Dear all
The sixth CamPoS seminar of Lent term will be given by Dr Inkeri Koskinen,
Academy of Finland post-doctoral researcher at the University of Helsinki.
Details as follows:
Time: Wednesday 27 February, 1-2:30pm
Place: Seminar Room 2, Department of History and Philosophy of Science (Free
School Lane, CB2 3RH)
Title: Two types of success: epistemic exchange and societal impact in
extra-academic research collaborations
Abstract: My aim in this paper is to criticise an assumption that is sometimes
made explicitly in science policy, but is usually implicit in the literatures
on extra-academic expertise and the democratisation of science. According to
this assumption, in research collaborations breaking the boundaries of science,
success in creating the wanted societal impact requires successful epistemic
exchange. I argue that this is not the case, and present a case study as a
counterexample. It is possible to succeed in creating the wanted societal
impact through extra-academic collaboration while failing in epistemic exchange.
I will begin with an overview of a large and complex development: the
democratisation of science and the increase of research collaborations with
extra-academic experts. After that, I introduce three measures of success
relevant in this context, focusing on the latter two. Following Gibbons et al.
(1994) I call the first measure scientific excellence as defined by
disciplinary peers. The second is the created societal impact. Its importance
is emphasised in virtually all of the literature on the democratisation of
science and extra-academic expertise – though the understanding of the nature
of societal impact varies greatly. The third measure is epistemic exchange.
Researchers provide something to the extra-academic participants in a
collaborative project, but also gain something: knowledge and skills from
extra-academic experts, a better understanding of the values at stake from
citizen participants, or new perspectives and useful criticism from
stakeholders (e.g. Epstein 1995; Kitcher 2011; Wylie 2015). The creation of
functioning trading zones (Galison 1997) or boundary objects (Star & Griesemer
1989) can be seen as indicators of success in epistemic exchange.
It is often assumed in the literature that success in creating the
wanted societal impact requires successful epistemic exchange. I have conducted
a case study where I followed a two-year research collaboration between social
scientists, journalists and artists. I use the case as a counterexample, and
argue that it is possible to create the wanted societal impact through
extra-academic collaboration, even if the participants fail in epistemic
exchange.
Full information about the talk is here:
https://talks.cam.ac.uk/talk/index/118330
The term card for Lent 2019 is available at
https://www.hps.cam.ac.uk/news-events/seminars-reading-groups/campos
<https://www.hps.cam.ac.uk/news-events/seminars-reading-groups/campos>
You can also follow us at https://twitter.com/CamPhilSci
<https://twitter.com/CamPhilSci>
All are welcome.
All the best
Matt
Dr Matt Farr • Teaching Associate in Philosophy of Science
University of Cambridge • Department of History & Philosophy of Science
Free School Lane | Cambridge | CB2 3RH
w mattfarr.co.uk <http://www.mattfarr.co.uk/> | e mw...@cam.ac.uk
<mailto:mw...@cam.ac.uk> | t 01223334559
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