Resources for Students

Science, Technology, and Society touches on the modern world's critical issues. Its questions cross all disciplinary boundaries. Students interested in STS have great resources available to them:

Read about STS-related tracks in several departments.
Review our list of courses across the curriculum.
Search our faculty listing for professors in dozens of departments.
Use our student listing to find graduate students interested in related areas.

News Archive

09/21/2009

Mediating Natures Working Group
Monday, Sept. 21, 2009
330 Wheeler Hall, UC Berkeley

The aim of this working group is to consider the role of the humanities in ecological issues. We will critically discuss figurations of the environment employed by literary, scientific, and socio-political discourses. By taking seriously the relation between material and fictional ecologies, we propose an interdisciplinary examination of how relations between humans and nonhumans are negotiated. The meetings are potluck dinners, so we invite you to bring something to share; cheese, other treats, and drinks will be provided.

09/15/2009

Gender, Bodies and Technology
April 22-24, 2010
Roanoke, Virginia
Deadline: September 15, 2009
Event flyer (PDF)

Sponsored by the Women's and Gender Studies Program at Virginia Tech.
 
We invite proposals from scholars in the humanities, social and
natural sciences, visual and performing arts, engineering and
technology for papers, panels, new media art and performance pieces that explore: the technological production of gendered and racialized bodies, historical and contemporary feminist
appropriations of technology in aesthetics and representations of embodiment, and the gendered implications of technology in contexts ranging from classrooms to workplaces to the Internet. We construe technology broadly to include material culture and the apparatus of daily life, such as writing, books and the built environment.
 
Contact:
Sharon Elber
selber@vt.edu

09/14/2009

Call for Editors
Qui Parle
Deadline: September 14

The journal qui parle is looking for new editors. We are an interdisciplinary humanities and social science journal, founded at UC Berkeley in 1986, and committed to expanding our horizons and redefining ourselves as a site of critique and productive theorization in the human sciences broadly construed. Graduate students from all disciplines are encouraged to submit applications to become menbers of the board of editors. We encourage prospective applicants to visit our website: quiparle.berkeley.edu.

Applications should include: a short CV (or a brief resumé of work experience and background) a short cover letter, specifying the applicant's interests and background, the reasons for her/his desire to join the board of qui parle, and possible contributions or ideas she or he has for the journal.

Send all enquiries and materials to:qpcallforeditors@gmail.com.

Personal interviews will be set for late-September and we encourage people of color and women to apply.

09/3-4/2009

The *Comparative Relativism *Colloquium
IT-University of Copenhagen
September 3-4, 2009

*Comparative Relativism *features presentations and a roundtable discussion by Professor Eduardo Viveiros de Castro (Museo Nacional, Rio de Janeiro), Professor Barbara Herrnstein Smith (Brown University & Duke University), Professor Isabelle Stengers (The Free University of Brussels) and Professor
Marilyn Strathern (Cambridge University) and discussants.

To register for the event, visit http://www.itu.dk/comprel/Registration.html

In addition to the main event, Ph.D. students can sign up for a short intensive discussion session with one of the key note speakers. Please check the webpage for further information and requirements relating to this.

07/23-24/2009

The Faculty of Engineering at Mahasarakham University, together with the Faculty of Engineering, Khonkaen University, the Institute of Engineering, Suranaree University of Technology and the Faculty of Engineering, Ubonrajathani University are pleased to announce the holding of the International Conference on Science, Technology and Innovation for Sustainable Well-Being. We invite graduate students, post-docs, researchers and interested participants to submit abstracts and attend the conference.

For more details, please visit: www.stiswb.msu.ac.th.

07/10/2009

Spontaneous Generations
A Journal for the History and Philosophy of Science
Volume 3: Epistemic Boundaries
Deadline: July 10

Spontaneous Generations is accepting submissions of short papers (1000-3000 words) for our focused discussion section on epistemic boundaries as well as longer papers (5000 - 8000 words) on any subject in the history and philosophy of science. We welcome submissions from scholars in all disciplines, including but not limited to HPS, STS, History, Philosophy, Women's Studies, Sociology, Anthropology, and Religious Studies. Papers from all periods are welcome.

Spontaneous Generations is an open, online, peer-reviewed academic journal published by graduate students at the Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology at the University of Toronto.

For more details, please visit the journal webapage.

07/09/2009

Race, genomics and mestizaje (mixture) in Latin America: a comparative approach
Deadline: July 3

We are currently advertising for three post-doctoral research associates, 18 months fixed term, to work on an ESRC funded project, Race, Genomics and Mestizaje in Latin America, directed by Prof. Peter Wade. The researchers will be based in Social Anthropology (School of Social Sciences) and will carry out some fieldwork in Colombia, Mexico or Brazil.

