medical progress, we now live in a world where new generations of infectious diseases are presenting themselves including HIV/AIDS, Ebola, Marburg, Legionnaires Disease, etc, indicating our persistent vulnerability as a society in this respect.
It is against the backdrop of these developments that viral genomics is quickly becoming a research field of eminent importance. Yet, the very technologies that are presented as possible solutions for counteracting a catastrophe such as a pandemic may be seen as potentially catastrophic in themselves (novel created viruses can be used for bioterrorism). This project analyses the role of viral genomics and the images used in the governance of (potential) pandemics. Furthermore, it is analysed how we deal with the tragedy or fatality which is inherent to novel techniques with which we try to domesticate fate.
Drs. L. Neven Contact information Background I studied Arts and Culture (Cultuurwetenschappen) at the University of Maastricht, specializing in Technological Culture. I graduated in the summer of 2005 on a thesis which analyses the paradoxical state of offshore wind energy in the Netherlands. Following my graduation I was lucky enough to start my PhD-research right away. I started September 1st 2005.Summary
Title: Ambient Intelligence: from user impacts to changing user networks
Supervisor(s):
Prof. Dr. Nelly Oudshoorn, Dr. Barend van der MeulenMy research focuses on users of Ambient Intelligence (AmI) technologies. AmI is a vision of the future of ICT. The main idea is to embed computer technology in normal surroundings thus giving users immediate access to ICTs without the ICT being obtrusively present. AmI technologies should serve users in an easy, natural and above all intelligent way. I'll be examining the reciprocal shaping of AmI technologies and users paying attention specifically to the social networks users are part of and the ways in which these change and are changed by AmI technologies.
M. Pijnappel, MSc
Contact information
I started at the School for Higher Vocational Education (Dutch ‘HBO’) of Life Sciences with a degree in Zoology. After a premaster in Biology at the Utrecht University, I started the two year master in Science Communication (MSc.) at the same university. I wrote my master thesis at the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport on the ‘public need for information on animal research’. I graduated in December 2008. Since January 1st, I started my PhD project at the Centre for Society and Genomics in Nijmegen.
Summary PhD Project
Title: Toxicogenomics: Beyond the Gold Standard? Prospects for developing and implementing genomics-based non-animal alternatives for toxicity research
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. H. Zwart
Content
Animal welfare is of growing interest within the Dutch society. On the other hand, today’s risk society demands for safe(r) products. In addition, many current used regulatory animal models are poor indicators of the clinical observed effects in humans. A new approach/technology in toxicology to obtain more accurate data without the use of animal models is therefore much needed.
The application of genomics within the field of toxicology, notably toxicogenomics, promises to cover it all; more reliable and accurate data (and hence safer products) with fewer animal used in research.
By assessing the epistemological profile of toxicogenomics, its governmental perspective and the societal and ethical implications, this project will research the possibilities for toxicogenomics as possible alternative for the current (animal based) toxicological models.
This project will also set up an interactive process with (genomics)scientists, national and European policymakers, animal welfare organizations and societal experts to strive for alignment within these areas concerning the future of toxicogenomics.
D. Robinson, MPhys MSS
Contact information
Background
His first degree combined with a
Masters (MPhys) covered physics with space science and space technology, with
two theses on the space radiation environment and heavy ion beam cancer
therapy for brain tumours respectively. His second degree (MSc) was an
interdisciplinary study of the space sector, including knowledge management,
innovation studies, business, economics, policy and law related to the space
industry. His thesis was on space biomedicine and cosmonautics research in the
former Soviet Union, which invovled a three month project (with a follow up 3
months) at the cosmonaut training centre (Star City) and the institute of
biomedical problems, Moscow, Russia.
Summary
Title: Reflexive governance and technology assessment of new and emerging technologies: The case of nanotechnologies
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. A. Rip
The project involves three streams of research: (1) analyzing (and further conceptualizing) emerging paths in the field of nanotechnology, (2) the multi-actor dynamics related to emerging European nanodistricts and (3) the theoretical development and practical use of constructive technology assessment as a means of reflexive governance. Further elaboration and exploration of the use of socio-technical scenarios and of the concept of emerging irreversibilities is key to his research project.
