SYNENERGENE RESEARCH AT THE REGIONAL CONFERENCE ON CRITICAL ISSUES IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY STUDIES, MAY 5-6, 2014 IN GRAZ (AUSTRIA)
Submitted by toni_ulj on
Members of the Slovenian partner University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Social Sciences, attended the annual conference on Critical Issues in Science and Technology Studies, organized by the Institute for Advanced Studies on Science, Technology and Society in Graz, Austria, during the 5th and 6th of May 2014 (for the agenda and abstracts of the conference, see: http://www.ifz.tugraz.at/ias/IAS-STS/Upcoming-Activities/STS-Conference-...).
The conference acts as a regional, and increasingly international, gathering of STS experts and focuses on key issues in topics such as biotechnology, energy systems, and agro-food systems. Franc Mali and Toni Pustovrh presented the paper "Anticipatory Governance of Synthetic Biology: some Challenges for Slovenia as a Country with weak Stakeholder Networks" in the section on Biotechnology and Life Sciences, which focused on some aspects of the societal regulation of synthetic biology, with empirical results derived from interviews with experts and stakeholders from Slovenia. Some of the other SYN-ENERGENE partners also attended or presented at the conference (Biofaction, VU Amsterdam). Such presentations and discussions with STS and other researchers will hopefully contribute to greater awareness and focus on pressing governance issues in synthetic biology as well as other new and emerging technologies.
