Science and Technology Studies
Science and technology surround us; they are part of politics, culture, and our private and public lives. And at the same time, politics, culture, and our private and civic selves are inseparably parts of science and technology. The Professorship in Science and Technology Studies (STS) investigates these interrelationship with teaching and research that focus on interdisciplinarity, connection-making, collaboration between natural and social scientists, and broad societal relevance for both contemporary and historical questions.
Science and Technology Studies is a relatively young field of academic inquiry, one that reflects, follows, and comments upon science, technology, and academia, especially the ways they shape (and are shaped by) society. Our vision of STS is broad; it includes sociological, anthropological and historical approaches to studying scientific knowledge and technologies, but also knowledge and techniques more generally. Indeed, the term “Knowledge Studies” would perhaps best capture the comprehensive approach we embrace.
The Professorship in Science and Technology Studies regularly teaches two lecture courses in the Core curriculum of the LAS Program (“Students and Other Knowers in Context” and “Science in Context”), as well as focused seminars in LAS and other University of Freiburg study programs.
In addition, the Professorship directs the Wissenschaft –Technologie – Gesellschaft teaching program, in which Uni-Freiburg students can propose and co-teach courses on the relationships among science, technology, and society; and the IUSTIF DIMA program in support of university-level teaching and learning in Ukraine.
IUSTUF DIMA is a programme to support learning and teaching activities at Ukrainian Universities. DIMA is organised by a team of academic staff members and student assistants at University College Freiburg in close cooperation with Ivan Franko University Lviv. The programme is funded within the DAAD framework “Ukraine digital: Studienerfolg in Krisenzeiten sichern”.
The DIMA’s main objective is to help Ukrainian and international students and teachers in Ukraine in continuing their studies and academic work. The war in Ukraine has violently disrupted the teaching, learning, and research activities at Ukrainian Universities. While many students from and in Ukraine do continue their studies online with their own instructors and universities, for others, no such opportunity exists, or their course and research options are dramatically reduced.
Essentially, the DIMA is a collection of digital and hybrid courses and lectures at the University of Freiburg. These courses have either been initiated for DIMA or opened up to students from Ukraine. As they cover a wide range of subjects and mostly do not have any prerequisites or target specific audiences, students from Ukraine are given the opportunity to select individually from an interdisciplinary pool of events in which they would like to participate.
Contact
iustuf-dima@ucf.uni-freiburg.de
The Professorship occasionally sponsors or co-sponsors events, including workshops, conferences, and talks at the University of Freiburg on a wide range topics at the intersection of science, technology, and society.