The project is a comparative analysis of how ideas of race and ethnicity interact with genomic research in Mexico, Colombia and Brazil, where geneticists are mapping local population genomes, with the objective of combating diseases, and tracing "racial" ancestries. These countries have high levels of genetic "admixture" and interest geneticists pursuing the genetic components of disorders. Scientists in these countries often link their findings explicitly to questions of national identity, racial-ethnic difference, racism and multiculturalism, provoking media attention and public debate. Through ethnographic lab work and interviews, the project explores how racial, ethnic and national categories enter these scientific endeavours, whether the categories are reproduced and/or reformulated, and what are the ethical and normative implications of this research. Using discourse analysis, focus groups and interviews, it also explores how information that scientists disseminate enters the public domain and how it is received there by diverse publics. All three countries have a history and a national identity based on mestizaje (racial-cultural mixture between Europeans, Africans and indigenous Americans), but the idea of mixture is slightly different in each case; the project will explore how the knowledge produced about genetics reinforces or challenges particular national versions of the ideology of mestizaje. Details of the project can be found the event webpage.

Contact Peter Wade for further information.

06/30/2009

Eleventh Berlin Roundtables on Transnationality Memory Politics: Education, Memorials and Mass Media
- Essay Competition
- Irmgard Coninx Research Grant 2009
- Workshops in Berlin, 21 – 26 October 2009
Deadline: June 30, 2009

organized by the Irmgard Coninx Foundation in cooperation with the Social Science Research Center Berlin (WZB) and the Humboldt-University Berlin.

Workshop participation in Berlin

50 successful applicants to the essay competition will be selected to participate in the Berlin Roundtables on Transnationality and to discuss their research with prominent scholars at two of Europe’s leading research institutions. The Roundtables take place at the WZB from 21 – 26 October 2009.

Deadline for essay submission: June 30, 2009

Irmgard Coninx Research Grant
An international jury will award a three-months fellowship to three participants to be used for research at the WZB, the Humboldt-University Berlin and the State library of Berlin. The Grant includes a monthly stipend of EUR 1,000 plus accommodation. The winners will be invited to join a follow-up workshop in Berlin in 2009/2010.

06/25/2009

The BioEconomy Summit 2009
June 25, 2009
Santa Clara University

Join us for a global summit taking place on June 25th at Santa Clara University. This special conference will feature leaders of industry, academia and government coming together to discuss the future of bio-based industries worldwide.Presented by theBayBio Institute,the National Academies, andthe Kauffman Foundation, the BioEconomy Summit will include panel discussions and audience participation to discuss the ways in which scientists, policy-makers, and capital markets can work together to ensure that the innovative possibilities of tomorrow become a reality. The conference will also feature companies that are helping to redefine the bioeconomy through human health innovations and transformative applications. Don't miss this one-day chance to be a part of a critical and timely discussion.

To register and for more information visit: http://www.bioeconomysummit.org

06/01/2009

Joint Atlantic Seminar in the History of Medicine
October 9-10, 2009
Deadline: June 1, 2009

Announcing the 7th Annual Joint Atlantic Seminar for the History of Medicine. Graduate students are encouraged to submit abstracts for research presentations on topics related to the history of health and healing; of medical ideas, practices, and institutions; and of illness, disease, and public health, from all eras and regions of the world.

The deadline for submissions has been extended to June 1, 2009.

All abstracts should be submitted electronically (either as a MS Word document or as text in the body of an e-mail) to Marissa Mika, Program Chair, at jasmedconf@gmail.com. For more details please visit the website.

The conference is to be held the weekend of October 9-10, 2009, and hosted by the Department of the History and Sociology of Science at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The seminar is organized and coordinated by graduate students across North America working in fields related to the history of medicine. Our mission is to foster a sense of community and provide a forum for sharing and critiquing graduate research by peers from a variety of institutions and backgrounds. Please visit www.jointatlantic.org.

05/27/2009

Graduate Research Opportunity in Costa Rica

Palo Verde National Park in Costa Rica is regarded as a living
biological laboratory. It is also a picturesque landscape, a
wetlands, where multiple species of plants, animals, and microbes are dwelling together in a naturalcultural contact zone. Here the agency of capital, the idea of nature as national patrimony, and the long arm what some have called "socio-duck-onomics" are mingling together in a productive, if not uneasy, mix. In short, Costa Rican conservation biologists have entered into an alliance with North American duck hunters to manage this wetland as habitat for migratory waterfowl.
Some of the duck species arrive in flocks of up to 50,000 and almost exclusively eat rice from nearby farms. At the same time, political and economic forces connected to industrial rice production are bringing a complex cocktail of agrochemicals into the Palo Verde watershed. Once selected, the successful applicant will develop a proposal in conversation with existing researchers who are already working in Palo Verde. We hope to jointly publish the results of existing projects along with the applicant.

Eligibility: Only enrolled graduate students who carry a U.S. passport may apply (the funds are from the National Science Foundation and are only applicable to U.S. citizens)

Term: Funds are available for up to ten weeks. Exact dates are
subject to discussion.

