Technoscientific Constitutionalism: Exploring New Horizons in STS Research at the intersection of Science, Technology, Law, and Governance
Final Report Abstract
As planned from the beginning, this collaborative German-American research conference granted the opportunity to openly explore how science and technology (re-constitute) society through the lens of “technoscientific constitutionalism”. Not only did it trigger a cross-national and transdisciplinary debate on social, political and legal transformations in the three domains of biosciences, information technology and economics, but it also enabled intellectual developments of the broader theory of bioconstitutionalism to technoconstitutionalism. While the envisioned subsequent on-site collaborations and workshops in Washington D.C. had to be cancelled due to the onset of the global Covid-19 pandemic, the joint DFG-NSF research symposium nevertheless bare intellectual fruit in the STS community and beyond. Correspondingly, the 2.5 day event’s core ideas culminated in multiple publications featured in high-quality research journals, and significantly influenced one of the largest comparative projects investigating national responses to the Covid-19 pandemic (CompCoRe). The conference also successfully offered graduate students and junior scholars opportunities for intellectual and professional development and fostered lasting research networks across US and German communities.
Publications
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Technology Governance and the Innovation Process. In: OECD Science, Technology and Innovation Outlook 2018 Adapting to Technological and Societal Disruption. Paris, France: OECD Publishing, pp. 221–240
Winickoff D. & Pfotenhauer S.
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Constitutionalism at the Nexus of Life and Law. Science, Technology, & Human Values, 45(6), 979-1000.
Hurlbut, J. Benjamin; Jasanoff, Sheila & Saha, Krishanu
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The politics of scaling. Social Studies of Science, 52(1), 3-34.
Pfotenhauer, Sebastian; Laurent, Brice; Papageorgiou, Kyriaki & Stilgoe, Jack
