Events

This conference is jointly organized by the STS Research Cluster of the Asia Research Institute (ARI), the STS Research Cluster of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS), and Tembusu College (at University Town), all at the National University of Singapore (NUS); with funding support from the Humanities and Social Science Research Fund at NUS.

KNOWING, MAKING, GOVERNING: Biennial Conference 2013 is the third biennial conference of the Asia-Pacific Science, Technology & Society Network (APSTSN). The theme of the conference speaks to the breadth of research being conducted under the banner of science and technology in society in Asia and the Pacific regions, and marks points of connection that bring together scholars from the northern latitudes of Korea and Japan to the southern reaches of Australia and New Zealand.

The study of science, technology & society is a crucial element of social science in the Asia-Pacific. Knowing the world, making the material dimensions of social life, and governing our diverse political existences are modes for how we relate with one another. The biennial conference is an opportunity and resource to this intellectual geography.

With more than 150 speakers, the conference includes keynote talks by Warwick Anderson and Daiwie Fu, as well as presentations by Sungook Hong, Togo Tsukahara, Kim Fortun, Helen Verran, Rethy Chhem, Aihwa Ong, Michael Fischer, Bruce Seely, Francesca Bray, Suzanne Moon, Frederic Keck and many others.

The full conference program is available at the conference website: www.apstsn2013.com

Included in the conference are two special tracks organized by ARI scholars:

Asian Biopoleis: Biotechnology and Biomedicine as Emergent Forms of Life and Practice (organized by A/P Gregory Clancey)

“Asian Biopoleis: Biotechnology and Biomedicine as Emergent Forms of Life and Practice” is a three-year research initiative funded by the Ministry of Education and the Humanities and Social Science Research Fund of NUS. This project involves three tracks of work: The context of biotech/science/medicine in Asia – developing a rich picture of its origins, existing networks, and key policies and threats; the products, key objects and media, environment and work relating to Asian biotech/science/medical labs, institutes, and policy-making centers; and the politics, ethics, and implications of biotech/science/medicine for future life – particularly urban life – in Asia. This workshop will report research done during the third and final year of the grant-funded project.

Imaginative Environments: Temporality of Technology and Climate Change (organized by Dr Jerome Whitington)

Imaginative Environments refers to the different temporalities at stake in open, constructive and power-laden relations among people, infrastructures and natures, in conditions where uncertainties dominate and historical specificity is key. What politics come out of innovative material processes? How do expert and vernacular knowledge intertwine? In what practical and poetic terms do people imagine new futures? The workshop brings together critical scholars on topics of environmental concern across the social sciences and humanities.

REGISTRATION

Registration fees, and other details about the conference can be found at the conference website.

Please contact Dr Jerome Whitington at apstsn2013@gmail.com, if you wish to attend the workshop.
CONTACT DETAILS

Conference Organising Committee:
Dr Jerome Whitington
A/P Gregory Clancey
Dr Haidan Chen
Dr Axel Gelfert
Dr Honghong Tinn