Program on Science, Technology and Society at Harvard

Harvard Kennedy School of Government | Harvard University

Events

STS Circle at Harvard

The STS Circle at Harvard meets weekly during the academic semester. All Meetings will take place on Mondays, from 12:15–2 pm, at K262, Bowie-Vernon Room, CGIS, 1737 Cambridge Street unless otherwise noted. Sandwich lunches are provided. Please RSVP to sts@hks.harvard.edu by Thursday noon the week before.

Spring 2017

Jan. 30:

Edward Hackett (Brandeis University, Vice Provost for Research)
Collaboration and Creativity: Lessons from Synthesis Centers (and Elsewhere)

Feb. 6:

Les Beldo (Williams College, Environmental Studies)
What is a Whale Stock? And Other Moral Questions in Large Cetacean Management

Feb. 13:

Caterina Scaramelli (MIT, HASTS)
Making Livable Natures: Caring for Wetlands in Turkey

Feb. 27:

Ateya Khorakiwala (Harvard, GSD)
Architectural Strategies and Infrastructural Landscapes of the Green Revolution in India in the 1960s

Mar. 6:

Matthew Hersch (Harvard, History of Science)
In-House to Outhouse: The Strange Life of Film-Return Spy Satellites, 1946–1986

Mar. 20:

William Deringer (MIT, HASTS)
The Social Rate of Discount and the Political Economy of the Future in the 1960s

Mar. 27:

Meera Subramanian (MIT, Knight Science Journalism Fellow)
Eco Swaraj: Can India’s Model of the Micro Transform Development for the 21st Century?

Apr. 3:

Kara Swanson (Northeastern University, Law)
Counting Black Inventors: The Historical Role of the US Patent System as a Political Resource

Apr. 10:

Sarah Richardson (Harvard, History of Science)
Can a Cell Have a Sex?
Note: CGIS South S050, 1730 Cambridge Street

Apr. 17:

Kenneth Oye (MIT, Political Science)
Assessing and Mitigating Synthetic Biology Risks: Exemplary Cases and Cautionary Tales

Apr. 24:

Daniel Wikler (HSPH, Ethics and Population Health)
Wrong Way After Nuremberg: Misconceiving Research Ethics

» More information and past schedules

Science & Democracy Lecture Series

Once a semester, the STS Program, with co-sponsorship from other local institutions, hosts an installation in its Science and Democracy Lecture Series.

Good Science for Good Politics: Scientific Advice and Policy-making in the European Union

Carlos Moedas

With panel discussion by John Holdren, Rush D. Holt, and Venky Narayanamurti

April 19, 2017, 5:00pm-7:00pm

Science Center Lecture Hall A, 1 Oxford Street, Harvard University

Over a year ago, Carlos Moedas, EU Commissioner for Science and Innovation, launched SAM - the Scientific Advice Mechanism, a new model to incorporate in a structured way the inputs of the scientific community in the decisions taken by the European Commission. In this talk, Mr. Moedas will address the rising importance of scientific advice in policy making, the need to build partnerships of trust between scientists and politicians, and the vital place of science in our contentious political environment. Video of this lecture is located here.

Co-sponsored by the Harvard University Center for the Environment, the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, and the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

» Lecture series archive

Workshops and Panels

Editorial Aspirations: Human Integrity at the Frontiers of Biology

April 26-28, 2017, 5:00PM-6:30PM, 8:45AM-5:00PM

Emerson Hall Room 105 and Tsai Auditorium

Co-sponsored by the Center for Biology and Society, Arizona State University with support from Templeton Religion Trust; the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School and the Center for Bioethics at Harvard Medical School, with support from the Oswald DeN. Cammann Fund; the Institute for Global Law and Policy at Harvard Law School; the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs; and The Future Society.

» Workshops and panels archive

Program news

Congratulations to the winners of the STS Undergraduate Essay Prize Competition: Jacob Meisel, Leib Celnik, and Sophia Lugo! Check out their videos here.

Couldn't make our Science and Democracy Lecture with Carlos Moedas? Video of the lecture is now available here.

Missed Editorial Aspirations: Human Integrity at the Frontiers of Biology? Watch the video of the sessions and read the event report.

Curious about our public lecture with Jonathon Porritt on "Nuclear Chimeras: Britain's Slow Death as a Nuclear Power"? You can find the video here.

We're pleased to announce a new STS blog - First 100 Days: Narratives of Normalization and Disruption.

Wondering what we were up to in 2016? Our Fall 2016 Newsletter is now available!

Missed The Expertise and Public Trust Project's inaugural event "What Should Democracies Know?" featuring post-election reflections by Archon Fung, Ned Hall, Jane Mansbridge, David Kennedy and Sheila Jasanoff? The video and event summary are now available.

Missed our Science and Democracy Lecture with Rachel Kyte on Looking up: How coalitions of bottom-up organizations are driving action for sustainable development? Watch the video here.

Sheila Jasanoff's latest book The Ethics of Invention: Technology and the Human Future is now available for order at Amazon and at the publisher's link.

A summary of our workshop "The Molecularization of Identity: Science and Subjectivity in the 21st Century," is now available in Genetics Research. The summary was written by workshop organizers, and past STS Fellows, Ian McGonigle and Ruha Benjamin.

» Program news archive