Between 16th - 19th of July, Eye of Europe consortium partners AIT and Fraunhofer ISI attended the 2024 conference by the European Association for the Study of Science and Technology (EASST) and the Society for Social Studies of Science (4S).
The conference focussed on the role of Science and Technology Studies (STS) in contributing to transformations at the times of grand societal challenges. Titled “Making and Doing Transformations”, the conference gathered some 3200 people. Among the 115 conference panels, several focussed on forward-looking activities and governance tools with some referring to foresight in one way or another. With science and technology governance at the heart of STS, the thematic areas of foresight-related presentations varied from oceanic and European space futures to food systems, housing conditions for minorities, synthetic biology, and AI.
The panel by the Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT) focussed on foresight for policymaking in the context of the grand societal challenges as part of the current EU policies and activities. Titled “How foresight, imagination and innovation studies contribute to transformation – in search for theory and methods”, the panel hosted two sessions and aimed to bring insights on theoretical aspects of foresight, as well as possible practice examples. Approaches that embrace active participation of civil society, stimulate the mutual exchange of ideas and perspectives, and the agency of citizens in foresight studies were of special interest. Given the interest of foresight in multiple futures and multiple audiences and abstracts from other parts of the world, we highly encouraged and contributed to the commitment of EASST and 4S to becoming more geographically diverse.
In the first session, “Governing energy futures through modern and contemporary scenario modalities”, Limor Samimian-Darash ((The Hebrew University of Jerusalem) analysed the design and use of global energy scenarios in the World Energy Council (WEC) and the International Energy Agency (IEA) by addressing foresight modalities and their possible contribution to future transition and social change. In the other session, “Envisioning the future of UN SDGs: insights from engineering students through Futures Wheel method” Gül Beyza Kocamış (Middle East Technical University) presented experiences of using Futures Wheel method at a workshop with engineering students while being a master’s student herself. Through qualitative analysis and canvas study, they discussed the evolution of selected UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), revealing opportunities and threats.
Other sessions with foresight-relevant theses were:
“Exploring Anticipatory Governance” by Nils Matzner (Technical University Munich) and Ina Möller (Wageningen University and Research) aimed at discussing the multiple usages of Anticipatory Governance – as a normative concept, an analytical framework, and an actual practice. In one of the sessions –“Future-oriented governance: investigating the interface between AI and synthetic biology” by Huayu Xin (The University of Edinburgh, Zhejiang University), the author argues for transitioning from reactive to anticipatory governance in the context of challenges posed by the complexity and uncertainty of AI integration in synthetic biology. By employing fact-based technology foresight, the case study develops hypothetical governance models and accommodates emerging technologies trends and their implications for societal governance structures.
In the panel “What can we do for tomorrow? New sensitivities for long-term governance” by Sophie Kuppler, Laura Müller, Stefania Sardo (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)); Dirk Scheer (Institute for Technology Assessment and System Analysis (ITAS) at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)), the authors discussed the role of scientists in ensuring a socially and environmentally just processes. One of the sessions in this panel focused on the framework concept of Long-term governance (LTG) and its promise to better understand and prepare political actions.
In the panel on “Outer space: imaginaries, infrastructures and interventions” by Nina Klimburg-Witjes, Joseph Popper (University of Vienna), Matjaz Vidmar (University of Edinburgh) a session titled “Exploring strategic visioning for European space futures in the 'making'”, Nina Klimburg-Witjes and Philipp Kürten (University of Vienna) used interdisciplinary ethnography, combining STS, Social Studies of Outer Space and Critical Futures Studies to discuss how European space futures are envisioned through structured foresight and futuring processes, while also serving as a tool for European integration.
In “Engaging experimental methods for transformative knowledge-making: new horizons in STS and ethnographic research”, convenors Angela Marques Filipe (Durham University) and Órla Meadhbh Murray (Northumbria University Newcastle) and discussants Tiago Moreira (Durham University) and Ayo Wahlberg (University of Copenhagen) explore the use of experimental methods and/or multimodal ethnographies across topics in STS (including health, wellbeing and climate). These unconventional approaches aim to engage with lived experiences and living environments in charting new horizons and forms of knowledge-making. One of the sessions “Housing exploratory scenarios for minorities in Brussels: an attempt of feminist foresight” by Agie Galicy Totolehibe (UClouvain); Emma Peltier (Université Catholique de Louvain) presented an experimental method for anticipating the housing conditions of minorities (sex, gender, race, etc.) in the Brussels region. The feminist perspective was particularly interesting as it considers the issues of power and inequality, as feminist perspectives are in the minority in foresight methods (Milojević and Inayatullah, 1998.)
In “Living on Speculative Knowledge Systems (LoSKnoS)” convenors Martin Perez Comisso (Universidad de Chile), Juan Felipe Espinosa Cristia (Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María) explored speculation as a knowledge system and a rational act of envisioning theories, realities, and even worlds without "enough evidence." In one of the sessions, “Toward a Media Archaeology of Speculation: Algorithms, Data, and Divination”, the author Leona Nikolić (Concordia University) uses a media archaeological approach (Parikka, 2012) to conceptually situate AI amongst techniques of speculation to to determine how technologies of speculation have and continue to shape one another across shifting societal contexts.
In “Making and doing oceanic futures: mobilising the ocean and its materialities between hope and loss”, Francesco Colona (Leiden University), Judit Varga (Leiden University) and Sarah Rose Bieszczad (Centre for Science and Technology Studies, Leiden University) discussed how oceanic futures are entangled with hope and loss and how these futures intersect with socio-political, scientific, economic, industrial and ecological processes. In a session titled “Oceanic futures: confluence or divergence?” Max Priebe (Fraunhofer ISI and Radboud University ISIS); Sabine Reitmaier (Freie Universität Berlin); Aaron Rosa (Fraunhofer Institute of Systems and Innovation Research (ISI)); Riyan van den Born (Radboud University); Bernadette van Heel (Radboud University) and Philine Warnke (Fraunhofer Institute of Systems and Innovation Research ISI) discussed divergent visions of oceanic futures by scrutinizing various anticipatory practices and horizon scanning research.
