Please Note: As the Situating Science Cluster draws to a close in the next few months, and in our effort to become a sustainable network, we will be helping with plans to launch the Canadian Consortium for Situating Science and Technology (CCSST). Launching soon! For more information, visit www.CCSST.net or SituSciTech.ca. (Posted December 2014)
Browse below or select one of the following categories for more information:
What we do
Why we do what we do
How we do what we do
Who we are
Post-doctoral fellows
Students
Programs of Study
Conferences
Workshops
Summer Schools
National Lecture Series
Select Events
Grants and Awards
Publications
Videos
Podcasts
Watch live
Partners
Directory of network
SSHRC Mid-Term report (w/o appendices)
Detailed description from application
WHAT
Created in 2007 with the generous funding of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Strategic Knowledge Cluster grant, Situating Science is a seven-year project promoting communication and collaboration among humanists and social scientists that are engaged in the study of science and technology.
At the end of our 7 years, we can boast a number of collaborative successes. We helped organize and support over 20 conferences and workshops, 4 national lecture series, 6 summer schools, and dozens of other events. Our network helped facilitate the development of 4 new programs of study at partner institutions. We leveraged more than one million dollars from Nodal partner universities plus more than one million dollars from over 200 supporting and partnering organizations. We hired over 30 students and 9 postdoctoral fellows. The events resulted in over 60 videos and podcasts as well as dozens of student blogs and over 50 publications.
For more information on the Cluster project, browse the Network Directory, abridged Midterm Report to SSHRC (done in 2011) and detailed description, event posters, and newsletters in the "Documents" section below. See how we're making headlines in the "News" section.
Download our display poster here.
We are committed to facilitating contact not only with leading Canadian and international scholars in these areas, but also with working scientists, journalists, and policy makers interested in the broader social and cultural significance of science and technology within the public, private, and natural spheres. A central goal of our project is the establishment of long-term stable foundations of encounter between humanistic scholars of science and the various publics in Canada.
Situating Science cultivates and supports a network of engaged scholars (see our Network Nodes and Network Directory). Reaching out to its stakeholder communities we continue to find opportunities for collaboration, sponsoring and co-sponsoring events from workshops to exhibitions to science studies cafes.
WHY
Our world is shaped by science and technology. This fact is a source of both social hope and anxiety. In light of this, there must be expert voices not only from within the natural, formal and applied science communities, but also from those in the humanities and social sciences who study the practice and the historical and conceptual development of the sciences.
HOW
Situating Science represents the first coordinated effort in targeted knowledge exchange and partnership creation in the study of science and technology in Canada.
Situating Science explores a set of four interrelated themes through networking, conferences, workshops, lecture series, and other activities. These themes are:
1 - Historical Epistemology and Ontology
2 - Material Culture and Scientific/Technological Practices
3 - Scientific Communication and its Publics
4 - Geography and Sites of Knowing
Reaching beyond disciplinary boundaries, Situating Science enrolls local and national partners in the public, media, academic, fine arts, museum, government and policy studies spheres to address the crucial topic of the place of science and technology in our modern world.
WHO
We operate on a hub and spoke model of six nodes spread across the country.
The Nodes are based at/in:
University of British Columbia,
University of Alberta,
University of Saskatchewan,
Toronto - York University-University of Toronto,
McGill University and Université du Québec à Montréal
Atlantic Canada - University of King’s College-Dalhousie University
The Nodes are supported by a centre at the University of King’s College in Halifax, NS
PROJECT COORDINATOR
Emily Tector
PROJECT DIRECTOR
Dr. Gordon McOuat
CO-APPLICANT AT LARGE
Dr. Lesley Cormack
POST-DOCS
We hired several post-doctoral fellows over 7 years. They include:
Georgy Levit, U. King's
Cindy Stelmackowich, Dal/U. King's
Jean-Louis Trudel, UQAM
Sébastien Mosbah-Natanson, UQAM
Jonathan Tsou, UBC
Flavia Padovani, UBC
Alex Choby, U. Alberta
Katherine Zwicker, U. Sask.
Melinda Baldwin, York U.
STUDENTS
We hired over 30 students over 7 years. The following is a list of a select number of students at Node institutions who assisted with the general organization of regional and national activities. Specific events employed additional students.
