Science & Technology Studies (S&TS)

Our work centers on an urgent societal challenge: how socio-technical infrastructures are designed, governed, and used to mitigate climate change and address environmental issues. This issue now affects societies perhaps more than ever, in areas as diverse as the interrelations between digitalization, AI, and renewable energy; the need to produce resilient renewable energy systems; and how these developments impact our democracies and create novel possibilities for public participation.

Today, with a staff of 10 researchers, the group is one of the major hubs of S&TS research in Finland, and the group’s researchers lead and contribute to significant national and international research projects and publication outlets.

The S&TS group members are responsible for coordinating and editing the journal Science & Technology Studies, the official journal of the European Association for the Study of Science and Technology (EASST), and the largest journal of its kind in Europe. The group leader, Antti Silvast, is a co-opted member of the EASST Council.

The group maintains working connections to the main Nordic and UK S&TS Departments and networks through externally funded projects, editorship, co-supervision, and joint publications. Our active partners include Durham University and the University of Edinburgh in the UK, the University of Copenhagen, the Technical University of Denmark, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, the Norwegian University of Science and Technolohy, and the University of Bergen in the Nordics, as well as Politecnico di Milano (Italy) among several others in EU project collaboration. In Finland we work with Aalto University, the University of Helsinki, the University of Eastern Finland, and Demos Helsinki in a long-term joint strategic research programme.

The group also takes a resolutely global perspective on S&TS and has fostered ties with the Global South, especially in Latin America with Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, with active relations to several other higher education institutions in Chile.

The group is responsible for the following LUT teaching: 

• International Master’s Programme, "Technology, Environment and Societal Change" (Social Sciences)
• Master’s thesis seminar, “Technology, Environment and Societal Change” (Social Sciences, co-responsible)
• Course, "Science and Technology Studies" (BSc, in Finnish, Social Sciences)
• Course, “Scientific Thinking and Research Ethics” (BSc, in Finnish, Social Sciences)
• Course, "Smart Cities and Urban Transitions" (MSc, Social Sciences)
• Course, "Systems, Interdependencies and Complexities in Society" (MSc, Social Sciences)
• Course, “Qualitative Methods for Master Students” (MSc, Social Sciences)
• Course, "Philosophy of Science" (Doctoral, all LUT disciplines)

Our work has a significant impact on how society’s institutions understand science-technology-society interrelationships, and our project stakeholders include Finnish ministries and regulators, policy institutes in Finland and the Nordics, representatives of the energy and renewable industries, and city-level experts. The current and graduated supervised doctoral students by the group work in the government, energy market regulation, technology provision, and public research institutes.