Publications
The interaction between expectations, networks and emerging paths: a framework and an application to Lab‑on‑a‑chip technology for medical and pharmaceutical applications. Rutger O. van Merkerk & Douglas K. R. Robinson. Paper for special issue on Expectations for the journal of Technology Analysis and StrategicManagemen, Forthcoming
The role of regional institutional entrepreneurs in the emergence f clusters in nanotechnologies, Mangematin, V., Delemarle A, Rip, A., Robinson D. K. R. Paper for special issue of Organization Studies, Institutional Entrpereneurship, Forthcoming
Contact information Background Anneloes graduated in medical biology at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam in 2004. During her study she has gained experience with the use of interactive approaches in the field of biotechnology. At the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sports (VWS) in the Netherlands she participated in a pilot project group which was implementing an interactive policy process in the field of medical biotechnology.Summary
Title: Inter- and transdisciplinary research on ecological genomics – a stakeholder approach
Supervisor(s) Prof. Dr. J. Bunders, Dr. J. Broerse
This PhD – project is part of the
Ecogenomics Consortium, which concerns an innovative cluster, headed under "safe
and sustainable agro-production systems" of the Netherlands Genomics Initiative.
The general objective and strategy of the Consortium is aimed at enhancing the
understanding of the functioning of soil ecosystems, in order to unlock their
full genetic potential for sustainable use of ecosystems for agricultural and
other anthropogenic purposes. This research project focuses on the societal
aspects of ecogenomics.
While much attention is paid to genomics in the fields of food and health, few
people are familiar with ecogenomics yet. When addressing the societal aspects
of ecogenomics, the novelty of this field provides both opportunities and
constraints. On the one hand it implies that many options are open for
exploration and there are good possibilities for steering. On the other hand the
opportunities are confined by this novelty because relatively little is known
about the potential positive and negative societal effects.
This project focuses on developing and applying an interactive approach to the
innovation processes in the field of ecogenomics that addresses this dilemma.
Within this approach there will be a focus on involving relevant stakeholders
and addressing societal aspects early in the technology development process. To
this aim, the interactive approach will be combined with vision assessment.
Background
Erwin holds a bachelors degree in philosophy (2003, hon. 1st class) from the University of Hull, and a masters degree in the history and philosophy of science (2005, cum laude) from Utrecht University. His masters thesis was on the history of science and innovation policy in the Netherlands, 1963-1987, and the relation between policy development and economic theory on innovation and economic growth. Prior to his PhD position in Nijmegen, he worked as a junior researcher at STEHPS, University of Twente, on an interactive scenario study on community genetics (2005-2007). This project was part of the Centre for Society & Genomics.
Summary PhD Project
Supervisors: Prof.dr. H. Zwart, Dr. A. Souren
We live in a knowledge society in which expert knowledge is both indispensable and contested. Professional practices and policy development are expected to be science-based but at the same time we recognize that the complexity of our world is beyond the grasp of any single form of expertise. Against this backdrop we are interested in the ways in which science-based expert knowledge is used and represented in our society. This involves a set of important epistemological and normative questions. Are experts merely specialists, for example, generating data to be used by professional policy makers, or do they have the right or even obligation to enter broader disputes on the relationships between science and society? To what extent are experts seen as credible, trustworthy and independent? Is it possible to develop a typology of forms of expertise, each with its own objectives and standards?
The overall research question of this project is as follows: How does science-based public expertise evolve in a society in which this expertise, for a variety of reasons, has become both indispensable and contested?
We are interested in the ways in which experts become involved in public debate, policy development, or both. That is, we are interested in experts who combine their internal (academic or scholarly expertise) with extra-mural involvements, either highly visible ones (involvement in public debates covered by mass media) or less visible ones (as advisors in the context of policy development).