Mitchell Cohen, King's (webmaster 2007-14)
Vincent Ravina, King's (video and audio editing)
Megan Dean, Dal/King's
Paul Armstrong, Dalhousie
Jasmine Smart, Dalhousie (Student Project Assistant)
Samantha Copeland, Dalhousie
Sharon Woodill, Dalhousie (Student Project Assistant)
Micah Anshan, King's
Isabelle Morin, King's (Student Project Assistant)
Olivia Rempel, King's
Danielle Hallet, UBC
Steve Maye, UBC
J. Marc MacDonald, U. Saskatchewan
Catherine Clune-Taylor, U. Alberta
Jovian Parry, York
Lina Pinto, York
Richard Spiegel, McGill
Anna Dysert, McGill
Margaret Carlyle, McGill
Maria Eugenia Osorio Oliveros, McGill
PROGRAMS OF STUDY
An indicator of the success of the Cluster is the establishment of programs in the field at various Nodes:
- University of Saskatchewan Minor Undergraduate Program in the History of Science and Medicine
- York University Institute for Science and Technology Studies (iSTS), established in 2010
- UBC STS Graduate Program, established in 2012
- Minor in STS at Dalhousie/King's (in process)
2013-14:
"Materiality: Objects and Idioms in Historical Studies of Science and Technology" (May 3-4, 2013, York U.) Theme: Material Culture and Scientific/ Technological Practices
"Science and Society 2013" (Oct. 21-23, 2013, University of Ottawa). Theme: Science Communication and its Publics.
2010-11:
"Objectivity in Science" (June 2010, UBC) Theme: Historical Epistemology and Ontolog
2008-09:
"La Grande Rencontre" (Nov. 2008, UQAM) Theme: Science Communication and its Publics
2013-2014:
"Globalizing History and Philosophy of Science: Problems and Prospects" (August 21-22, 2014, National University of Singapore)
"The Bright Dark Ages: Comparative and Connective Perspectives" (February 27-28, 2013, National University of Singapore)
2012-13:
"Bodies in Motion: Translating Early Modern Science" ( March 22-23, 2013, UBC) Theme: Geographies and Sites of Knowing
"Where is the Laboratory now? “Representation”, “Intervention” and “Realism” in 19th and 20th Century Biomedical Sciences" (June 7-8 2013, U. Calg.) Theme: Historical Epistemology and Ontology + Material Culture and Scientific/ Technological Practices
2011-12:
"Intersections: New Approaches to Science and Technology in 20th C. China and India" (April 2011, York U.) Theme: Geography and Sites of Knowing
"Scientific Authority in Democratic Societies" (June 2011, UBC) Theme: Science Communication and its Publics
"Politics of Care in Technoscience" (April 2012, York U.) Theme: Historical Epistemology and Ontology
"Sciences and Narratives of Nature: East and West" (Dec 2011, Manipal, India) Theme: Geographies and Sites of Knowing. SSHRC Aid grant.
2010:
"Scientific Models and Simulations" (May 2010, UofT) Theme: Material Culture and Scientific/ Technological Practices
"Science without Data: The Role of Thought Experiments" (June 2010, Dalhousie U.) Theme: Historical Epistemology and Ontology
"Circulating Knowledge, East and West" (July 2010, U.King's College) Theme: Geographies and Sites of Knowing. SSHRC IOF grant, invitational
"Maker's Universe: Science, Art and Instruments in Early Modern Europe" (Sept. 2010, McGill U.) Theme: Material Culture and Scientific/ Technological Practices
2009:
"Reassessing Governance of Clinical Trials: Preventing Real World Risks at the Gates" (March 2009, Dalhousie U.) Theme: Material Culture and Scientific/ Technological Practices
"Reading Artifacts Summer Institute" (Aug 2009, CSTM) Theme: Material Culture and Scientific/ Technological Practices
"Health Legacies: Militarization, Health and Society" (Sept. 2009, UofA) Theme: Material Culture and Scientific/ Technological Practices
"Current Issues in Darwinian Theory" (Oct 2009, Dalhousie U.) Theme: Historical Epistemology and Ontology
2008-9:
"Critical Debates in Evidence-Based Medicine: Where We’ve Been and Where We’re Going" (Nov 2008, UofT) Theme: Historical Epistemology and Ontology
"Varieties of Empathy" (Oct 2009, UBC) Theme: Historical Epistemology and Ontology
SUMMER SCHOOLS
Reading Artifacts Summer Institute (2009-2013) Partnership with Canada Science and Technology Museum.
