Reading Groups

STS hosts a series of reading groups, run by current PhD students, to discuss interesting, thought provoking material in relevant fields.

STS PhD students carry out research in a wide range of areas. In order to inspire debate and provide different viewpoints on their work, students run a series of reading groups covering material in STS-related areas. Each reading group runs each 2-3 weeks, and host their own websites with details of events and readings.

Philosophy of Science and Technology (POST) 

Current chair - Jake Love Soper

The Philosophy of Science and Technology reading group looks at current and prominent issues in Science and Technology from a philosophical lens, whilst also appreciating an interdisciplinary approach.  Please feel free to suggest papers and join us - students, staff, researchers and people from industry are all welcome!

History of Science

Current chair - Professor Jon Agar

Metaphysics of Science

Organisers - Emma Tobin, Rory Jubber and Jonathan Dickinson

Science and Society

Current chairs - Mengxi Zhang and Cecilie Hilmer

The Science and Society (SASsy) Reading Group provides a forum for discussing publications relating to the broader relationships between science and society, exploring the  inextricable link between the two.  The reading group covers topics such as science policy, science communication, public engagement, ethics in innovation, etc.  In 2020-2021, we discussed issues around COVID-19, including the investigation of its origins, conspiracy theories, post-truth, blame and how STS could contribute during the pandemic.

Abolition Feminism

Current chairs - Kylo Thomas and Jaspreet Jagdev

Abolition feminism draws from the critical labour of Black feminism and abolition justice, and imagines a society based on radical freedom, mutual accountability, and passionate reciprocity. It involves creating models today that can represent how we want to live in the future. Abolition feminism includes practical strategies towards liberation which allow us to believe that things can be different. It is about living this vision in our everyday lives. It is both a tool for organisation and a long-term goal.

At this time, it is essential to review the abolition feminism envisioned by, but not limited too, Angela Davis, adrienne maree brown, Leaa Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, and Mariame Kaba — and ask ‘who do you mean by the community?’, and ‘what do you mean by protection?’. For many of us, feminist activists of colour, trans and non-binary feminists, queer, disabled, undocumented, poor and sex working feminists - these discussions feel intensely personal. Indeed, they are intensely personal, and it is this connection, built on the foundation of love ethics, righteous anger, and mutual aid that lies at the ethos of abolition feminism.

This reading group seeks to create an accountability space so as to engage with literature, manifestos, articles, poetry, prose, and music that centre around direct action, transformative justice, and technologies of liberation and empowerment. We recognise and understand that academia, by its very nature, is grounded in systems of exclusion, and we refuse to play by those rules. Our readings will stretch across and beyond the institution, from community organisers, to activists, to scholar activists, to artists and practitioners, and many more besides – and we will always be open to suggestions.

Science and Sound - not running at present

Organisers - Chiara Ambrosio, Maria Kiladi, Elena Ktori and Cathy Lucas

Science and Sound explores recent research at the interface of STS, music and sound and use its sessions to bring together academics, museum curators and performers