Summary
Title: Genetics and Insurance: Rearranging responsibilities and solidarity
Supervisors: Prof. dr. Klasien Horstman and Prof. dr. Rein Vos
This project is part of the NOW program concerned with the social consequences of genomics research. The aim of the project is to understand the consequences of new genetic technologies in the health care system’s organization. At the basis of it are two important developments. First of all there’s the development of new genetic technologies and increasing knowledge about the role of genes in diseases. Secondly, health care systems in Western Europe are under pressure. Costs are expected to rise over the next couple of years, making the existing arrangements unaffordable.
Attempts to control the costs of health care include rationalization of criteria for benefit packages and an increasing focus on disease prevention. Both the predictive nature of (a lot of) genetic diagnosis and the rapid development of new tests and technologies make these attempts especially relevant in the field of genetics. Important questions thus include to what extent people will be held responsible for (the prevention of) disease when they know to be at risk, and for whom new technical options will be made available or not (in other words; where can the limits of solidarity be found?).
With these questions in mind this PhD-project focuses on the introduction of genetic technologies and genetic understanding of diseases, and its consequences in the health care system in the Netherlands, Germany and Britain. The cases that will be studied in this project are Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD), hereditary breast cancer and familial hypercholesterolemia (FH).
Contact information Background Wouter Boon studied "Science and Innovation" (Natuurwetenschap & Innovatiemanagement) at Utrecht University. His graduation thesis was about social impacts of transport, including cases on severance and option value of modalities. He continued working in the field of innovation and transport as an added lecturer and researcher at the Department of Innovation and Environmental Sciences (Utrecht University) and Section Transport Policy and Logistics Organisation (Delft University of Technology). Since June 2004 he has been working as a PhD-student on the project "User-producer interaction in pharmacogenomics innovations" (for more information, see below).Summary PhD Project
Title: user-producer interactions in pharmacogenomics innovations
Supervisor(s): prof. dr. Stefan Kuhlmann, prof. dr. Ruud Smits, dr. Ellen Moors
Content:
It is widely acknowledged that the pharmaceutical industry will be challenged in the near future, because of a declining amount of marketable products in the face of increasing R&D investments. This calls for an improvement of innovation processes in the pharmaceutical industry and its application field of medicine. Technologically, much is expected from the recent pharmacogenomics developments: functional information of the human genome is linked with disease susceptibility and drug response.
In innovation studies, a wide range of scholars recognizes that great user involvement and successful interactions between users and producers enhance the innovation processes in which they are engaged (Von Hippel 1988, Lundvall 1992, Smits 2002, Moors et al. 2003). A better mutual understanding of needs, visions, goals, and ethical issues changes the context in which innovation processes take place and by this increases their chances on successful adoption and implementation of innovations. Moreover, utilizing users’ creative potential might improve the innovations themselves and even lead to new innovations.
Within health care users are not as homogenously defined as in consumer markets. Moreover, if these parties want to make an impact on policy or innovation levels they will do this through a variety of organizations. Examples include patients’ or physician’s representative organizations, umbrella organizations of insurance companies, etc. These organizations play a large part in the Dutch health care sector. In innovation studies these kinds of organizations are called intermediary organizations (IOs). An important process in which both IOs and other stakeholders are engaged is the articulation of demands. This is an iterative (inherently creative) process in which stakeholders (users, producers, regulators, etc.) try to clear up the characteristics of an innovation. The general research question that will be answered within this research project reads: How is the demand for a pharmacogenomics innovation (project) articulated in processes in (and with) intermediary organizations?
Contact InformationTitle
‘Genetics and Citizenship. Standardization and
regulation of genetic technology in clinical practice and health care’
Keywords
Clinical scientific human research, genetic technology, ethics, regulation, public
involvement
Summary
Focus of research is the development of norms and standards of clinical
scientific human research in the field of genetics (for the benefit of
diagnostics and tests for genetic screening). The aim of this philosophical
empirical research is to acquire insight in the public involvement in science
and technology development.
