EASST-4S Conference: Making and Doing Transformations

EASST-4S is a quadrennial joint meeting of the European Association for the Study of Science and Technology (EASST) and the Society for Social Studies of Science (4S), taking place from July 16-19 in Amsterdam. The theme for 2024 is 'Making and Doing Transformations', urging scholars to address urgent societal challenges while emphasizing empirical analyses and reflexivity. The conference encourages discussions on how STS can contribute to transformations, avoiding co-optation and embracing diverse forms of knowledge production. Contributions in non-traditional formats are welcomed, aligning with the STS Making & Doing program.

One of the presenters at the EASST-4S conference is AlgoSoc PhD researcher Donovan van der Haak, who will present his paper titled ‘Performativities at play: How ethics and conceptualizations of technology reveal and conceal each other’. By zooming in on classical philosophy of technology and the empirical turn, Donovan’s paper argues that empirical conceptualizations of technology performed a largely empirically-oriented technology ethics that spends considerably less attention to ethical considerations that go beyond the empirical characteristics of technological artifacts.