Maastricht University Science, Technology and Society Studies
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.
Director: Prof. Cyrus Mody
View recent MUSTS publications
Main research themes
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
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.
News
Call for contributions to workshop and book 'Hostility by Design'
The purpose of this workshop is to gather empirical accounts and theoretical reflections, and to develop possibilities for interventions at different levels (design, policy, political action).
Darian Meacham appointed Professor of Practical Philosophy
Darian’s research focuses on how philosophy can help us to better understand and steward the co-shaping of technology and politics.
Harro van Lente receives RWTH Aachen Research Fellowship
The project 'Epistemic Imaginaries' will study how within research fields ideas about 'where to go' emerge, stabilize and change under external pressure, such as the climate crisis.
Amsterdamska prize awarded to Anna Harris’s and John Nott’s book
The jury applauds the book for its "original exploration into the materiality of medical knowledge reproduction."
Jacob Ward wins 2024 Turriano Prize
The 2024 Turriano Prize from ICOHTEC (the International Committee for the History of Technology) was awarded to Jacob Ward’s book Visions of a Digital Nation (MIT Press, 2024). The Turriano Prize recognises the best first book by an historian of technology.