This project focuses on the articulation of ethical dilemma's and debates on clinical research. The role of REC's (local METC's and the central commission CCMO) in medical research will be the main subject to scrutiny. Ethical, normative, and regulatory issues not only concerns REC's, but also various other actors, such as professionals groups, scientific communities, pharmaceutical and biotechnological companies, and patient groups. The advent of new genetic technologies raises new questions, which are not easily answered. New questions have emerged to do with the normative evaluation of such technologies. Possible new configurations of actors and new practices are shaped. How do different actor groups constitute 'new norms and rules' in order to create order in clinical research practices of genetic technologies? How do these groups balance 'private' and 'public interests'? What rules and norms do REC's apply when assessing research application? What are the strengths and weaknesses of the framework currently in use?
Contact InformationTitle
Modelling the future
Summary
I studied political sciences and women studies at the University of Amsterdam. I
started my PhD research at the Erasmus University Rotterdam at the beginning of
match 2003, at the institute of Healthcare Management. Between the ending of my
masters and my PhD research I worked for a Dutch political party and for the
province Noord-Holland.
I perform an empirical research to the way the economic scientists at the Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis (CPB) define their work as scientific, as opposed to non-scientific actors like the government and political parties. This I do with the concept of boundary work. I observe and analyse how within the Netherlands Bureau of Economic Policy Analysis (CPB) and it’s surroundings boundary work is performed in the models they use, the output published etc.
Within the context of the general program, the following questions are asked:
I focus on two cases, first the Dutch health care system and the Dutch labour market. The first case addresses questions like; how did the CPB become a new actor in the field of health care, and how did it establish a powerful position in this field in which it is fairly new? I make use of interviews with the actors in the field and document analysis.
This research is part of a bigger NWO financed program Rethinking the Boundary Between Science and Politics, in which four other researchers participate. Other Dutch advice organisations looked at: Alterra, CBS, WRR and the RIVM.
Contact InformationTitle
Ethical aspects in design processes
Summary
This PhD project focuses on the way that engineers deal with ethical issues, for
example safety and sustainability, in design processes. Design processes are
observed and special attention is given to the way engineers decide upon issues
like safety. The results from the case studies will be critically evaluated
using some ethical theories.
Title
Interfering governance arrangements. The emergence of river studies in the
Netherlands, 1985-2005
Keywords
Governance, modes of knowledge production, river studies
Summary
Mieke van Hemert studied physical geography and science and technology dynamics.
Since October 2002 she is involved in a PhD research at the University of
Twente. The study aims at a reconstruction of the emergence of river studies in the Netherlands. River
studies is both an interdisciplinary academic specialty and a domain of
knowledge production developing in a policy context. The study has a historical
and an analytical dimension. Analytically, the emergent structure of river
studies is explained as the (unintended) outcome of interfering governance
arrangements. The historical narrative serves to trace the impact of events and
yields a characterization of (intentional and self-reflexive) strategies of
individual and collective actors. Supervision is by Prof. Dr. Arie Rip and Dr.
Barend J.R. van der Meulen
Title
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. 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 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. SummaryTitle: 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 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. 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 Meulen
My 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.
Contact informationSummary
Title: Connecting Human and Machine Intelligence
Supervisor(s): Prof. Dr. Rein de Wilde and Dr. Joke Spruyt
In her research project Merel investigates the limits to and possibilities of the envisioned human/intelligent machine configurations that emerge from debates concerning advances in intelligent computational technologies. Scientific and commercial projects in the field of agent technologies, closely related to the field of Artificial Intelligence, argue for a change in our current relationship to computational technologies. They advocate technologies that are not passive tools, but that are our ‘partners’, ‘collaborators’ or our ‘cognitive prosthetics’ as they ‘think’ for or with a human user. The promises of these types of intelligent technologies have instigated a renewed interest in how humans and technologies relate to each other and have sparked intense debates about what sets humans apart from machines. Yet, if we look at current day research into these types of technologies this convergence or symbiosis of humans and machines is still very much a promise rather than reality. Discourses on the possibilities of intelligent technologies seem to make a sudden conceptual shift in attributing autonomy, pro-activity or adaptivity to these technologies. Yet, it remains unclear how, when and where they will acquire these abilities. It is the awkwardness of this conceptual shift that leads to the main questions of this project: What exactly is it that will be so fundamentally different about these technologies? And what are our expectations of the role of intelligent technologies as part of human activity? This research project sets out to extend the conceptual framework in which discussion about the possibilities and limitations of these technologies can be discussed. The project entails an analysis of three concepts commonly used to describe agents: adaptivity, pro-activity and autonomy. The analysis is based on empirical examples and draws on theories and ideas about the human/technology relationship from philosophy of technology, sociology, anthropology and Science and Technology studies.