Qualifications: Graduate students who are trained as videographers, ethnographers, historians, or ecologists may apply. Strong preference will be given to students who have familiarity with the theoretical tools of Science and Technology Studies (STS). Fluency in Spanish is required.

Application: Send a short cover letter (describing relevant
experience, training, and language abilities), a Curriculum Vitae, and the contact details (phone and e-mail) of at least one academic reference to skirksey@ucsc.edu. The deadline for applications is Wednesday, May 27th, 2009.

05/22/2009

TransMaterialities - Call for Papers
University of California at Santa Cruz
Deadline: April 20, 2009

The UCSC Science Studies Research Cluster invites scholars across disciplines to submit abstracts for our one-day graduate student conference, TransMaterialities: Relating across Difference. Focusing on questions of materiality that have been vital to the tradition of feminist science studies, this conference will explore practices of relating across and between genders, species, spaces, knowledges, sexualities, subjectivities, and temporalities. Instead of taking these categories and their objects for granted, we endeavor to investigate how they are materialized by and sedimented out of dynamic intra-actions. At stake in these investigations are questions of being/becoming, knowing, getting along together, and living well in technoscientific worlds.

Please submit an abstract of 200-500 words to Martha Kenney
(mkenney@ucsc.edu) by Monday, April 20, 2009.

05/18/2009 - 05/21/2009

Transnationalism, Feminism Residential Dissertation Workshop - Call for Applications
Westerbeke Ranch, Sonoma, California
Deadline: April 8, 2009

The Institute for Advanced Feminist Research at the University of California, Santa Cruz and the UC Multicampus Research Group on Transnationalizing Justice are pleased to announce awards for the second annual residential dissertation workshop.

The focus will be on the relation between three terms: transnationalism, feminism, and justice. We invite applications from doctoral students at any of the University of California campuses who have advanced to candidacy and whose projects
speak broadly to one or more of a range of concerns, including debates within transnational feminism, feminist and queer rights frameworks, questions of incarceration and decarceration, state violence, approaches to war and war crimes, and competing feminist conceptualizations of justice. Fields of particular additional interest include sexuality studies (contemporary and
historical), labor studies, social movements, border studies and area studies.

To apply, please email Irena Richter (ihr@ucsc.edu) or ihr@ucsc.edu for specific instructions.

05/15/2009

California STS Workshop on Translation and Innovation
June 26-28, 2009
The Marin Headlands Institute
Deadline: May 15, 2009

This workshop will feature STS research into the nature of innovation as well as STS as a form of Innovation Studies.  It will include 3 faculty-run mini-workshops on Teaching STS: A Problem Based Learning Approach, Virtual worlds, and Intersections between STS, medicine and public health; topical theoretical discussion break-out groups; and practical working groups on innovation, translational research, grants, publishing and teaching. This will not be a standard conference with paper presentations, but there will be multiple opportunities to have your work discussed.

For more information:
http://sts.ucdavis.edu/summer-workshop


http://sites.google.com/site/calstsnet/home/sts-summer-workshop

Contact:

Joe Dumit (dumit@ucdavis.edu) or Andres Barragan (cabarragan@ucdavis.edu)

03/28/09-03/29/09

Science & Technology in Society: An International, Interdisciplinary, Graduate Student Conference - Call For Papers
AAAS Headquarters, Washington, DC
March 28 -29, 2009
Abstract Deadline: December 29, 2008 (passed)
See flyer.

The conference organizing committee welcomes submissions of initial abstracts (up to 250 words). Those whose abstracts are accepted should prepare for a 15-minute presentation. Please submit abstracts and contact information (with affiliation) via email to stabstract@gmail.com by December 29, 2008. Notification of abstract acceptance will be given by the end of January. An effort will be made to inform international students earlier to accommodate their visa and travel arrangements

03/23/09

CITRIS White Paper Competition

CITRIS is proud to announce the fourth annual CITRIS White Paper competition, which will give away $30K in cash prizes for the best ideas that demonstrate the ability of IT to address a major societal challenge. The IT for Society contest is open to students from all four CITRIS campuses: UC Berkeley, UC Merced, UC Santa Cruz, and UC Davis.

Deadline: March 23, 2009

http://www.citris-uc.org/Big-idea-deadline-2009

03/17/09

ARCUS ENDOWMENT  Scholar-in-Residence Program 2009-2010
The Arcus Endowment at the College of Environmental Design at UC Berkeley seeks applications for its 2009-10 Scholar-in-Residence program. The Arcus Endowment was founded to confront discrimination and promote the achievements of the LGBTQ community in the built environment disciplines and professions.

Applications must be received at the following address by March 17, 2009:

The Arcus Endowment
Scholar-in-Residence Program
Room 232 Wurster Hall, m/c 1800
UC Berkeley
Berkeley, CA
94720-1800 USA

For more information about the Arcus Endowment, visit their website.