The initial goal is to propose a typology of way in which experts become visible, influential in policy making, or both. We look at the evolvement and involvement of scientific experts by zooming in on the level of individual expert (that is, the biographical level). This typology will then be critically assessed by people in the relevant fields.
Contact Information http://www.society-genomics.nl/?page=360 Background Daan Schuurbiers has an MA in philosophy from the University of Amsterdam. At present, he holds a research position at Delft University of Technology where he carries out the project 'Empowering Scientists in their Social Responsibility'. He is also project manager for the European Coordination Action Nanobio-RAISE. Both projects aim to understand and improve the relations between scientists and society, drawing on expertise from the sociology of science and science communication. Daan is Chairman of the NBV Working Group on Societal Aspects and Vice-Chairman of the Foundation Imagine Life Sciences responsible for the Imagine school competition.Title: Empowering Scientists in their Social Responsibility
Supervisor(s): Prof. Julian Kinderlerer & Drs. Patricia Osseweijer
Summary This project aims to empower scientists in the field of industrial genomics in their role as communicators through: · studying the roles and responsibilities of scientists in society · stimulating awareness of the ethical, social, and psychological issues at stake · encouraging, supporting, training and rewarding scientists in their relations with societyThis research project is practice-led; it aims to encourage the scientists of the Kluyver Centre for Genomics of Industrial Fermentation to consider science communication and the development of links with the community as an integral part of their scientific career. Research questions include: 'What constitutes social responsibility within the present research culture and environment?'. 'To what extent is general reflection on social and ethical issues part of the research process within the institute?'. ''What are limits and constraints for scientists to engage with stakeholders and the public?'. The project aims to build bridges between the beta and gamma disciplines by asking how theoretical insights from the social sciences can be applied in a scientific institute.
The concept of social responsibility is operationalised through mapping various types of responsibility and evaluating to what extent they apply to research practices, including:
· Integrity, addressing the moral responsibilities of scientists; · Interaction, addressing democratic responsibilities of scientists, both to communicate their research and to perform research which is in the public interest; · Sustainability, addressing the global responsibilities of science towards future generations and the planet.Empowerment is conceived as the enhancement of the impact, range and intensity of these values in the institution. The research questions are addressed through an action research methodology, using a series of activities to identify and evaluate responsibilities at the Kluyver Centre.
Publications
Schuurbiers, D., Blomjous, M. & Osseweijer, P. (2006). ‘Imagine’: sharing ideas in the life sciences, In Cheng Donhong, J. Mecalfe, B. Schiele (Eds.), At the human scale: international practices in science communication. Beijing: Beijing Science Press
Bennett, D.J., & Schuurbiers, D. (2005). Nanobiotechnology: responsible action on issues in society and ethics. In Matthew Laudon & Bart Romanowicz (Eds.), Technical Proceedings of the 2005 Nanotechnology Conference and Trade Show, volume 1-3, NSTI, Anaheim, USA, May 8-12 2005 (pp. 765-768). USA: NSTI.
Schuurbiers, D. & Bennett, D.J. (2003). Who should communicate with the public and how? Report of four focus workshops in Warsaw, Brussels, Copenhagen and Madrid:http://www.society-genomics.nl/CSG_Downloads/doc_32739_Public%20communication-Warsaw-2002.pdf
Contact information http://www.bbt.utwente.nl/stehps/aboutstehps/staff/phdst/Verhaegh.doc/
Summary
Title: The dynamics of user-initiated innovations in the domain of ict-networks
Promotor: Prof. Dr. Nelly Oudshoorn
Co-promotor: Prof. Dr. Valerie Frissen
Daily supervision: Dr. Ir. Ellen van Oost (University of Twente)
Stefan Verhaegh focuses on the dynamics of user-initiated innovation processes in the domain of ICT-networks. In the common conception, users are usually black-boxed as passive 'end users', only contributing to the diffusion of technology in their role as consumers. However, looking at current developments (for example free software development on Internet, or local community Wi-Fi networks), it is clear that the bi-polar user/producer distinction is no longer tenable. Verhaegh is especially interested in the ways in which the heterogeneous groups of so-called 'users' are actively contributing to innovation by the creation of new technologies, uses, meanings, configurations, applications, services or user organisations.