Science in Human Contexts (June 2014, Elbow Lake, Ontario)
Links here.
NATIONAL LECTURE SERIES
Trust in Science (design grant)
Trust in the New Sciences, 2009-10
Science and its Publics, 2010-11
The Lives of Evidence, 2014
SELECT NODE WORKSHOPS AND SALONS
"Technoscience Salon" UofT, ongoing
"Situating Early Modern Science Networks" Diefenbaker Centre. U. Saskatchewan April 13 and 14, 2012
"Revisiting Evolutionary Naturalism: New Perspectives on Victorian Science and Culture" York University May 6 – 7, 2011
"Earth Science, Global Science" York University Sept. 30-Oct. 2, 2010
"Human Experimentation, 1715-1972" U. Saskatchewan Oct. 23, 2009
"Envisioning Science: Imaging the Body" U. Alberta Sept 10-11, 2010
"The Uses of Humans in Experiments" U. Saskatchewan October 3, 2008
"Imagining Reproduction in Science and History" U. Saskatchewan October 19-21, 2007
"Putting Region in Its Place: An Interdisciplinary Conference on Health, Healing and Place" U. Alberta, Oct, 2007
VISITING SCHOLARS, THEATRE AND FILM EVENTS, WORKS-IN-PROGRESS AND MORE
Too many to mention! Browse our "Events" heading for more.
GRANTS AND AWARDS
York University Institute for Science and Technology Studies receives a three year Templeton Grant worth £376,193 to explore public debates surrounding evolution and religion (2013)
Gordon McOuat, Katharine Anderson and Helen Rozwadowski receive a SSHRC Connection Grant for the international workshop "Place and Practice in Oceanography: Doing Science on and in the Ocean 1800-2012" (2014). Melanie Frappier is a collaborator.
University of Toronto's Mark Solovey and York University's Michael Pettit and Alexandra Rutherford receive a SSHRC Connection Grant for the workshop “Social Science, Ideology, and Public Policy in the United States, 1961 to the Present.”
Ford Doolittle is awarded NSERC’s highest honor, the $1,000,000 Herzberg Award (2014). Doolittle is co-founder of the interdisciplinary and CIFAR-funded Evolution Studies Group and plans to use part of the funds to explore philosophy of biology.
Gordon McOuat and the University of Ottawa's Institute for Science, Society and Society Director Marc Saner receive a SSHRC Connection Grant for the symposium "Science and Society 2013" (2013).
Letitia Meynell is awarded a grant for developing a course in Ethics in Science at Dalhousie University and for developing ethics capacity throughout the sciences at Dalhousie more generally.
Letitia Meynell receives a Royal Society of Arts Open Opportunities Grant for a public panel event as part of the workshop on "Human-Animal Relations" (2013).
Bernie Lightman and dozens of co-applicants receive the SSHRC Partnership Grant Letter of Intent Grant for the five year project on “Sciences, Technologies, and Publics” (2013).
Gordon McOuat receives a Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute Faculty Mobility Grant to explore socio-political-institutional structures of post-colonial Indian science and engage in pedagogical and partnership exchange (2012)
Ted Cavanagh, professor of Architecture and Planning at Dalhousie, and a member and supporter of the Atlantic Node is awarded a seven year SSHRC Partnership Grant, "Thinking While Doing: Connecting Insight to Innovation in the Construction Sector". Letitia Meynell and Mélanie Frappier are collaborators.