03/06/09-03/07/09

Crisis, Contradiction, Contestation: Postwar Economy and Culture
Wheeler Hall, UC Berkeley
March 6th-7th

The Interdisciplinary Marxism Working Group invites you to Crisis, Contradiction, Contestation: Postwar Economy and Culture, an academic conference convened to examine the relationship between the cultural and the economic in the period from 1945 to the present. The conference brings together graduate students in the humanities and social sciences from many universities in the US and abroad. Panels will run all day on March 6th and 7th, followed by a keynote presentation by Prof. Randy Martin on March 6th and a poetry reading on March 7th.

Co-sponsored by The Critical Theory Program, Critical Sense: a Journal of Cultural and Political Theory, The Department of English, The Department of History, Global Metropolitan Studies, The Townsend Center for the Humanities, and The Katherine Bixby Hotchkis Chair.

02/19-21/09

QUEER BONDS: A Symposium on Sexuality and Sociability
Thursday, Friday, Saturday
February 19-21, 2009
Berkeley Art Museum
U.C. Berkeley

Featuring: Jacqueline Asher, Leo Bersani, Daniel Boyarin, Judith Butler, Terry Castle, Melinda Chen, Whitney Davis, Tim Dean, Didier Eribon, Elizabeth Freeman, Teresa de Lauretis, Carla Freccero, Jonathan M. Hall, David M. Halperin, Heather K. Love, Michael Lucey, Dana Luciano, David Marriott, John Cameron Mitchell, Robert McRuer, Stefania Pandolfo, Adam Phillips, Elizabeth Povinelli, Jasbir Puarers, Juana Rodriguez, Darieck Scott, Kaja Silverman and Linda Williams

Queer Bonds is a three-day symposium at the University of California, Berkeley, dedicated to exploring the intersections between sexuality and sociability. While its genealogies are multiple, the field of queer studies has been shaped by two powerful trajectories: on the one hand, an attempt to account for the creative forms of social and sexual bonding that have existed around, outside of, or in the interstices of "normal" sociality; on the other, an insistence on queerness as a force of subversion, refusal, and antipathy towards the social. How do conditions in our world today make it imperative that queer theory comprehend both the adhesive and corrosive dimensions of our queer bonds?

For a full conference description and schedule details, go to www.queerbonds.com.

02/17/09

The Exponential Growth of National and State DNA Databases:  A Combustible Intersection of Genomics, Forensics, and Race
Troy Duster
Professor of Sociology, New York University
Tuesday, February 17 from 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. 

During the last decade, there has been an exponential growth of national and state forensic databases, now including scores of thousands of misdemeanants, and even those merely arrested.  The headlines tend to go to sensational cases where DNA evidence has been used to exonerate the innocent.  We can all applaud the fact that more than 200 persons have been freed from prison due to discovery of DNA “mismatches” – 20 of whom were on death row!!

However, DNA “matches” (identifying and linking the accused to a crime) are far more problematic than “mismatches” – and not nearly as definitive as the general public would garner from the popular television series CSI.  Most significantly, flying well under the radar is the overwhelming proportion of African Americans and Latinos in these ever-expanding databases.  Now that the State of California is pioneering “familial searching” (investigating the kin of those with “partial matches”), unbeknownst to all but a few, we are sitting on a racial injustice time-bomb. 

Where:
UC Hastings Law
198 McAllister Street (two blocks from Civic Center BART/MUNI station)
San Francisco, CA
Room K (3rd floor)

02/10/09

Race, ethnicity, ancestry: biological, social, or mythological constructs?
Alumni Reception Center
University of California, Hastings College of Law
200 McAllister Street
San Francisco, CA
Tuesday, February 10, 2009 12:00 – 1:00pm

This talk is part of the Lawrence and Sherrie Nagin Lecture Series on the Social, Ethical, and Legal Implications of Human Reproductive and Genetic Technologies. The six-part series, which is sponsored by a generous gift from Lawrence '65 and Sherrie Nagin, will feature nationally acclaimed experts from a variety of disciplines. Each speaker will provide different perspectives on the promise and potential perils posed by new reproductive and genetic technologies with an emphasis on the impact they may have on women, racial minorities and disabled communities.

Neil Risch, Ph.D.
Professor of Human Genetics
University of California, San Francisco

02/01/09

"SOCIAL COMPUTING IN 2020" BLUESKY INNOVATION COMPETITION
The University of California Transliteracies Project and UC Santa Barbara Social Computing Group announce the "Social Computing in 2020" Bluesky Innovation Competition."

What will social computing technologies and practices be like in the year 2020?

ELIGIBLE: Undergraduate or graduate students anywhere in the world.

AWARDS: 1st prize, $3000 USD; 2nd prize, $1000, 3rd prize, $500.

SUBMISSION FORMAT: Description of an idea + Imaginative realization, embodiment, or illustration of the idea in a variety of possible formats (e.g., an essay, story, script, application sketch, fictional business plan, etc.).

DEADLINE: January 30, 2009.

