Communicating Science and Technology in Society

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xi

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2. Introduction: How the Sociology of Science and Technology Addresses Science and Society Relations

   • Ana Delicado

   Pages 1-14

3. Correction to: Communicating Science and Technology in Society

   • Ana Delicado, Fabienne Crettaz Von Roten, Katarina Prpić

   Pages C1-C1

4. Scientists’ Research Practices and Responses to Societal Demands

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 15-15

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   2. Norms, Competition, and Visibility in Contemporary Science: The Legacy of Robert K. Merton

      • Massimiano Bucchi

      Pages 17-37

   3. Re-distributing Responsibility in Transdisciplinary Knowledge Production and Circulation

      • Thomas Völker

      Pages 39-57

   4. How Do Scientists Doing Animal Experimentation View the Co-evolution Between Science and Society? The Swiss Case

      • Fabienne Crettaz Von Roten

      Pages 59-77

   5. Science-Society Relations in a Context of Technological Change: How Scientists Working on Renewable Energy Technologies Perceive Their Role in the Energy Transition

      • Luís Junqueira

      Pages 79-94

5. Science Communication and Citizen Participation in Science

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 95-95

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   2. Bringing Science to the Public: Is It a Matter for Scientific Associations?

      • Cristina Palma Conceição

      Pages 97-116

   3. Turning the Gaze on Ourselves: Public Communication of Sociology

      • Ana Delicado

      Pages 117-136

   4. Technologies of Participation in Water Plans in Portugal: What Kind of Science–Society Relationship Are We Talking About?

      • Sofia Bento, Oriana Rainho Brás

      Pages 137-159

   5. Material Trajectories: How Issues Come to Matter in a Citizen Conference

      • Guillem Palà, Miquel Domènech

      Pages 161-177

   6. Two Turtles: Children and Autonomy in Participatory Technological Design

      • Núria Vallès-Peris, Miquel Domènech

      Pages 179-195

6. Back Matter

   Pages 197-199

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​This volume addresses the engagement between science and society from multiple viewpoints. At a time when trust in experts is being questioned, misinformation is rife and scientific and technological development show growing social impact, the volume examines the challenges in involving the public in scientific debates and decisions. It takes into account societal needs and concerns in research, and analyses the interface between the roles of institutions and individuals. From environmental challenges to science communication, participatory technological design to animal experimentation, and transdisciplinarity to norms and values in science, the volume brings together research on areas in which scientists and citizens interact, across diverse, often understudied, socio-cultural contexts in Europe. It encompasses the natural sciences, engineering and the social sciences, and the chapters follow diverse theoretical frameworks and methodologies, including both quantitative and qualitative approaches. This volume contributes not just to scholarly knowledge on the topic of science and society relations, but also provides useful information for students, policy makers, journalists, and STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) researchers keen on engaging with their publics and conducting responsible research and innovation.

• Animal experimentation
• Sociology of science and technology
• Science communication
• Sociology of Communication
• Public communication of Sociology
• Citizen participation in science
• Renewable energy research
• Technology and society
• S and Technology studies in Europe

• Instituto de Ciências Sociais da Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

  Ana Delicado

• University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

  Fabienne Crettaz Von Roten

• Institute for Social Research, Zagreb, Croatia

  Katarina Prpić

Ana Delicado is a Research Fellow at the Institute of Social Sciences (ICS) of the University of Lisbon and has a PhD in Sociology (2006). She specialises in social studies of science. She is currently vice-coordinator of the "Observa" Observatory of Environment, Territory and Society of ICS. She has coordinated competitively funded national projects on scientific associations and on acceptance of renewable energies and the ICS team in four EU-funded research projects on children and disaster risk reduction, renewable energy landscapes, and science communication. She has also conducted research on scientific museums and scientific culture, international mobility of researchers, social aspects of climate change, nuclear and fusion energy. She teaches in the University of Lisbon Master Degree in Scientific Culture and Science Dissemination and several PhD programmes (including the PhD programme on Climate Change and Sustainable Development Policies) and frequently engages in science outreach. She is a member of European Sociological Association (currently coordinator of the Research Network 24 Science and Technology); of EASST European Association for the Study of Science and Technology; and of the international network PCST (Public Communication of Science and Technology). She has published in relevant journals in the field: Public Understanding of Science, Journal of Science Communication, Minerva, Environmental Education Research, Science and Public Policy, International Journal of Disaster Risk Science. She was awarded the publication prize of the University of Lisbon in 2018. 

Fabienne Crettaz von Roten has a PhD in mathematics and is now Senior Lecturer and Head of the Observatoire Science, Politique et Société at the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, University of Lausanne, Switzerland. Her research offers a symmetrical view of the relation between science and society: public perceptions of science and society (particularly, of animal experimentation and nuclear energy), and scientists’ engagement with society. Her current research is on the role of media in the formation of opinion on animal experimentation in Switzerland. She has authored and co-authored several books and book chapters in these fields, as well as numerous articles in journal including Public Understanding of Science and Science Communication. She was co-coordinator of ESA (European Sociological Association) Research Network 24 - Science and Technology / SSTNET and is currently member of the advisory board.  

Katarina Prpić has a PhD in sociology, is an awardee of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, and was previously a tenured senior scientist at the Institute for Social Research, Zagreb (Croatia). Her research has focused on scientific productivity, social organization of science, science and society relations, scientists’ professional ethics, female and young researchers and on corporate science (business R&D). Her numerous publications–-of which near one-third is published in English---include authored, co-authored and edited books, book chapters as well as journal articles, some published in eminent international journals covering science and technology studies. She is a member of the editorial boards of several international social science journals. From 2007 to 2015 she was consecutively co-chairing and chairing ESA (European Sociological Association) Research Network 24 - Science and Technology / SSTNET and currently she is the network’s advisory board member. Recently, she has become an Advisory Board member of the International Centre for the Study of Research (ICSR), Elsevier.  

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