Research on Social Sciences and Humanities: Sharing Experiences and Discussing Methodological Approaches

Workshops in Vienna: October 18th-20th, 2007 and Prague: December 11th-13th, 2007

Call For Papers

Workshops’ Background and Aims

Science and Technology Studies (STS) have a long tradition of research on scientific cultures and practices. Many recent studies start from the assumption that science is not a secluded part of society but is, on the contrary, closely interlinked with society. Contemporary technoscience is understood and studied by STS scholars as one of the key phenomena of the contemporary knowledge societies. However, this kind of research has until now concentrated on engineering, the natural and medical sciences. Social sciences and humanities (SS&H) have been largely left out even if these scientific fields contribute equally to co-producing relevant knowledge about the world and may diffuse into society even faster.
Therefore one aim of these two workshops is to bring together scholars to share experiences and discuss methodological approaches in researching SS&H. As the workshops are planned to be interdisciplinary, we are interested in sociological, anthropological, historical, political science and other perspectives on SS&H. Secondly, and more generally, the objective of the project is to start building a network of (STS) researchers inquiring into SS&H knowledge production and its linkages to society. This shall help to develop more sustained academic debates of the SS&H research and also to form a base for potential direct research collaborations.

Structure of Workshops

At the first workshop in Vienna research experiences shall be introduced and exchanged. The state of the art of the field will be discussed and potential benefits for social sciences and humanities themselves as well as for STS addressed. Why are research and reflexivity important in SS&H? Besides questions and problems emerging during the research shall be discussed. E.g. How did I get access to the field? Did I face reluctance by the prospective participants of my study? Where my research questions adequate to the processes in the field under study? Etc.
The precise topics of the second workshop in Prague shall be agreed upon in the first workshop. The focus will be on methodological questions and concepts. What methods assure fruitful research in disciplinary fields that claim to have self-reflexivity on their agenda? How adequate are STS approaches? How can research in one’s own disciplinary field be carried out?

Organizational Issues

The organizers of the workshops are located in Prague (Alice Červinková and Tereza Stöckelová, Gender and Sociology Department of the Institute of Sociology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic), Vienna (Therese Garstenauer, Katja Mayer, Lisa Sigl and Veronika Wöhrer, University of Vienna) and Bratislava (Luba Kobová and Mariana Szapuová, Department of Philosophy, Comenius University).

We are looking for further participants who are interested in or have experiences with research into SS&H either within the context of STS or within their own discipline. To ensure continuity and rich discussions all participants are asked to contribute to both workshops.
We are attempting to get funding to cover travel costs, but we ask participants to try to get funding at their own institutions, appropriate grant agencies or embassies.


Please send a CV and an abstract of your contribution (300-600 words) to the following e-mail addresses by the 31th of July: workshop@sshstudies.net
Participants of the workshops will be asked to submit draft papers of their workshop contributions that highlight experiences in investigating SS&H a month before the actual meetings. The papers will be distributed to all the participants before the 1st workshop.