FULL COMPETITION ANNOUNCEMENT: Guidelines & Submission Details
http://socialcomputing.ucsb.edu/contest2020/

Students from any discipline--humanities, arts, social sciences, computer science, engineering, etc.—are encouraged to apply. The competition emphasizes visionary, thoughtful, or critical concepts rather than technical knowledge as such.

Inquiries may be directed by email to socialcomputing@lsmail.ucsb.edu

12/15/08

CALL FOR PAPERS
Science & Technology in Society:
An International, Interdisciplinary, Graduate Student Conference
March 28 -29, 2009
AAAS Headquarters, Washington, DC
Abstract Deadline: December 29, 2008

Visit: www.stglobal.org for more information.


12/03/08


PhD Program in Human and Social Dimensions of Science and Technology (HSD) at Arizona State University
This program is for students who might be interested in pursuing a PhD in the history and philosophy of science, social studies of science and technology, or science and technology policy. The application deadline is December 15, 2008 (and
annually, thereafter).

Students interested in the program can find more details at
http://hsd.asu.edu and may contact Clark Miller (clark.miller@asu.edu), Karin Ellison (karin.ellison@asu.edu),
and other program faculty for additional information.

See flyer here.


10/23/08

The Multispecies Salon II
Presented by: The American Anthropological Association and PLAySPACE of the California College of Arts
November 10- December 6, 2008
www.skyhighway.com/~multispecies_salon/


10/21/08

Takeovers & Makeovers:
Artistic Appropriation, Fair Use, and Copyright in the Digital Age
November 7th and 8th, 2008
University of California, Berkeley

This event will bring together artists, lawyers, art historians, and
representatives from the information technology community to discuss the changing field of appropriation art in the wake of the emergence of new digital media technologies that have radically altered access to and manipulation of information.

Full program at:
http://bcnm.berkeley.edu/takeovers/

Participants include:
David Evans, Fred Von Lohmann, Michael Mandiberg, Jason Schultz, MTAA, Tom McDonough, Virginia Rutledge, Abigail de Kosnik, Larisa Mann, Anne M. Wagner, Candice Breitz, Rick Prelinger, Richard Rinehart, The Billboard Liberation Front, Peter Krapp and Marisa Olson

10/20/08

Green Energy and Politics
October 21, 2008
Daniel Farber, Catherine Wolfram, Steven Weissman
See the brochure.

Join experts Daniel Farber, Catherine Wolfram, and Steven Weissman in a panel discussion about presidential candidates’ energy and environmental policies. See calendar for more information.

10/14/08

Volume 53: Changing Urban Spaces
Deadline: November 15, 2008
Call for Papers
Submissions may be sent as an email attachment to thejournal@berkeley.edu or two copies may be mailed to:

Berkeley Journal of Sociology
410 Barrows Hall #1980
Department of Sociology
University of California
Berkeley, CA 94720-1980

See through description.

10/11/08

Desire: Crossings of Gender, Race and Sexuality
December 4th-7th, 2008
Westerbeke Ranch

The Center for the Study of Sexual Culture (CSSC) and Center for Race and Gender (CRG) invite applications from UC Berkeley doctoral students in the arts, humanities, social sciences, interdisciplinary fields, and professional schools to participate in an interdisciplinary Dissertation Workshop retreat. Applicants should be advanced to candidacy


California STS Workshop on Translation & Innovation
July 9-11, 2008
The Marin Headlands

See the workshop schedule.

We are actively fundraising with the hope of covering the costs of room and board. There are over thirty confirmed participants, with a cost of $75-$150 per person. If you can help, please contact Jessica Davies at stsc@berkeley.edu. For general information, please contact: Chris Kortright (cmkortright@ucdavis.edu) or Joseph Dumit (dumit@ucdavis.edu)

New Directions in Scholarship: Science/ Gender/ Race/ Nation ~May 5, 2008
International Conference on  Global Values for Global Health ~ May 5th and 6th, 2008
University of California 
 Brochure | Program

06/09/08

Call for Papers: Science and Politics Spring 2008
Critical Sense: A Graduate Journal of Political and Cultural Theory

The relation between politics and science is often seen as one of infringement. The politicization of science is frequently condemned, most recently in the current US administration's supposed interference with scientific research; complementarily, political theorists have long criticized social science for a purported reduction of political subjectivity to an object of scientific inquiry; both advocates and critics of science continue to ascribe to it a 'view from nowhere', separate from politics and economics. For this issue we want to look again at the mutual implication of science and politics. Science has played a continuing role in the formation of state policy through discourses of race and the study of populations. Meanwhile, the humanities have an uneasy relationship to attempts to understand the human in scientific terms (compare the importance of psychoanalysis's initial presentation as a scientific discipline by Freud with contemporary evolutionary biology and cognitive science). Furthermore, science encounters politics outside of the sphere of the state, through the embedding of academic work in the capitalist economy, and the deployment of science and technology by industry.

