Duration
30h Th
Number of credits
Lecturer
Language(s) of instruction
English language
Organisation and examination
Teaching in the first semester, review in January
Schedule
Units courses prerequisite and corequisite
Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program
Learning unit contents
This course concentrates on changes in scientific institutions and research and innovation activities related to the emergence of a new economic and political order since the late 1970s (New Public Management, "new spirit of capitalism", etc.). In a context of crisis of multiple modes of organization and management of science, technology and innovation (STI), a growing number of actors from civil society, academia and policy-making call for the control of markets while promoting so-called "responsible" innovation and capitalism. Such trends deeply question the overall model of innovation based on intellectual property that has dominated in recent decades and they challenge the methods of analysis and traditional understanding of STI policy.
Contributions from social studies of science and technology (STS) will be presented and discussed. They aim to take stock of these changes, to address scientific and technological production in its political, economic, social and cultural dimensions, and to reintroduce processes of institutionalization and power in the analysis. The various postures of social science, critical to new forms of participatory or embarked research will also be discussed.
Learning outcomes of the learning unit
The course aims to enable students to benefit from a series of tools for socio-political understanding of the major changes that affect the relationship between science and technology, innovation, market and society. At the end of the course, students will be better equipped to understand how the STI plays a role in contemporary political economies and to assess its potential to provide technical and policy solutions to social and economic challenges of our time such as climate change, food security, low-carbon economy, responsible innovation, social security, well-being, and energy supply.
Prerequisite knowledge and skills
Students are expected to have good command of English, which will be language of the reading portfolio as well as of speakers invited to intervene in the course.
Planned learning activities and teaching methods
Each session will be based on a specific topic about which students will have had to take one or more preparatory reading. Teachers always begin with a general introduction to the particular topic before animating a detailed discussion of the texts led by the students themselves. The active participation of students will be required at each session.
Mode of delivery (face to face, distance learning, hybrid learning)
Face-to-face (attending and participating in courses) and distance-learning (reading texts and preparing oral presentations).
Recommended or required readings
Sismondo, S. (2010). An Introduction to Science and Technology Studies, Wiley & Sons.
Exam(s) in session
Any session
- In-person
oral exam
Continuous assessment
Additional information:
Student evaluation will be based, on the one hand, on the active participation during class sessions (40% of the final grade; continuous assessment by teachers) and, on the other hand, on the basis of an oral examination (60% of the final grade) in which each student will demonstrate his/her mastery of the concepts discussed during the course and their knowledge of the texts from the reading portfolio. To prepare for the exam, students should consider a cross-cutting theme in connection with the different themes in the texts. They will be invited to present the examinators an original perspective during 10 minutes before proceeding with an oral examination by 15 minutes of questions / answers.
Work placement(s)
Organisational remarks and main changes to the course
Your regular presence and active participation are strongly recommended. Access to a Dropbox folder containing the literature portfolio will be provided during the first class.
Contacts
Pierre Delvenne (pierre.delvenne@uliege.be). Tel: 04/3663102