Events

MODERATOR

Assoc Prof Gregory Clancey, Asia Research Institute, and Department of History, National University of Singapore

PROGRAM

ABSTRACT

This open roundtable will discuss the recent past and future directions of the interdisciplinary field of Science, Technology and Society (STS) in East and Southeast Asia. STS is one of the oldest, largest, and most widespread interdisciplinary research and teaching programs in the world, and its themes and methodologies have never been more relevant given the challenges of climate change, pandemics, mass extinction, issues around AI, etc. Moreover, it is now impossible to discuss such STS issues without including Asia as site, and Asia-based scholars as participants. Our panelists are leading figures from some of the most important STS communities in East and Southeast Asia, and will discuss the state of the field across the region: what have we done right?; what do we need to do differently, or more of?; how can we work better together? The roundtable marks both the 20^th anniversary of the Asia Research Institute, and, coincidentally, the 20^th anniversary of STS as an organized scholarly community in Singapore.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Fiona Williamson is Associate Professor of Science, Technology and Society at Singapore Management University and Fellow of the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore. She is an environmental historian working on intersections between climate and urban society in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and British colonial meteorological science. Her current interests include the history of floods, droughts and the El-Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) in the Straits Settlements and the history of heat in Singapore and Hong Kong.

Gregory Clancey is Associate Professor in the Department of History and Research Leader of the Science, Technology, and Society (STS) Cluster at the Asia Research Institute (ARI) at the National University of Singapore (NUS). He received his PhD from the STS Program at MIT, and has been a Fulbright graduate scholar at the University of Tokyo, and a Lars Hierta scholar at the Royal Institute of Technology (KtH) in Stockholm. His research centers on the cultural history of science & technology, particularly in Japan.

Hallam Stevens is Associate Director (Academic) of the Institute of Science and Technology for Humanity at the Nanyang Technological University (NTU). He is also Associate Professor in the History Programme and Co-Director of the Artificial Intelligence Research Institute. He writse about genomics, the life sciences, big data, and the history of computers, teaches on food history and the history of science and technology more generally. He holds an MA and PhD in the history of science from, respectively, Cambridge and Harvard universities.

Hyungsub Choi is Associate Professor of the History of Science and Technology at the Seoul National University of Science and Technology. He holds degrees from Seoul National University, the Georgia Institute of Technology, and Johns Hopkins University. He was a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) postdoctoral fellow at the University of Tokyo, and a research fellow at the Chemical Heritage Foundation. His research interests include semiconductors, materials science, and nanotechnology.

Togo Tsukahara is Professor of the History and Philosophy of Science and Science, Technology, and Society (STS) at the Graduate School of Intercultural Studies at Kobe University, Japan. He received his PhD from Leiden University, and has been a postdoctoral fellow at the Needham Research Institute, Cambridge. His fields of interest are the history of chemistry and geosciences, climate reconstruction, science and empires, and democratization of techno-science. He is an associate editor of EASTS, and an officer in the Japanese Society for Science and Technology Studies.

Wen-Hua Kuo is  Editor-in-Chief of East Asian Science, Technology and Society (EASTS), one of the most influential forums for science, technology, and society (STS) scholarship in this region. He is a professor at National Yang-Ming University, Taiwan, where he teaches social studies of medicine. A licensed physician and certified acupuncturist, his work revolves around pharmaceutical regulation and its social impacts in an East Asian context. He holds a PhD from the STS Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Wen-Ling Hong is Associate Professor of Ocean Engineering at the National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology in Taiwan, and Director of its Center for Science, Technology and Society. She is also Chairperson of the Taiwan STS Association, and since 2014 has co-led Taiwan Gender In Science and Technology (Taiwan GIST). She has particularly engaged topics in science communication, citizen science, engineering ethics, engineering education reform, as well as gender and science and technology. Her PhD is from the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor).

ARI20 ANNIVERSARY ROUNDTABLE SERIES

The ARI20 Anniversary Roundtable Series marks the founding of the Asia Research Institute at the National University of Singapore in 2001. The series celebrates our current scholarship while exploring how these themes and topics continue to inspire new trajectories of research. The ARI20 Anniversary Roundtable Series concludes with the convening of a final roundtable featuring the Institute’s current research cluster leaders, who will discuss ARI’s role in charting future humanities and social science research on Asia. While the virtual roundtable format arises from pandemic-related necessity, it will enable ARI alumni and partners around the world to join the discussion on the Institute’s research directions and prospects.

REGISTRATION

Registration is closed, and instructions on how to participate in this webinar has been sent out to registered attendees. Please write to aritm@nus.edu.sg if you would like to attend the webinar.