Project Summary

WHAT
Created in 2007 with the generous funding of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Strategic Knowledge Cluster grant, Situating Science is a seven-year project promoting communication and collaboration among humanists and social scientists that are engaged in the study of science and technology.

See our Detailed Description, Event Posters, Newsletters below.

We are committed to facilitating contact not only with leading Canadian and international scholars in these areas, but also with working scientists, journalists, and policy makers interested in the broader social and cultural significance of science and technology within the public, private, and natural spheres. A central goal of our project is the establishment of long-term stable foundations of encounter between humanistic scholars of science and the various publics in Canada.

Situating Science cultivates and supports a network of engaged scholars (see our Network Nodes and Directory). Reaching out to its stakeholder communities we continue to find opportunities for collaboration, sponsoring and co-sponsoring events from workshops to exhibitions to science studies cafes.

WHY
Our world is shaped by science and technology. This fact is a source of both social hope and anxiety. In light of this, there must be expert voices not only from within the natural, formal and applied science communities, but also from those in the humanities and social sciences who study the practice and the historical and conceptual development of the sciences.

HOW
Situating Science represents the first coordinated effort in targeted knowledge exchange and partnership creation in the study of science and technology in Canada.

Situating Science explores a set of four interrelated themes through networking, conferences, workshops, lecture series, and other activities. These themes are:

1 - Historical Epistemology and Ontology
2 - Material Culture and Scientific/Technological Practices
3 - Scientific Communication and its Publics
4 - Geography and Sites of Knowing

Reaching beyond disciplinary boundaries, Situating Science enrolls local and national partners in the public, media, academic, fine arts, museum, government and policy studies spheres to address the crucial topic of the place of science and technology in our modern world.

Our partners have included: Canada Science and Technology Museum, Canadian Centre for Ethics in Public Affairs, Canadian Institute for the Advancement of Research, Institute for Science, Society and Policy, Science Media Centre of Canada, Genome Atlantic, Genome BC, Genome Alberta, Professional Institute of Public Service in Canada, and many others.

WHO
We operate on a hub and spoke model of six nodes spread across the country.

The Nodes are based at/in:

University of British Columbia,
University of Alberta,
University of Saskatchewan,
Toronto - York University-University of Toronto,
McGill University and Université du Québec à Montréal
Atlantic Canada - University of King’s College-Dalhousie University