Contact information http://www.zw.unimaas.nl/nutri Background Bart Penders received his Bachelor in Biology from Nijmegen University and continued at the same instate where he received his Masters in Evolutionary Microbiology cum laude. During the last period of his studies he developed an interest in Philosophy and Communication Studies. SummaryTitle: Nutrigenomics in the making: a conceptual empirical analysis of the evolving research practice of an integrated genomics approach towards gut health
Supervisor(s): Prof. Rein Vos and Prof. Klasien Horstman
The PhD project Bart Penders is currently working on is a Science and Technology Studies perspective directed at the emerging field of nutrigenomics or molecular nutrition science. Through participant observation, interviews and literature studies, he tries to establish which norms are co-constructed with the technology and facts that shape the field. The empirical analysis of the evolving research practice of nutrigenomics is to serve as a case enabling more general lessons to be drawn from these processes for other 'new' lines of scientific enquiry.
D. Robinson, MPhys MSS
Contact information
Title: Reflexive governance and technology assessment of new and emerging technologies: The case of nanotechnologies
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Arie 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. Joske Bunders, Dr. Jacqueline 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.
www.ppsw.rug.nl/~teng/derijcke.html
Background Sarah de Rijcke (Hoorn, 1976) studied theory and history of psychology at the University of Groningen. She did an internship at Psychologie Magazine in Amsterdam, and wrote a masters thesis on standardization in the Dutch mental health care system. She held two jobs at the faculty of behavioral and social sciences in Groningen before taking on her current project.Summary
Title: ''Regarding the Brain. Practices of Cerebral Representation''
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Douwe Draaisma
In traditional history of medicine the human brain is generally considered as a ‘given’, visually represented in a variety of ways, following the development of novel graphic techniques and conventions. From this perspective visual representations of the brain are more or less ‘accurate’ or ‘truthful’, taking the current state of neurological knowledge as a standard. This thesis will consistently shift attention to the contemporary practices in which these representations were used and produced. These practices may include very diverse settings, such as dissections, anthropological measurement, neurological experiments, brain operations, histological research or cerebral diagnostics. Rather than accepting the human brain as a ‘given’, the project aims at exploring the thesis that this diversity of contexts, along with novel techniques and conventions, has produced a variety of brains.
My investigation has a long historical view, spanning more than four centuries of cerebral representations. What binds the case studies together is a focus on historical variations in the boundaries between science, art, technology and society. The cases to be investigated are taken from periods of transition. These transitions involve shifts of theoretical orientation, the development of novel research techniques, the emergence of new types of lesions, or changes in technologies of measurement and observation. During each period the actors involved tend to mobilize visual representations as one of the means to introduce and establish their innovation.
Publications
Peer-reviewed:
Draaisma, D. & Rijcke, S. de (2001). The graphic strategy: the uses and functions of illustrations in Wundt’s Grundzüge, History of the Human Sciences, 14, 1, 1-24.
Scholarly:
Draaisma, D., & Rijcke, S., de (1998). De grafische strategie. De illustraties in de Grundzüge van Wundt. Psychologie en Maatschappij, 82 (22), 1, 52-71.
Draaisma, D. & Rijcke, S. de (1999). Victoriaanse wetenschap: stilte na de storm. Amsterdamse boekengids, 18, 32-40.
Rijcke, S. de & Anne Beaulieu, A. (2004). De grenzen van inzichtelijkheid. Waarom wetenschappelijke afbeeldingen niet vanzelf spreken. Academische Boekengids, 47, p. 13-15.
Rijcke, S. de (2005). State of Mind. BIOS News, 1 (1), pp. 5-6. London: LSE.
Rijcke, S. de (2006). Stof van het denken. Academische Boekengids, 54, 1, p. 11-13.
Professional:
Draaisma, D. & Rijcke, S. de (2004). Morbide schoonheid: de onwezenlijke tweedeling tussen kunst en wetenschap. De Volkskrant 29-01-2004.
Drunen, P. van, Faas, E. & De Rijcke, S. (2002). Kwaliteit in kaart (2). Verkenning van het kwaliteitsbeleid van de sector Jeugd, de sector Arbeid en Organisatie en de Intersector. Amsterdam: NIP.
