The Commission on Science, Technology and Diplomacy (STAND) calls for paper proposals on science diplomacy issues aligned to the main 2022 ESHS conference theme on science policy and the politics of science (2022 European Society for the History of Science Conference, Brussels, 7-9 September).
Core literature on science diplomacy contends that utilizing science in the diplomacy arena enables rising above political differences and tensions (e.g. AAAS/Royal Society, New Frontiers of Science Diplomacy, 2010, p. 1). Hence science diplomacy initiatives appear policy-neutral, beneficial in their impacts on international relations, and orientated towards evidence-based solutions to global challenges. By contrast, new science diplomacy case studies have exposed hidden political ambitions present in past schemes and recognized the asymmetries in global distribution of techno-scientific resources underlying past and present initiatives. This recent work prompts an essential question for the emerging field of science diplomacy studies namely what kind of politics does science diplomacy help to perform?
We encourage submissions of papers addressing this question from different angles, centred on cases from any historical period or geographic orientation. Potential themes for papers include, but are not limited to:
- Collaboration and competition in science diplomacy initiatives.
- Science diplomacy and democracy: social engagement or elite gatekeeping?
- Difference, gender, and inclusion in science diplomacy initiatives.
- Health and medical diplomacy: historical opportunities and inequalities.
- The Global South and indigenous communities (or the absence thereof) in science diplomacy narratives.
- Geopolitics in the mediation of scientific networks and infrastructures.
We invite submission of proposals including title, abstract (300 words maximum), and brief CV (150 words maximum). We especially welcome submissions from early career scholars and under-represented groups. Please send submissions to the STAND Commission secretary, Matthew Adamson (mhadamson at mcdaniel dot hu)
by December 17, 2021.
Read more:
Call for Papers: The Politics of Science Diplomacy Symposium