What role do political and cultural theorists have in understanding this relationship between science and politics? What are the political implications of the forms of knowledge produced and disseminated by contemporary science? How are discourses of science and expertise both criticized and produced by academics working within the science and those working in science studies or critical theory? What obligation do non-scientists have to engage with science: should theorists embrace scientific investigations of political and cultural phenomena, or defend the autonomy of their fields of research from a dominant scientific and technologic discourse? How can political and cultural theorists respond to the scientific imaginary and the utopias and dystopias that inhabit scientific discourse?

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS: AUGUST 1, 2008

Email submissions (as Word or RTF attachments) to:
criticalsense@lists.berkeley.edu

Articles should represent high-quality, rigorous scholarship and should not exceed 30 double-spaced pages (1-inch margins, 12-point type). Book reviews should not exceed 10 double-spaced pages (1-inch margins, 12-point type). All submissions should be prepared according to the guidelines specified in the Chicago Manual of Style, using numbered endnotes. For all submissions, please include your name, institutional affiliation, and contact information. In addition, please include a short (250-word) abstract of the article.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• The scientific state of political science, or the boundaries between science and social science;
• Knowledge economies;
• The commodification of knowledge and minds;
• Brain drain and brain circulation;
• Science and industry, such as university and industry relations;
• Public schooling, including the politics of textbooks and museums
• Disciplinary hierarchies;
• Knowledge and expertise, expert versus popular knowledge;
• Universal and situated knowledge
• Science and the state: nationalism, colonialism and racism;
• Science, politics and the environment: natural resources, global warming;
• Scientific approaches to social policies: homelessness, poverty, social mobility;
• Reproductive technologies and the politics of the body;
• Historical and contemporary representations of science and scientists;
• Science in the media;
• What is missing in contemporary studies of science and politics and at what political cost?

06/06/08

CIRM Fellowship in the Humanities/Social Sciences

UC Berkeley Stem Cell Center is soliciting applications for a predoctoral stem cell research fellowship in the humanities / social sciences awarded to UC Berkeley by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine. This CIRM fellowship provides a $25,000 stipend, partial tuition payment, and a $5,000 research allowance for the 2008-9 academic year. U.S. citizenship or permanent residency is NOT required.

Prospective CIRM humanities/social science scholars must have advanced to candidacy by July 1, 2008, and must dedicate full time effort toward completion of their doctoral project during their year of funding. Fellows' projects must be directly relevant to the current or anticipated practice of basic or translational stem cell research. The 2008-9 CIRM Fellow will also be expected to participate in programmatic activities of the Berkeley Stem Cell Center.

Candidates should submit a short cv, 2-page research proposal, and one letter of recommendation to Jessica Davies by May 15, 2008. Applications will be evaluated by the Humanities / Social Science Fellowship Selection Committee. The successful candidate will likely be notified by May 30, 2008. Fellowship funding will begin on July 1, 2008. Please direct any questions to Charis Thompson or David Winickoff.

02/08/08

4S/EASST Annual Meeting

Submission is now open for the joint 4S/EASST Annual Meeting. The deadline for submitting abstracts and session proposals is Feb 16.

Find online submission forms for abstracts and for sessions at www.4sonline.org/meeting.htm. Please read the instructions carefully. For example, do not submit your paper individually if a session organizer is submitting your paper as part of a panel.

The theme for this conference is "Acting with science, technology and medicine". More information about the associations on the respective web sites:

www.4sonline.org
www.easst.net

02/04/08

Graduate Students Small Grants Program

The Center for Race and Gender (CRG) at the University of California Berkeley, announces the availability of grants of $500 to $2,000 to support graduate student research or creative projects that address issues of race and gender. Topics should be consonant with the CRG's mandate to promote increased understanding of race and gender and their intersections in a wide variety of social, cultural, and institutional contexts, especially on the Berkeley campus and its neighboring communities, but also in California, the nation, or the world. Projects may be oriented toward academic research or may approach race and gender issues from the perspectives of the media, fine arts, and performing arts. Projects that deal with both race and gender are strongly preferred.

ELIGIBILITY: Applications can be submitted by any student enrolled in a graduate program at UC Berkeley. Proposals that support dissertation or thesis research are strongly encouraged.

GRANT PERIOD AND USE OF FUNDS: Grants will be awarded for a period of one year from the start date. Funds may be used for direct costs related to the proposed project, such as travel to archival or ethnographic research sites; supplies and services, and equipment rental. Funds are not intended for equipment purchase, stipend, living expenses, conference attendance, or educational travel. Grant payments will be in the form of reimbursements for expenses.

GRANTEE REPORTING: Grant recipients will be responsible for submitting a brief midterm report of their progress along with the faculty mentor's evaluation of the project's progress to date. Grant recipients are required to submit a final report within two weeks of the end of the grant period containing: 1) an itemized expense report; 2) a statement of what was accomplished; and 3) the faculty mentor's evaluation of the project. Grant recipients may be asked to present their projects at a CRG Forum and their project description will appear in the Center's newsletter, Faultlines.

