Call for Abstracts - Responsible Research and Innovation Studies

SESSION 4: RESPONSIBLE RESEARCH AND INNOVATION
Erich Grießler, Institute for Advanced Studies (IHS), Vienna, Austria
Wolfgang Polt, Joanneum Research, Graz, Austria
Bernhard Wieser, STS - Institute of Science, Technology and Society Studies at Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt|Vienna|Graz, IFZ Inter-University Research Centre for Technology, Work and Culture, Graz, Austria

The concept of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI), which in recent years has had a remarkable political career within the European Commission, tries to change research and innovation into an inclusive process that combines public engagement, gender equality, science education, ethics, open access, and governance. More abstract, RRI is defined as “taking care of the future through collective stewardship of science and innovation in the present" (Stilgoe et al. 2013: 1570). This session aims to explore both the relevance and validity of RRI as a conceptional framework as well as its potential practical application(s) in institutions in the different parts of the system of research and innovation. Central issues to be addressed in the session are:

• Is RRI suitable to foster critical analysis of innovation processes?
• What are the chances to institutionalize RRI in different research and innovation contexts?
• What procedures and institutions exist to promote RRI?
• How can RRI be integrated in research agendas both on national and international level?
• Does RRI enhance integral social science analysis in emerging science and innovation processes?
• Can it be demonstrated that RRI would improve the functioning of a research and innovation system and if so, in which ways?

We aim to address these issues in an open dialogue and invite researchers to contribute with their views on RRI.

SESSION 5: BEYOND BIBLIOMETRICS: NEW APPROACH TO MAPPING SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
David Budtz Pedersen, Lasse Johansson, Jonas Grønvad, Humanomics Research Centre, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

For almost four decades, bibliometrics has been the standard approach to mapping knowledge production in science and technology. Bibliometric data combined with statistical techniques (e.g. social network analysis), for instance, has proven to be a powerful tool in mapping the relationships between researchers, institutions, journals, scientific fields, etc. Recently, however, STS scholars have begun to take interest in new ways of mapping science by using alternative metrics – sometimes referred to as altmetrics. These new approaches seek to move beyond standard indicators such as co-authorships and co-citation analysis to provide new insights, focusing on wider aspects of the research process than merely publication and citation patterns. This session explores the current state of altmetrics and other novel approaches to mapping science and technology. The session examines new data types and analytical methods with the ambition to shed light on the overall possibilities and limitations of these new approaches. The session invites presentations dealing with these and related questions. Presentations from all scientific disciplines are welcome. The focus of the session will be on methodology, technique and policy of mapping science rather than specific empirical findings. Nonetheless, case studies may be used to demonstrate principled methodological points. The purpose of the session is to achieve an overview of new approaches to science mapping; the possibilities and limitations of these methodologies; and to provide a forum for discussion as well as exchange ideas and experiences.

SESSION 6: SCIENCE AND ECONOMY: SOCIOTECHNICAL NETWORKS AND THE USE OF KNOWLEDGE
Luísa Veloso, Centre for Research and Studies in Sociology University Institute of Lisbon, Portugal

The relationship between the state, universities, companies and other organisations that are potential users of scientific knowledge is not a given fact from the outset. These relations are socially constructed and the failure of many Science and Technology (S&T) projects is not due to scientific or technical problems but to difficulties in the social relations and cultural changes in the environment. The session welcomes proposals on subjects like: a) the role of the EU, state and policy makers in the mediation of the relationship between science and industry; b) the role of interface institutions and agencies such as technological centres in the promotion of knowledge and technology transfer, questioning of the interface function itself, the interface relations, the redefinition of the Triple Helix and the role played by their constituent institutional actors; c) the analysis of the configuration of the industrial base, focusing on sectors that can play a leading role in innovation and the internationalisation, strengthening the client and user relationship and transforming knowledge into a tradable good; d) the role played by companies and research centres in the production and spread of Research and Innovation (R&I), not working within defined limits or boundaries but spreading itself in different directions; e) the role played by knowledge users in the configuration of technology, also as partners in S&T projects, as a result of the sociotechnical networks of innovation, e.g. spin-offs generated from research centres or companies. Papers of methodological and empirical nature are welcome.

REFERENCES
Callon, M (1986) The sociology of an actor-network: the case of the electric vehicle. In Callon, M, Law, J & Rip, A, eds. Mapping the dynamics of science and technology. MacMillan Press: London, pp. 358-376.
Etzkowitz, H & Leydesdorff, L (1997) Universities and the global knowledge economy. A Triple-Helix of University-Industry-Government relations. London & Washington: Pinter Publishers.
Kopytoff, I (1999) The cultural biography of things: commoditization as process. In Appadurai, A, ed. The social life of things, commodities in cultural perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 64-95.
Oudshoorn, N & Pinch, T, ed. (2005) How users matter. The co-construction of users and technology. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Shinn, T (2008) Research-technology and cultural change: Instrumentation, genericity, transversality. Oxford: the Bardwell Press.

SESSION 7: DOES QUALITY COUNT? ON THE ROLE OF METRICS IN ACADEMIC ACCOUNTABILITY POLITICS
Sarah de Rijcke (Centre for Science and Technology Studies, Leiden University)
Tereza Stockelova (Institute of Sociology, Czech Academy of Sciences)

Since the 1980s, academic accountability politics have begun to gravitate around logics of impact and excellence, as measured through increasingly convoluted ‘metric assemblages’ (Burrows 2012). This session addresses how we might situate this explosive expansion of evaluative metrics within such accountability politics.
Evaluative metrics are increasingly positioned as the basis for rationalizing (and delegating responsibility for) complex decision-making processes in assessment situations. In addition, metrics are used to intervene - to redistribute resources to ‘winners’, decrease costs, regulate access to public services, promote collaboration, etc. This raises questions about the appeal of metrics and their ability to enact value, excellence, reputation and impact; the consequences of metrics-based evaluation, how it works; what counts as quality, excellence or impact, and to whom. The session is open to theoretical contributions as well as empirical studies that attempt to address these questions with an STS sensibility. We also welcome papers that analyze how quality and ‘excellence’ are rendered as ongoing achievements, involving the alignment of metrics, materialities, (in)formal evaluation mechanisms, institutional regulatory repertoires, political realities and criteria of in- and exclusion.