Overview
The Science Studies Network brings together faculty and graduate students at the University of Washington who represent three broad constituencies with interests in science studies: history and philosophy of science; cultural studies of science; and ethics, equity, and policy issues in science.
We plan a two-year program of colloquium meetings with the aim of establishing a robust interdisciplinary research network. Our further goals are to foster topic-specific collaborative research projects, and to explore the potential for developing an interdisciplinary curriculum in science studies that integrates dispersed course offerings and builds on the success of the existing major in History and Philosophy of Science.
Colloquium Meetings
All colloquia meet from 12:00-1:20 pm in the Simpson Center seminar room (CMU 202) unless otherwise indicated. Lunch will be provided, but space is limited, so please RSVP in advance.
Visit the Science Studies Network website for complete colloquia schedule.
Colloquium Meetings E-flyer (pdf)
Science Studies Working Definition
Science Studies is an interdisciplinary field of research that takes the sciences in all their complexity—their practice, their history and socio-cultural formation, their philosophical underpinnings, their impact on our lives—as a subject for systematic investigation.
The point of departure is, for many, an appreciation that science is a jointly intellectual, material, and social enterprise; it brings diverse resources to bear on the project of constructing stable, reliable systems of knowledge about the natural and social world. It is the goal of Science Studies to understand how such knowledge is produced and authorized, what distinguishes it as scientific knowledge, how it evolves and is inflected by the contexts of its production, and what its normative implications are: what ethical obligations and other forms of accountability constitute "research integrity" in particular contexts of practice.
Science Studies Network Proposal (pdf)
Science Studies Network Executive Summary (pdf)
Project Website
For more information on colloquia, conferences, and related events, visit the Science Studies Network Website.
Conferences
Tenth Annual Philosophy of Social Science Roundtable
March 7-9, 2008
Organized by Alison Wylie (Philosophy and Anthropology), the 2008 Roundtable will continue a tradition of workshop-style discussion of a wide range of philosophical issues raised in and by social research.
Keynote speakers will be Nancy Cartwright (London School of Economics, University of California - San Diego) and Charles Mills (Northwestern University).
Call for papers (pdf)
Roundtable details (pdf)
Roundtable website
Seattle area hotels (pdf)
Expanding Interdisciplinarity from Campus to Communities
June 5-7, 2008
Organized by Kelly Fryer-Edwards (Medical History & Ethics and Public Health Genetics) and Alison Wylie (Philosophy and Anthropology), this invitational conference will assemble field-defining practitioners, community partners, and younger scholars in a panel presentation and workshop format.
We will explore specifically how community based research practices transform traditional academic research practices through an impact on the design, the conduct, and the outcomes of research in a selection of biological, environmental, and socio-historical fields.
Conference details (pdf)
Courses
Winter 2008
HUM 596: Presuppositions of Practice: Philosophical Issues in the Social Sciences. Taught by Alison Wylie (Philosophy and Anthropology), this interdisciplinary seminar will focus on works by participants in the 10th Annual Philosophy of Social Science Roundtable, which will be hosted by the University of Washington, March 7-9, 2008. Details