APPLICATION PROCESS: Please submit the following: an original and two copies, single sided, do not staple (forms at Center for Race and Gender)

• Student Information and Agreement form
• Faculty Mentor Information and Agreement form
• 100 - 200 word abstract
• 3 page project description
• Timeline for project completion
• Budget and budget justification
• Faculty mentor support letter
• Curriculum vitae

Committee on the Protection of Human Subjects approval or exemption Letter. If CPHS has not sent notification by date of application, indicate date of submission and pending status. Grant funds will be released only after approval or exemption letter is submitted.

Submit all application materials to: Graduate Student Grants Program, Center for Race and Gender, 642 Barrows Hall MC 1074, Berkeley, CA 94720-1074

APPLICATION DEADLINE: April 2nd at 3:00 p.m. Incomplete applications will not be considered. Awards will be announced within two weeks of the deadline. INQUIRIES: Direct inquires to centerrg@berkeley.edu.

01/28/08

CITRIS White Paper Competition

CITRIS is proud to announce the third annual CITRIS White Paper competition, which will give away $25K in cash prizes for the best ideas that demonstrate the ability of IT to address a major societal challenge.

The IT for Society contest is open to students from all four CITRIS campuses: UC Berkeley, UC Merced, UC Santa Cruz, and UC Davis. See Rules and Guidelines for information on the competition and Awards for information on last year's winners.

DEADLINE: All submissions are due 5:00 p.m. PST April 11, 2008. Late entries will not be accepted. All entries should be submitted electronically to it4society@gmail.com in HTML, Word, or PDF.

Finalists will be asked to make a short presentation on their proposal.

LENGTH: White papers should be 5-10 pages in length, not including appendices.

PRIZE: A total of $25,000 in cash prizes is available, which will be allocated as follows: First Place: $12,500, Second Place: $7,500, Third Place: $3,000, Fourth Place: $2,000. Prizes will only be awarded if there are high-quality submissions. The cash can be used a scholarships or to support the proposed project or idea (e.g. research, travel, workshops, miscellaneous expenses).

ELIGIBLITY: At least one member of the team must be an undergraduate or graduate student from one of the four CITRIS campuses: UC Berkeley, Davis, Santa Cruz or Merced. Multidisciplinary teams are strongly encouraged but not required.

DECISIONS OF THE JUDGES: Decisions of the judges are final and not subject to appeal.

FACULTY ADVISOR: Winners who intend to use the money to support their proposed idea or project will be required to have a faculty advisor. This is not required at the time of submission.

REQUIRED INFORMATION: The following information must be required (which does not count against the 5-10 page limit) Names and brief bios of team members, including major and student status (e.g. undergrad, grad) Contact information for primary contact. Whether or not you consent to public, online dissemination of your white paper. 1-2 paragraphs on what your team would do with the money.

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Investigator Awards in Health Policy Research: Building Human Capital

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Investigator Awards in Health Policy Research program supports highly qualified individuals to undertake broad studies of America's most challenging policy issues in health and health care. Grants of up to $335,000 are awarded to investigators from a variety of disciplines for innovative research projects that have national policy relevance.

Applications are welcomed from investigators in the fields of anthropology, business, demography, economics, engineering, ethics, genetics, health and social policy, health services research, history, journalism, law, medicine, nursing, political science, psychology, public health, science policy, social work, sociology and others. The program seeks a diverse group of applicants including minorities, researchers early in their careers, and individuals in nonacademic settings.

The deadline for receipt of letters of intent is March 26, 2008 (5:00 pm ET). The complete call for proposals is available online.

Those interested in submitting a proposal are urged to contact Bob Barde immediately.

New NSF RFP on "Human and Social Dynamics"

NSF has just released its Request for Proposals for this year's competition on *Human and Social Dynamics*. This is a competition that rewards interdisciplinary collaborations: All proposals must include three or more senior personnel from at least two different fields.

The Human and Social Dynamics (HSD) priority area fosters breakthroughs in understanding the dynamics of human action and development, as well as knowledge about organizational, cultural, and societal adaptation and change. HSD aims to increase our collective ability to understand the complexities of change; (2) understand the dynamics of human and social behavior at all levels, including that of the human mind; (3) understand the cognitive and social structures that create, define, and result from change; and (4) manage profound or rapid change, and make decisions in the face of changing risks and uncertainty. Accomplishing these goals requires multidisciplinary research teams and comprehensive, interdisciplinary approaches across the sciences, engineering, education, and humanities, as appropriate.

The FY 2008 competition will include three emphasis areas (agents of change; dynamics of human behavior; and decision making, risk, and uncertainty). HSD encourages projects investigating complexity and systems thinking, with a goal of revealing the emergent properties of dynamic systems. HSD also encourages projects identifying human drivers of environmental change and exploring the consequences of environmental change on humans. Such research is central in equipping us to handle the most pressing environmental problems for our nation and the world.

