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Making Space for Science

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Making Space for Science
Tuesday 11 April 2006, University College London

This first conference of the ESRC seminar series ‘Locating Technoscience: The Geographies of Science, Technology and Politics’ addressed the interdisciplinary challenge of conceptualising the ‘geography of scientific knowledge’. Keynote speakers and workshop discussions showcased and discussed the concepts, topics and methods used to explore the spatiality of science in geography, Science and Technology Studies (STS) and other disciplines, whilst examining the opportunities for dialogue between them.

Programme

9.45am	Registration South Cloisters, UCL
10.15am	Welcome and Introduction Gustave Tuck Lecture Theatre, UCL Professor Malcolm Grant (UCL President and Provost) Dr Gail Davies (Geography, UCL) and Dr Brian Balmer (STS, UCL)
10.30am	Science, Site and Speech: Scientific knowledge and the spaces of rhetoric Professor David Livingstone (School of Geography, Queen's University Belfast) Coffee, South Cloisters
11.30am	The Spatiality of Knowledge and Technique: ‘Infrastructure’ as an object for STS and Geography Dr Andrew Lakoff (Department of Sociology, University of California, San Diego)
12 noon	Knowledge Controversies: Rethinking the spaces of science and politics Professor Sarah Whatmore (Oxford University Centre for the Environment)
12.45pm	Buffet Lunch South Cloisters
1.45pm	Workshop Discussions: Disciplinary Trajectories and Interdisciplinary Conversations Chair: Professor Jacquie Burgess (Geography, UCL) Old refectory, UCL
	Commentators:	Dr David Demeritt (Geography, Kings College) Professor John Law (Sociology, Lancaster University)
*	In what contexts have geography, STS and other scholars turned to questions about the spatiality of science? What are the similarities and differences in the agendas and concepts addressed by this turn?
*	How do explorations into the geography of science amount to more than saying ‘science is different in different places’, to add to the conceptualisation of both space and science in different disciplines?
*	What are the sites of knowledge production receiving attention in work on the spatiality of science, and what are the substantive and methodological insights emerging from these places? For example, what are the similarities and differences between laboratory and field sciences, public or private science?
*	How might research into the geographies of knowledge articulate with public concerns or science policy?
*	What are the main opportunities for exchange and learning between these disciplines interested in the geographies of science, and how might this seminar series best contribute to fostering these?
4.45pm	Closing comments
5pm	Wine reception Old Refectory, UCL