Gordon McOuat receives a SSHRC Aid to Research Workshops and Conferences grant and Daryn Lehoux receives Shastri Indo-Canadian Scholar Travel Subsidy Grant for "Sciences and Narratives of Nature, East and West" (2011)
Bernie Lightman is elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (2011)
Letitia Meynell receives SSHRC Aid to Research Workshops and Conferences grant for "Science Without Data: The Role of Thought Experiments in Empirical Investigations" (2010)
Bernie Lightman receives the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation grant and National Science Foundation grant for the John Tyndall Correspondence Project
Gordon McOuat, Larry Stewart and Bernie Lightman receive the SSHRC International Opportunity Fund and Veena Rao and Sundar Sarukkai receive a Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute Scholar Travel Subsidy Grant for "Circulating Knowledge, East and West" (2010)
The Origin Cycle wins Performance of the Year at the Australian ART Music Awards (2011). The performance of this piece was put on during the "Current Issues in Darwinian Theory" workshop (2009).
International partners and sponsors include: [in process]
National University of Singapore, Manipal University, University of New South Wales, Indian Council of Philosophical Research, University of Leeds, International Society for the History of Philosophy of Science (HOPOS), Australian Council for the Arts; American Institute of Archeology; History of Science Society (HSS); The Newton Project; Watson International Science History Publications Ltd; Norwegian University of Science and Technology; International Commission for the History of Oceanography; American Institute of Physics
Via U. of Alberta events:
The International Society for the History of Behavioral and Social Sciences (Cheiron) and International Society for the History of Neurosciences (ISHN);
Via UQAM events:
Université de Paris-Sorbonne; Société de philosophie des sciences; Rationalités contemporaines (Paris 4); Logiques de l'agir (Univ. de Franche-Comté); Institut d'histoire et de philosophie des sciences et des techniques; Centre d'EPistémologie et ERgologie Comparatives (CEPERC)
National partners and sponsors include: [in process]
SSHRC; Canada Science and Technology Museum; Canadian Centre for Ethics in Public Affairs; Canadian Institute for the Advancement of Research (CIFAR), Institute for Science, Society and Policy (ISSP, U. of Ottawa); Science Media Centre of Canada (SMCC); Genome Canada (Genome Atlantic, Genome BC, Genome Alberta); Professional Institute of Public Service in Canada (PIPSC); UNESCO; Climate Change Forum; Atomic Energy Canada; US Embassy; British Embassy; Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute, Canadian Science Policy Conference (CSPC); Canadian Business Ethics Research Network; Canada Centre for Architecture; Evidence for Democracy; Newton Project Canada;
Health Canada; Can. Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health; Canadian Science and Technology Historical Association
Regional partners and sponsors include:
[in process - see Node pages in interim]
Atlantic Node:
Nova Scotia Institute for Science (NSIS), Nova Scotia Health Research Foundation, Atlantic Region Philosophers Association, Evolution Studies Group (CIFAR), Halifax Independent Filmmaker's Festival and Atlantic Filmmaker's Cooperative; Animal Studies Group (inter-disciplinary), Atlantic Region Philosopher's Association (ARPA), International Society for the History of Philosophy of Science (HOPOS), novaknowledge, Global Halifax Inc., Quantum Communications, Maritime Museum of the Atlantic; NS Dept. of Health; Health Canada; Can. Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health; Nova Scotia Dept. Culture, Heritage and Tourism; Wit's End Theatre; The Royal Society of Canada Open Academy; Dalhousie University Faculty of Medicine, Humanities-HEALS Program; Animal Studies Group;
University of King's College: School of Journalism, History of Science and Technology, Contemporary Studies, Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies, President's Office, History of Science and Technology Society, Foreign Film Society; Race Lecture Series, Early Modern Studies Program;
Dalhousie University: Sociology and Social Anthropology, Philosophy, History, Novel Tech Ethics, College of Pharmacy, International Development Studies, Health Law Institute, Faculty of Med.; Bioethics; Faculty of Science; Killam Memorial Library Special Collections; VP Research Office; Dean of Arts and Social Sciences; Dean, Architecture and Planning; Physics and Atmostpheric Science; Centre for Comparative Genomics and Evolutionary Bioinformatics (CGEB); Oceanography; College of Sustainability;
Mount St. Vincent University: NSERC Atlantic Chair for Women in Science and Engineering; Science Communication Program; Dean of Arts; Science and Institute for Women, Gender and Social Justice;
