​Maastricht University - Science, Technology and Society Studies

The research programme Maastricht University – Science, Technology and Society Studies (MUSTS) draws on a combination of philosophical, historical, sociological and anthropological approaches. The general question is how modern societies are constituted by science and technology, and how, vice versa, social and cultural conditions shape technological and scientific developments. The research focuses on the 20th and 21st centuries, with attention to the historical roots in the 17th-19th centuries.

Our research has a strong coherence in terms of approach and methodology. Cultures of research and innovation are studied in a radically interdisciplinary way. The classic disciplines of sociology, history and philosophy play an important constituting role. Sociological problems are historicized; historical questions are shown to have normative dimensions; and ethical issues are studied as social phenomena. Analysis typically moves between different levels (from micro-level studies of local practices to macro-level questions of governance, policy and morality). MUSTS research is adventurous in exploring a variety of theoretical and empirical fault lines; but it is always rigorous in its methodological approach, theoretical grounding, and scholarly justifications.