Rijcke, S. de (2000). Rationele verbeelding. Bespreking van G. Breeuwsma: Psychologie voor de linkerhand. Over kunst, verbeelding en andere afwijkingen (1998), Psychologie en Maatschappij, 24, 1, 101-103.
Rijcke, S. de (2000). Psychotherapie in debat. De Psycholoog, 35, 3, 134-135.
Rijcke, S., de (2001). Wonen. De illusie van individualiteit. Psychologie Magazine, 2, 37-40.
Rijcke, S. de (2003). Gevechten langs de grens. (Bespreking van : I. van Hilvoorde, Grenswachters van de pedagogiek. Demarcatie en disciplinevorming in de ontwikkeling van de Nederlandse academische pedagogiek 1900-1970.) De Psycholoog 38, 2, 78-79.
Rijcke, S. de (2005). Photographie bekommert zich niet om overtuigingen. De introductie van de fotografie in de neurologie. Nieuwsbrief van het Nederlands Fotogenootschap, juli 2005.
Contact InformationBackground
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. Hub Zwart, Dr. Astrid 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 InformationTitle
On production, presentation, preservation and perception of Technology-based
Installation Art
Keywords
Conservation theory, technology-based installation art, sensory experience,
medium specificity, spectatorship
Supervisors
Promotor: Prof. Dr. R. Zwijnenberg (Faculty of Arts and
Culture, Maastricht University)
Co-promotor: Dr. R. van de Vall (Faculty of Arts
and Culture, Maastricht University)
Supervisor: Mr. IJ. Hummelen (senior researcher Netherlands Institute for
Cultural Heritage)
Summary
In 1998 Vivian van Saaze (1975) obtained her Master’s degree Arts and Culture
at Maastricht University. After her graduation she worked as a freelance writer
and assistant curator in the field of contemporary art. Since 2001 she has
participated in several research projects concerning the presentation and
preservation of contemporary art carried out by the Foundation for the
Conservation of Modern and Contemporary Art, the Netherlands Institute for
Cultural Heritage, and the Netherlands Media Art Institute/Montevideo.
In September 2003 Vivian started her Ph.D. research; a joint venture of the Faculty of Arts and Culture at Maastricht University and the Netherlands Institute for Cultural Heritage (ICN). The research addresses the challenges museums are confronted with when they acquire present and wish to preserve technology-based installation art. Film, video and computer driven artworks have become mainstream in contemporary artistic practice. But acquisition of such works implies that curators and conservators have to deal with obsolete technologies and other specific problems concerning the care and management of these complex and hybrid works of art. For instance, technology-based installation artworks often provoke a specific sensory and spatial experience. Re-installation or re-creation at a different site or using different media might have an unwanted effect on the perception of the spectator.
In order to make well-informed decisions on issues of emulation (to imitate the appearance of a work by using a different medium) or migration (to upgrade the medium to a contemporary medium), curators and conservators are in need of a profound understanding of the impact of media technologies on the all-over sensory and spatial experience of the piece.
Although these issues are subjects of research in the international conservation community, and new documentation and preservation strategies are currently being developed, theoretical reflection lags behind. The aim of the project is to survey and develop theoretical insights that contribute to a good practice in the care for this specific area of cultural heritage. What kinds of strategies are used in order to preserve the so-called ‘look and feel’ of new media artworks? To what extent are notions of ‘materiality’ and ‘authenticity’ still useful in the safeguarding of these ephemeral artworks for the future? What theoretical vocabulary is needed in order to capture the experience of technology-based installation art in terms of sensory aspects?
Vivian’s main interest lies in preservation issues presented by artworks that deal with the interrelation between the spectator, projected image/screen and spatiality. In the course of a five year research period she will analyze several case studies, focusing on contemporary artistic practices as well as the working practices of museums and (new) media art institutions. The research will take an interdisciplinary approach and will build upon insights of preservation theory, art historical and art theoretical studies, constructivist technology studies, and media theory. It will be carried out in close cooperation with the research project Transformations of Perception and Participation: Digital Games (Maastricht University and University of Amsterdam) and the International Network for the Conservation of Contemporary Art (INCCA, co-organized by the ICN).
