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When science and technology meets society
10 July 2024
Interdisciplinary school explores science and technology in Southeast Asia
Early-careers researchers share their rewarding experience at the Science, Technology, & Human Values STS School 2024 in Singapore, an interdisciplinary school designed to explore the interplay of science, technology and society in Southeast Asia.
SSEAC sponsored three early-career researchers to attend the Science, Technology, & Human Values STS School 2024 (STS School) held in Singapore in June.
Tsung (Edward) Jen Hung from the Faculty of Science and Rachel Zicheng Yang from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Sydney, and Dr Dimas D Laksmana from the Department of Sociology at Universitas Indonesia were among 26 participants selected from over 120 applicants to take part in the immersive research and training program.
From left: Rachel Yang, Edward Hung and Dimas Laksmana at the STS School in Singapore
Hosted by the National University of Singapore (NUS) and Singapore Management University (SMU) with support from SSEAC and Deakin Science and Society Network, the STS School brought together Science and Technology Studies (STS) researchers working in a range of disciplines including anthropology, sociology, media studies, history and geography for an interdisciplinary dialogue on STS and its relationship to politics, society and culture.
STS scholars from a number of universities across various disciplines were specially invited to be instructors and mentors, including SSEAC member Professor Sonja Van Wichelen (Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences).
“The STS School was a unique opportunity to build capacity for the next generation of critical scholars working on the social study of science and technology – particularly in the Southeast, East and South Asian context,” she said.
The four-day intensive included workshops, field trips, keynotes and mentoring sessions designed to support participants’ research projects and professional careers.
The STS School 2024 participants and instructors on a field trip in Singapore
During the workshops, participants had the opportunity to present their papers and examine critical debates and observations of their peers and mentors.
“The comments from fellow scholars demonstrated their deep engagement with their respective fields, offering perspectives that have led me to rethink and reframe my thesis in novel ways,” Edward said. “Their thoughtful, yet critical, feedback challenged my previously unexamined assumptions and highlighted the need to articulate the subtle distinctions between my concepts more clearly.”
Dimas, who presented on his research project, ‘The ethics of generation in multispecies encounters: Syncretic relations between humans and soil microorganism in agriculture’, explained that, “Based on the discussions and feedback during the STS School, I decided to focus my research on multiple temporalities in human-soil microorganism relations.”
For Rachel, the workshop also provided new insights for her PhD project, ‘Reimagining ecologies: Network of technologies and infrastructure in Hong Kong’. As she noted, “The critical thinking encouraged and the invaluable feedback provided during the workshop directed my research in new, important directions, sharpening my arguments and deepening my conceptual analysis.”
The program also aimed to sharpen participants’ publication skills. A panel session chaired by the editors of Science, Technology, & Human Values (ST&HV) provided practical tips on publishing in STS, from crafting compelling arguments and selecting appropriate journals, to utilising reviewers’ feedback to improve the manuscript.
“Understanding the concerns of editorial boards and learning how to tailor my thesis to meet the expectations of STS-specific journals provided invaluable insights into the review process, including many of the underlying dynamics that are often not explicitly and openly discussed,” said Edward.
Participants noted the panel session on navigating a career in STS was also a highlight, providing insights and eliciting new ways of thinking.
“Publishing and finding a job in academia can be daunting for early-career STS scholars, especially when many institutions do not have a dedicated STS department,” Rachel said. “Being interdisciplinary sometimes implies not being disciplinary enough – and this might become more apparent when looking for a position in academia. The experience with the STS School inspired me to find a more ‘disciplined’ topic within the interdisciplinary nature of STS.”
As a soon-to-be university lecturer in Indonesia, Dimas was glad to meet others in a similar position. “Through our discussions, I learned how STS is institutionalised in different academic cultures and systems in different geographical locations, such as Japan, the Philippines and Singapore. These transnational connections I hope can pave the way for critical discussions on science and technology in Southeast Asia.”
A session on STS in and on Asia examined how STS can decentre its Euro-American traditions, with participants reflecting on the location of the summer School in Asia.
“The School’s Southeast Asian location is vital for shaping our understanding of global dynamics in STS topics and research,” Rachel noted. “It also helps to provincialise STS. By locating in and conceptually focusing on Southeast Asia, the school expands STS’s conceptual bases and draws attention to the extensive STS scholarship outside of Euro-American contexts.”
The STS School was organised by the ST&HV editorial collective: Timothy Neale (Deakin University), Courtney Addison (Victoria University of Wellington), Kari Lancaster (Goldsmiths, University of London) and Matthew Kearnes (University of NSW) with Tom Özden-Schilling (NUS), Sayd Randle (SMU), Ksenia Tatarchenko (SMU) and Sonja van Wichelen (University of Sydney).
ST&HV is a collectively edited, peer-reviewed, transnational, interdisciplinary journal. It publishes research, analyses and commentary on the development and dynamics of science and technology, with a focus on their relationship to politics, the economy, society and culture.
“I think the clear articulation from the ST&HV editorial collective on the importance of generosity and humility in being ‘critical friends’ helped us transnationalise STS throughout the school,” Dimas said. “I appreciate the tremendous and generous work and support of the organisers and other participants in making this school meaningful and a space of change that, I believe, we will cultivate in our localities both in our research and when working with peers and future students.”
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