Contact informationAnne-Lorène Vernay obtained a Bachelor degree in biology with specialization in ecology from Concordia University, Montréal Canada in 2004. In 2007, she obtained a master in industrial ecology, with a specialization in energy management and spatial planning, in Leiden University, The Netherlands. In January 2008, she joined the faculty of Technology Policy and Management of the Technical University of Delft, the Netherlands to investigate the feasibility of a new concept: the superwind. Finally in November 2008, she started a PhD research in the field of innovation in multi functional socio-technical systems with a focus on energy and industrial systems.
Summary
Title: Innovation in multi-functional socio-technical systems
Supervisor(s): K. Mulder, K. Hemmes, W. Ravenstein
Content
Socio-technical systems provide products and services such as drinking water and drainage provisions, electricity, transport, communication and, in general, all social functions related to production, distribution and consumption. Over time, we are increasingly dependent on the proper functioning of these systems which have become more complex and more integrated. Moreover, sustainability issues are ever more pressing, objectively and subjectively and socio-technical systems are challenged to develop further in order to meet new necessities and requirements.
Weaver, et al (2000) affirm that “replacement for technologies that are to be phased out or scaled down on grounds of unsustainability must be capable of addressing multiple needs by fulfilling multiple functions”. Can a similar statement be extended from individual technologies to large socio-technical systems? And if so, what are the long term effects of multifunctionality on innovation processes of large scale socio-technical system?
The goal of this PhD research is thus to determine whether optimization by system integration, resulting in the development of multifunctional system, facilitates or slows down further innovation processes.
Based on an analysis of historical case studies, we will first define under which conditions do system integrate and second analyze how innovation processes take place in multifunctional socio-technical systems. Knowledge accumulated will then be applied to existing industrial and energy systems in order to highlight upcoming challenges and give recommendations how to successfully meet these challenges.
Publications
K. Hemmes, A.L. Vernay et al, 2008: Opportunities for the Superwind concept in the region Fryslân; Integrating wind energy with hydrogen producing fuel cells, Gin conference 26-28th of June, Leeuwarden, The Netherlands
A.L. Vernay, 2008: Merging energy management and spatial planning: the case study of Delfzijl, Gin conference 26-28th of June, Leeuwarden, The Netherlands
A.L. Vernay et al, 2008: Superwind, a feasibility study: integrating wind energy with internal reforming fuel cell for flexible co-production of electricity and hydrogen. Project number NEOH H02010
Contact informationBsc Degree in Organic
agriculture (
Msc Degree in Applied
Communication Science (
Title Master
thesis: Zorgboer zoekt kennis?! Een verkenning naar de werking van het
kennisnetwerk van zorgboeren voor dementerende ouderen in Noord-Brabant en
Gelderland. (Carefarmers looking for knowledge?! An
exploration of the manner in which the knowledge-network of carefarmers
specialised in demented elderly in the
Summary PhD Project
Title: Improving interaction between KOMBI partners in the development of sustainable and profitable innovations in the Dutch agro-food value chainSupervisor(s): Prof.
dr. ir. R. Smits, Dr. E. Moors, Dr. J. Farla
Content
It is expected that interaction between KOMBI-partners (Dutch acronym for knowledge institutes, governmental bodies, civil society organisations and business community) can stimulate sustainable development in agro-food chains if the different dimensions of sustainability (for example People, Planet and Profit) are adequately integrated in user-producer interaction (UPI) activities. The question is how different KOMBI partners can be involved in innovation processes in the agro-food chain in such a way that their interaction is leading to improvement of the sustainable character and commercial value of the innovation process in an effective and efficient way. In order to investigate this, four to six TransForum Innovative Practical Projects will be analysed on the way User-Producer Interaction plays a role in these chains and in agro-food chains in general. Also the involvement of KOMBI partners will be analysed. A toolkit with a manual to use it will be developed to facilitate the involvement of KOMBI partners.