Call for Participation: PhD Masterclass with Holberg Laureate Sheila Jasanoff

05.04.2022

The Holberg Prize is offering scholarships for five PhD candidates in the Nordic countries to participate in a Masterclass with Professor Sheila Jasanoff on the topic "Technology and the Human Future" on 7 June, 2022. The deadline for applications is 1 May, 2022.

PhD candidates in the Nordic countries can now apply to participate in a Masterclass with Professor Sheila Jasanoff, the 2022 Holberg Laureate. The event takes place during the Holberg Week in Bergen on Tuesday, 7 June, 2022, 1:00 p.m.– 3:00 p.m. Travel and accommodation expenses will be covered, and the participants are also invited to other events during the Holberg Week (7–10 June). The event is open to the public. It will be livestreamed, and video will remain online after the event.

"Technology and the Human Future"

Technologies reflect and materialize collective visions of good and desirable futures in contemporary societies. As such, they are both sites and objects of politics. This class explores how technologies assume the shapes they do, how they further or inhibit particular directions of progress, and how they help crystallize ideas of agency, responsibility and blame. Technological systems emerge from this perspective as integral to the constitutional commitments that governs modernity. - Sheila Jasanoff

About Sheila Jasanoff

Sheila Jasanoff is awarded the 2022 Holberg Prize for her pioneering research in the field of Science and Technology Studies. Jasanoff is Pforzheimer Professor of Science and Technology Studies at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. As one of the world’s most influential scholars in developing the field of Science and Technology Studies (STS), Jasanoff has forged a unique, interdisciplinary body of research at the intersection of the Social Sciences, Humanities, Arts for People & Economy (SHAPE) and STEM disciplines.

Preparation

Participants are asked to prepare a 5-minute presentation related to the main topic of the seminar. In addition to knowledge of the texts listed as curriculum below, participants are also asked to prepare questions for Professor Jasanoff in advance. The discussion will be held in English. Please note that this event will be open to the general public.

Curriculum

  • In Sheila Jasanoff and Sang-Hyun Kim, eds., Dreamscapes of Modernity: Science, technology and the Fabrication of Power (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2015)
    • Felt, Ulrike, “Keeping Technologies Out: Sociotechnical Imaginaries and the Formation of Austria’s Technopolitical Identity,” pp. 103-123.
    • Hurlbut, J. Benjamin, “Remembering the Future: Science, Law and the Legacy of Asilomar,” pp. 126-149.
    • Jasanoff, Sheila, “Future Imperfect: Science, Technology, and the Imaginations of Modernity,” pp. 1-30.

Also:

  • Adam, Barbara and Chris Groves, “Futures Tended: Care and Future-Oriented Responsibility,” Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society, Vol. 31, No. 1 (2011), pp. 17-27.
  • Jasanoff, Sheila, “Life’s Purposes,” in Can Science Make Sense of Life? (Cambridge: Polity, 2019), pp. 169-179.
  • Jasanoff, Sheila and Sang-Hyun Kim, “Sociotechnical Imaginaries and National Energy Policies,” Science as Culture, Vol. 22, No. 2 (2013), pp. 189-196.
  • Jasanoff, Sheila, “In a Constitutional Moment: Science and Social Order at the Millennium,” in B. Joerges and H. Nowotny, eds., Social Studies of Science and Technology: Looking Back, Ahead, Yearbook of the Sociology of the Sciences (Dordrecht: Kluwer, 2003), pp. 155-180.
  • Jonas, Hans, “Toward a Philosophy of Technology,” The Hastings Center Report, Vol. 9, No. 1 (1979), pp. 34-43.
  • Kelly, Duncan, “The Politics of the Anthropocene in a World After Neoliberalism,” Boston Review, Vol. 16 (March 9, 2021), pp. 145-157.
  • Latour, Bruno, “Love Your Monsters: Why we must care for our technologies as we do our children,” Breakthrough Journal, No. 2 (Fall 2011), pp. 19-26.
  • Latour, Bruno, “Fifty Shades of Green,” Environmental Humanities, Vol. 7 (2015), pp. 219-225.
  • Noble, David, “Social Choice in Machine Design: The Case of Automatically Controlled Machine Tools, and a Challenge for Labor,” Politics and Society, Vol. 8, No. 3-4 (1978), pp. 103-112.
  • Tooze, Adam, “The Sociologist Who Could Save Us From Coronavirus,” Foreign Policy (August 1, 2020), pp. 1-16.
  • Winner, Langdon, “On Not Hitting the Tar Baby,” in The Whale and the Reactor: A Search for Limits in an Age of High Technology (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986), pp. 138-154.

How to apply

Apply for the Masterclass by completing the application form below. We ask that you submit a letter of motivation (no more than 3,500 characters), your CV and contact information. Deadline for applications: 1 May, 2022.

Application form: Masterclass 2022

If you have any questions about the event, application requirements or practicalities, please contact the Holberg Prize Secretariat at info@holbergprisen.no.