Maastricht University Science, Technology and Society Studies
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The Maastricht University – Science, Technology and Society Studies (MUSTS) research programme studies the relations among science, technology and society, focusing on Cultures of Research and Innovation. We are interested in settings that are infused with new knowledge, instruments, artefacts, actors, and skills—whether in the laboratory, the hospital, the workshop, the concert hall, or regulatory agencies. We study such cultures of research and innovation in a radically interdisciplinary way. The classic disciplines of sociology, anthropology, history and philosophy play a constituting role. Cultural themes are historicized; historical questions are shown to have normative dimensions; and ethical issues are studied as social phenomena. Analysis typically moves among different levels (from micro-level studies of local practices to macro-level questions of governance, policy and morality). MUSTS research is adventurous in exploring theoretical and empirical fault lines, but it is always rigorous in its methodological approach, theoretical grounding, and scholarly justifications. |
Main research themes
Practices of Collaborative Research and Innovation
Research and innovation have never been solitary efforts, but instead have long required complex constellations of actors and institutions to work together. In this sub-theme we examine how these collaborations are organized to produce and adapt research (“know-what”) and innovation (“know-how”).
For more information about this theme, please visit the research themes webpage.
Networks of Knowledge Production and Consumption
Scientific theories rely on networks of humans, practices and things in order to gain traction. In line with the internationalist and universalist ambitions of late-modern science, these networks increasingly span the globe.
For more information about this theme, please visit the research themes webpage.
Embodied Expertise in Art, Science and Medicine
Developing expertise in domains such as art, music, science, engineering and medicine, whether as an individual or a group, has always been an embodied process of learning amidst technologies.
For more information about this theme, please visit the research themes webpage.
MUSTS studies the relations between science, technology and society, focusing in particular on Cultures of Research and Innovation.
Research themes:
- Practices of Collaborative Research and Innovation
- Networks of Knowledge Production and Consumption
- Embodied Expertise in Art, Science and Medicine
News
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Together with Shanti Sumartojo, Lisa Grocott and Michael Mintrom from Monash University, AU, Sally Wyatt has been awarded funding in the Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Projects scheme.
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Is an elephant in Artis Zoo just as “wild” as an elephant on the African savannah? What place do animals have in a world that is increasingly shaped by humans? Why does the presence of a few wolves in the Netherlands trigger so many negative emotions, while Dutch people donate money en masse to...
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As of 1 September 2023, Jessica Mesman holds a personal chair in Complexity and Epistemic Diversity at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.
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For his project 'Towards an Ecology of Technoscience', assistant professor Massimiliano Simons (FASoS) has been awarded an NWO Veni grant.
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This year, Lea Beiermann earned her PhD from Maastricht University. Her dissertation, A co-operation of observers, examines the role of amateur microscopists in the late 19th century. For her research, she made use of citizen science, similar to the microscopists in her book. One of her supervisors...