Saint Mary's University: Philosophy, Faculty of Science
Montreal Node:
McGill University: Making Publics Project, English, History and Philosophy of Science program, Department of Social Studies of Medicine, Institute for Islamic Studies, Department of Art History and Communication Studies, Media@McGill, and the Wolfe Chair in Scientific and Technological Literacy; MacDonald Stewart Foundation; Universities of Minnesota; University of Toronto; University of Sydney; McGill School of Environment; Global Environmental and Climate Change Centre; McGill Beatty Lecture Fund; Institute for Public Life of Arts and Ideas; McGill Mossman endowment; French Atlantic History Group;Institute for Health and Social Policy; Indian Ocean World Centre;
UQAM: Institut du nouveau monde, CIRST, Département d'histoire, Chaire de recherche du Canada en histoire environnementale du Québec, la Faculté des sciences; Département de sciences économiques; Fac. sciences humaines; Chaire de recherche du Canada en philosophie de la logique et des mathématiques; Chaire de recherche du Canada en histoire et sociologie des sciences; AHSTC;
Ministère du Développement économique, de l’Innovation et de l’Exportation (MDEIE), CRSNG (NSERC), CRSH (SSHRC), Desjardins. Jardin botanique, La Presse, Téléquébec, UNESCO. Conseil de la science et de la technologie. Fonds recherche du Québec, Association francophone pour le savoir (Acfas); Société Canadienne d'Histoire et Philosophie des Sciences;
Ontario Node:
Canadian Institutes for Health Research; Canadian Health Services Research Foundation Meetings and Dissemination grant
University of Toronto: Neuroscience Program; Joint Centre for Bioethics; Institute for History and Philosophy of Science and Technology; Connaught Support for International Symposia/Colloquia; Primary Care Research Unit, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre; Health Care, Technology and Place Program; Department of Philosophy; Department of Public Health Sciences; Department of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation; Office of the Vice President, Research; Victoria College; Women and Gender Studies; History; Technoscience Research Unit; Subtle Technologies; Working Group on Scientific Evidence;
York University: Division of Humanities; Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies; Office of the Vice President Research and Innovation; Institute for Science and Technology Studies; Anthropology Department; and Communication Studies, (Royal Institution of Great Britain, Pickering and Chatto Publishers (London), and Montana State University for PDG); Natural Science Dept.; Dean of Science and Engineering; Dean of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies; Metalab; Mellon Foundation Grant;
Queen's University
University of Ottawa: Research Services, Department of History, Department of Philosophy, Institute for Science, Society and Policy
Western University: Rotman Institute of Philosophy; Canada Research Chair in Philosophy of Science (Psillos)
U. Saskatchewan Node:
University of Saskatchewan: The College of Arts and Science; The Division of Humanities and Fine Arts, the Department of History; History of Medicine Seminars; Dept. Psychiatry; Medical College; Alzheimer Society of Saskatchewan; Canada Research Chair for the History of Medicine (Dyck)
University of Alberta Node:
The International Society for the History of Behavioral and Social Sciences (Cheiron); International Society for the History of Neurosciences (ISHN); Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research; Alzheimer Society of Saskatchewan; Dept. Psychiatry, U of Sask. Medical College; Exposure: Edmonton’s Queer Arts & Culture Festival;
University of Alberta: Science, Technology and Society program; Provost Office; Faculty of Arts; Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry; UofA Killam; U. Alberta Distinguished Visiting Speaker Fund; UofA Conference Fund; Department of Arts; Alberta Inst. American Studies; History and Classics; Philosophy; English and Film Studies; Sociology;
University of Calgary: History; Philosophy and Studies of Science, Technology and Medicine (HPSSTM); University of Calgary Science, Technology, Environment and Medicine Studies Colloquium; Anthropology; Philosophy; Faculty of Arts; Institution for Public Health; Alberta Medical Foundation
UBC Node:
Simon Fraser University: Philosophy; Institute for Values in Science (ViPS)
UBC: Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies, Centre for the Study of Democratic Institutions, Department of Political Science, W. Maurice Young Centre for Applied Ethics; CFIS; Philosophy; English; History; Green College; VP Academic; Dean of Arts; Jane Rule Endowment for the Study of Human Relationships; Dept. Film, Theatre and Creative Writing, Art History and English;
Contact us for more information on the Directory of STS/HPS scholars in Canada.
