UCL Department of Science and Technology Studies

On April 4^th 2013, Dr Brian Balmer gave a talk entitled “The Social Dimension of Technology” at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science, Education and Language, University of La Laguna, Tenerife. The talk was given to staff and students as part of their two day annual research conference and Faculty celebration.

Brian Balmer is involved in an on-going collaboration with Professor Amparo Gomez (pictured with Brian) and Professor Antonio F. Canales as part of two grants, the first funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, the latest funded by their Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness. After the award decisions are made, a select few grants also get a PhD studentship awarded and the grant from the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness fell into this category.

While in Tenerife, a new book was published with contributions from members of the first project. The book: Gómez Rodríguez, A., Canales, A. F. (Eds.). (2013) Políticas y Desarrollo Científico en el Siglo XX. Madrid: Plaza y Valdés contains two co-authored chapters by Brian Balmer, translated into Spanish. One is about the boundaries between science and politics, the second is on the history of the ‘brain drain’ debate in the UK. Also, while in Tenerife, the project collaborators were offered a contract with Ashgate publishing to produce an edited volume, in English, on the history of science and science policy in twentieth century Spain, Italy and Argentina.