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Science, Technology, and Sustainability: Building a Research Agenda

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Science, Technology, and Sustainability: Building a Research Agenda Science, Technology, and Sustainability: Building a Research Agenda National Science Foundation Supported Workshop Sept. 8-9, 2008 Report Prepared by: Clark Miller Arizona State University Daniel Sarewitz Arizona State University Andrew Light George Mason University Society Nature Knowledge, ideas, and val- ues Science, tech- nology, and governance Socio-technological systems Economy 1 Introduction Over the last decade, the thesis that scientific and technological research can contribute to over- coming sustainability challenges has become conventional wisdom among policy, business, and research leaders.1 By contrast, relatively little attention has been given to the question of how a better understanding of the human and social dimensions of science and technology could also contribute to improving both the understanding of sustainability challenges and efforts to solve them. Yet, such analyses would seem central to sustainability research. After all, human applica- tions of science and technology pose arguably the single greatest source of threats to global sus- tainability, whether we are talking about the energy and transportation systems that underpin global industrial activities or the worldwide expansion of agriculture into forest and savannah ecosystems. These applications arise out of complex social, political, and economic contexts – and they intertwine science, technology, and society in their implementation – making know- ledge of both the human and social contexts and elements of science and technology essential to understanding and responding to sustainability challenges. Thus, while science and technology are central to efforts to improve human health and wellbeing,2 the application of science and technology has not always contributed as anticipated in past efforts to improve the human condi- tion.3 It is essential, therefore, that research on the relationships between science, technology, and society be integrated into the broader sustainability research agenda. This is the central conclusion of the workshop Science, Technology, and Sustainability: Building a Research Agenda, held at the US National Science Foundation on September 8-9, 2008. The workshop brought together national leaders in research on science, technology, and society (STS) to explore how the field could contribute to sustainability research. In this report, we use the identifier “STS” to refer broadly to researchers working in the full range of intellectual are- nas encompassed by the NSF Program in Science, Technology, and Society.4 Workshop partici- pants were drawn from a wide range of disciplinary perspectives, including environmental histo- ry, sociology, philosophy, and ethics; history of science and technology; science, technology, and environmental policy; disability studies; and social studies of science and technology. Partic- ipants at the workshop also included representatives from federal science and technology agen- cies and the National Science Foundation. Participants in the workshop were asked to address the following three questions: • What unique perspectives are brought by research on science, technology, and society to understanding concepts of sustainability, challenges to sustainability, and sustainability solutions? 1 See, for example, the draft National Science Board report, Building a Sustainable Energy Fu- ture (2009). 2 John Holdren, “Presidential Address: Science and Technology for Sustainable Well-being,” Science 319 (5862): 424-434, 2008. 3 James Scott, Seeing Like a State: How Certain Conditions to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998). 4 This usage is deliberately broader than the sometimes narrower reference to sociology of science and technology or science and technology studies. 2 • What are the central research challenges or areas of research where STS scholars can make significant contributions to the broader sustainability research agenda? • What infrastructure investments would improve the ability of researchers in the full range of STS fields to meet these research challenges and more effectively contribute to im- proving sustainability outcomes? This report synthesizes discussions at the workshop that sought to address these questions. The report is divided into four parts. The first three describe what workshop participants identified as core perspectives brought by STS to the study of sustainability, as well an agenda for future STS research that emerged from that perspective for that would contribute to advance sustainability research and practice. The fourth highlights areas where investments in research infrastructure could significantly enhance the ability of STS to contribute meaningfully to improving sustaina- bility research and outcomes. Here we offer a brief summary of each part: Part I. Socio-technical systems: More than any other research domain, work in the fields of STS research focuses on the coupled systems that link human and social values, behavior, rela- tionships, and institutions to science and technology. Like coupled human-natural systems or so- cio-ecological systems, socio-technical systems are central to understanding the nature and dy- namics of sustainability problems and solutions. Key research questions include: How do the structure and dynamics of socio-technical systems contribute to unsustainable outcomes? How did socio-technical systems that contribute to unsustainable outcomes come to be constructed as they are, and how are those systems maintained over time? How are aspects of people’s lives and livelihoods that are valued as integral to the meaning of sustainability impacted by the design and operation of socio-technical systems? How might sustainability be defined and understood in the context of socio-technical systems? Part II. Knowledge, ideas, and values: A second central area of STS research that contributes directly to sustainability research are inquiries into the human and social practices and arrange- ments and conceptual and ethical frameworks that provide foundations for particular ways of knowing and valuing aspects of society and the environment that are critical to sustainability problems and solutions. Key research questions include: What ideas (concepts, beliefs, know- ledges, ethics, and values) underpin people’s understandings of nature, environment, science, technology, and society as they relate to sustainability? What social practices (behaviors, rela- tionships, arrangements, and institutions) underpin the construction and maintenance of these ideas? In turn, how do these ideas shape social practices and relationships? What are the concep- tual and ethical foundations of sustainability, in terms of both how diverse groups currently un- derstand sustainability and how it might be better understood in the future? Part III. Science, technology, and governance: The third core conceptual focal point of sustai- nability research in STS is its focus on strategies and institutions for governing science and tech- nology in society. Sustainability solutions are likely to require fundamental changes in science and technology policy, management, and regulation that STS research can valuably inform. Key research questions include: How can change be brought about in existing socio-technical systems and systems of knowledge and valuation to create more sustainable alternatives? How can prac- tices of design and innovation be conducted so as to enhance the ability to fashion in the future 3 more sustainable socio-technical systems or systems of knowledge and information from the out- set? What governance arrangements might enhance the ability of societies to achieve more sus- tainable socio-technical systems or systems of knowledge and valuation? Part IV. Infrastructure needs: The final section of the report discusses the infrastructure chal- lenges and needs if research in STS is to effectively contribute to broader research on sustaina- bility. These include: • Opportunities for networking and field-building: To address the research needs de- scribed in this report will require support for the establishment of both interdisciplinary research teams and a broader interdisciplinary field of researchers who can exchange ideas, data, methods, and models; construct and pursue a collaborative research agenda; and build the human capacity to address the long-term challenges of sustainability. • Long-term, systematic, interdisciplinary research initiatives: The scale and complexi- ty of sustainability problems demands a larger scale of research effort and support for systematic research efforts over a longer period of time than can currently be funded un- der existing grants from the NSF Program in Science, Technology, and Society. • Cyberinfrastructure: To support the envisioned research efforts will require new in- vestments in cyberinfrastructure that can support virtual interdisciplinary and collabora- tive work environments, large-scale professional networking platforms, storage and dis- semination of data and other materials; and monitoring and feedback regarding the field’s research and its impacts. • Graduate and postdoctoral training initiatives: Opportunities in the field for advanced conceptual and methodological training for graduate students and postdoctoral research- ers is essential, yet sparse, at best, ad hoc, and localized, while existing graduate pro- grams are highly specialized and do not always afford opportunities for broad cross- training of the next generation of scholars in the kinds of
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