Most successful projects will be funded at up to $750,000 total costs over three years. A few projects that involve big data collection, international, or student components will be funded at up to $1.25 million. The full RFA is available online.

If you would like help in assembling and submitting an HSD proposal, please contact Bob Barde well in advance of the February 19 deadline.

01/07/08

In summer 2008, the Social Science Research Council will sponsor twelve (12) Dissertation Proposal Development Fellowships in the field of Critical Studies of Science and Technology Policy, with an emphasis on comparative and international topics. These fellowships will fund participating graduate students from US universities to pursue predissertation summer research and to attend two integrated workshops designed to prepare them to learn and explore research and dissertation proposal development strategies in STS and closely related fields.

Except in unique circumstances, applicants should be in their second or third year of PhD programs and must not yet have defended their dissertation prospectus prior to attending the workshops. The due date for applications is February 8, 2008, and applications must be filed through the SSRC application portal:

http://programs.ssrc.org/dpdf

Critical Studies of Science and Technology Policy [ PDF ]

08/15/07

Michelle R. Clayman Institute for Gender Research Fellowship Program
The Michelle R. Clayman Institute for Gender Research at Stanford University hosts around 7 leading scholars each year. Generally, they will be tenured or tenure-track faculty, but we are also open to considering postdoctoral fellows and high fliers from industry and business. Faculty would be expected to join us for one, two or three academic quarters. Each Research Fellow will be offered a stipend of up to $60,000 depending on status, plus office space, library access and so on. All the practical details of our Fellowship Program, and more about the Clayman Institute, are at: http://gender.stanford.edu. The closing date for the current round of applications is October 29, 2007.

The Clayman Institute is currently focusing on gender / women in the STEM fields. We have a particular interest in "gendered innovations" - that is, where the introduction of gender analysis into science and engineering can change the nature of knowledge itself, for example by challenging existing preconceptions, encouraging new ways to look at old problems, or even changing or creating fields of research.

Applications are sought from scholars working in the following areas of research:
Gendered Innovations in Knowledge; Title IX in Science and Engineering; Gender in the Physical and Technical Sciences, and Math; Gender in Engineering and Computer science; Gender in Environmental Sciences; Gender in the Life Sciences and Biotechnology; Medicine and Women's Health; and Clustering in Scientific Subfields.

08/02/07

The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)
Postdoctoral Fellow, Environment, Production and Technology (EPTD)

The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) seeks a Postdoctoral Fellow (PDF) for a two-year, fixed term, renewable appointment based at IFPRI headquarters located in Washington, D.C. Working with the Research Fellow and Senior Scientist leading the Global Change research theme of IFPRI, and in close collaboration with other staff as appropriate, the successful candidate will conduct research and analysis on land use patterns and shifts under alternative scenarios of global environmental and economic change.

TO APPLY:
Go to www.ifpri.org .  Click on "Careers" and "Research Positions" to link you to Position # 07-142 – Postdoctoral Fellow, EPTD.  Please complete on-line application, including a complete curriculum vitae and a detailed letter of interest.  Also complete section providing 3 references.

CLOSING DATE:
AUGUST 26, 2007 or until filled

Detailed Announcement

07/16/07

Abe Fellowship Program

The Abe Fellowship is designed to encourage international multidisciplinary research on topics of pressing global concern. The program seeks to foster the development of a new generation of researchers who are interested in policy-relevant topics of long-range importance and who are willing to become key members of a bilateral and global research network built around such topics. Applications are welcome from scholars and non-academic research professionals. Funding for the program is provided by the Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership.

Applicants are invited to submit proposals for research in the social sciences or the humanities relevant to any one or combination of the following three themes:

• Global issues
• Problems common to industrial and industrializing societies
• Issues that pertain to US-Japan relations

Application Deadline: September 1, 2007

07/13/07

New MSc in Medicine, Science & Society at King's College London

The rapid global development of the bioeconomy of the life sciences has produced a demand from those wishing to understand, analyse and engage with the scientific, social and ethical implications of this powerful new knowledge domain. In response, the Centre for Biomedicine & Society (CBAS) at King's College London has developed a new MSc in Medicine, Science & Society commencing in September 2007.

This interdisciplinary social science MSc focuses on innovations in biomedicine, particularly new medical technologies. The CBAS course is unique in emphasising the processes of translational research through its focus on the interactions between the lab, the clinic and beyond. King's is a global leader in health science research, hosting more Medical Research Council (MRC) Research Centres (five) than any other University. The MSc therefore examines the social science dimensions of innovative biomedicine in a unique supporting context.

Program Flyer [ PDF ]

For further information please see the CBAS website.

01/02/07

New Masters in Science, Society and Development at the Institute of Development Studies - University of Sussex

• Unique focus: How science and technology can contribute to poverty reduction, social justice and environmental sustainability
• Two full scholarships for African students
• Full details about the new MA: http://www.ids.ac.uk/ids/teach/mascience.html