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
S. Slaghuis, MSc Contact information Title Evaluating integrated development of innovations in care for elderly Supervisor(s) Prof. Dr. R. Bal, Dr. T. Zuiderent-Jerak Background Studied Psychological Research Methodology at the University of Amsterdam, graduated 2003. Worked as a lecturer and tutor at the Psychology Department of the Faculty for Society and Behavioural Studies, the University of Amsterdam and the Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies (IIS). Topics of interest and teaching: academic skills, research methods in general, philosophy of science, science/technology and society, knowledge transfer and formation, problem solving processes, creativity and design studies. Contact InformationTitle
Quantified BackCasting: Methodological design of
transition strategies in the area of sustainable transportation chains
- Determining the feasibility of transition trajectories using a
technology specific innovation systems approach -
Keywords
Transition, technology specific
innovation systems, functions, backcasting, sustainability, energy
system, transport
Supervisors
Prof. Dr. R. Smits, Dr. M. Hekkert & Dr K. Frenken
Summary
Energy Systems / Transition to Sustainability
My
promotion research focuses on the development of sustainable energy technology
in a socio-economical context. Within this project, I hope to fruitfully combine
my knowledge of physics and chemistry with sociology and economics in order to
establish a new method for evaluating technological trajectories.
Technology Specific Innovation Systems
My
project specifically focuses on all those states and processes that influence
the creation and implementation of new knowledge in order to make a transition
from a current transport system to a desired future transport system possible.
An important concept in innovation studies that covers many aspects of this
transition process is the concept of the Technology Specific Innovation System
(TSIS). The TSIS can be defined as a set of interrelated institutions of which
the core is made up of those institutions that produce, diffuse and adapt new
(specific) technological knowledge. Within this approach the process of
technological change is considered to be an individual as well as a higher level
collective act. Hence determinants of technological choice are not only to be
sought after within individual firms, but also within the higher level
structures of the innovation system as a whole.
Technology Specific Innovation Systems
Recently
a new analytical framework was proposed where the ISs functional performance is
a focal point. From decades of IS literature a set of generally applicable
functions was distilled. These functions are believed to be the determinants of
IS performance. Different technological systems can be compared to each other
just by comparing their respective fulfilment with regard to this set of
functions. Besides inducing comparability another advantage exists: the
functional analysis makes a description of processes, rather than states,
possible without having to abandon the IS conceptual framework. The transition
process could be described as well as explained (!) in terms of functional
interrelatedness and function fulfilment through time
http://www.gw.utwente.nl/wijsb/medewerkers/valkenburg
Background I hold master's degrees in Electrical Engineering (discipline Control Engineering) and Philosophy. Furthermore I am at the moment working on a bachelor's degree in Music (Conservatory, Classical Vocals).Summary
Title:Genomics, World Views and Liberal Societ
Supervisor(s): Prof. Dr. H.J. Achterhuis, Dr. T.E. Swierstra
My research will concern the public debate around genomics. Genomics is a newly minted designation for present genetics. It is different from classic 'mendelian' genetics by its focus on multifactoriality, both in a multigenetic and an extragenetic sense. It uses large quantities of data, and therefore needs advanced informational technologies, large infrastructural investments and the cooperation of large populations.
In modern culture, characterised by technology and liberalism, we have certain rules (both normative and descriptive) according to which debates are developed. Among these rules is the exclusion of personally coloured arguments: claims appealing to religion or Weltanschauung are generally problematic when put forward in a public or political discussion. Yet these convictions constitute to a large extent our point of departure in discussions, and remain rather rigid as such. This is a common problem, but it is of particular interest in a genomics context, which is presumed to heavily influence our personal life.
The aim of the research is to articulate this problem within the specific genomics context, and by critically assessing whether common political theories offer alternatives for the exile of our ideas on the good life. The research aims to make a contribution to political philosophy.
Publications
G. Valkenburg, H.J. Achterhuis, A.H.J. Nijhof; Fundamental shortcomings of Evidence-based Medicine; in: Journal of Health, Organisation and Management; vol. 17, is. 6, pp. 463-471; 2003
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 Informationhttp://www.fdcw.unimaas.nl/personal/people/nikivermeulen.htm
Background Niki followed the Arts and Culture programme at Maastricht University, specializing in ‘Technological Culture’. In 2003 she graduated with a master thesis on the origin and application of network theories. During her studies Niki has been a research-assistant in a study on the knowledge society and within a project on the agricultural biotechnology debate. Furthermore, she did internships with the Netherlands Scientific Council for Government Policy (WRR) and with the Scientific Council of the Royal Netherlands Embassy in Washington D.C. Here she wrote a report on life sciences innovation in the United States which inspired her current research. Recently, Niki has been a Marie Curie Research Fellow at the Science and Technology Studies Unit at the University of York.Summary
Title: Living Science. On ‘Big Biology’ and the transformation of innovation
Supervisor(s): Prof. Dr. Rein de Wilde & Prof. Dr. Ir. Wiebe Bijker
This PhD research project is about the changing character of science and the scientific profession in our contemporary world, thereby focussing on life sciences as a field that is currently in transition. While the search for the structure of DNA in 1953 can be characterised as a scientific quest of a small group of scientists taking place in a relatively small-scale academic environment, fifty years later the Human Genome Project shows a completely different world. The HGP presents the planning and management of a large and dynamic project with a clear mission, involving huge amounts of money, expensive instruments and numerous scientists in laboratories all over the world. Moreover, the academic environment is substituted by an international and political setting, figuring academia, governments, funding bodies, business, media and the public. These changes have been characterised as the emergence of ‘Big Biology’, the appropriation of the ‘Big Science’ concept to the field of biology. This thesis explores the question of Big Science both as a discourse in the social organisation of science, and also as a way of conceptualising scale and cooperation in scientific and technological projects. Attention is focussed on increasingly large dimensions in science, the composition of collaboration, the institutionalisation of science and relations between academia, government, industry and society. Next to the innovation regime, the projectification of science comes to the fore, with its focus on the organisation and control of the research process and its emphasis on accountability. To investigate how these general developments come together, interact and materialise in specific situations, diverse large-scale research projects are examined, dealing with bioinformatics, virology and life in the oceans. Moreover, the implications of the changing research environment for (young) scientists who have to engage with this new world of biology research are explored.
Publications
Vermeulen, N & R. Kleinenberg (2004). ‘Life Sciences in de VS: stimuleren, reguleren, discussiëren’. Published online on 28-5-2004 at the TWA website of the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs: http://www.twanetwerk.nl/.
Vermeulen, N. (2003). ‘Biotechnologie clusters in de Verenigde Staten’. TWAnieuws, Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, 41 (6), 5-7.
Vermeulen, N. & R. Kleinenberg (2003). ‘Life Sciences in de Verenigde Staten’. TWAnieuws, Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, 41 (4), 8.
Wilde, R. de, N. Vermeulen & M. Reithler (2003). Bezeten van Genen. Een essay over de innovatieoorlog rondom genetisch gemodificeerd voedsel ‘Preliminary and background studies’ of the Netherlands Scientific Coucil for Government Policy, vol. 117. The Hague: Sdu Publishers.
Contact information Background Wietse Vroom graduated (cum laude) in Molecular Sciences at Wageningen University (http://www.wur.nl) in 2004. In his studies, he combined a specialization in bacterial genetics with a thesis in communication sciences. His thesis focused on the role of scientific experts in the communication about nutrigenomics innovations.Summary
Title: The international organization of food genomics research: Analyzing its contradictions to find a room for maneuver for reconstructing its script
Promotor(s): Prof. Dr. Guido Ruivenkamp (promoter), Prof. Dr. Joske Bunders (co-promotor),Prof. Dr. Steve Hughes (co-promotor) andDr. Ir. Joost Jongerden (supervisor)
Wietse Vroom studies the contingent and political nature of
genomics development and the potentiality for alternative development
trajectories. Central to the research project is the notion of a script of
technology that reflects and reinforces the social context in which the
technology is developed. Point of departure is the observation that current
technological innovations in food production/processing have trouble addressing
the needs of ‘the resource poor’, partly because they are badly attuned to the
social and economic reality in non-western parts of the world.
Reconstructing the script of genomics may give rise to the development of
alternative genomics technologies that will be adapted to endogenous
developments in such parts of the world. Hence, the project focuses on the
question whether room for maneuver exists (and if so where) to bring in
users-perspectives from developing countries within the internationally
organized genomics research.
Theoretical influences include Critical Theory, Social Shaping of Technology and
Systems of Innovation.