The research papers in this special issue focus on "hybrid" relations betwen university and society, specifically science as practiced in various forms, for example as a government-funded, transdisicplinary effort, development of nursing science as an academic discipline which required boundary work between science and society, and transformation of university organisation in response to commercially-driven research. The issue emerged out of a series of sessions organised by Research Committees 04 (Sociology of Education) and 23 (Sociology of Science and Technology) of the International Sociological Association (ISA).
Two issues (Nos. 3 & 4) of the journal's 30th volume address questions at the intersections of, and encounters between STS & Global Health, which emerged at a:
...workshop in Maastricht in 2013 with various participants working at the cusp of STS and Global Health...this special issue presents and builds on some of the discussions held at the meeting..."
While the first editorial and research papers trouble grand narratives of both STS & Global Health while highlighting the work required to build such narratives, the second editorial offers a playful, tongue-in-cheek dialogue between an epidemiologist, an STS scholar, and an activist, teasing out:
involved positions and discussions, which caused moments of excitement, ambiguity, certainty, disagreement, self-critique and philosophical handwringing during the production of this collection."
In 2016, all four issues of Science & Technology Studies (Vol. 29) were dedicated to "Knowledge Infrastructures" edited by Helena Karasti, Florence Millerand, Christine M. Hine, and Geoffrey C. Bowker. Together, 14 papers (13 research papers and 1 discussion paper) and 4 book reviews were published, on a range of topics from biodiversity, cultural heritage, disease genetics, ecological science, open data, among others, by authors from anthropology, informatics, media & communications, public health, and STS departments. The first issue explored themes of scale, invisibility, uncertainty, tensions, and accountability and methodological challenges faced by researchers in choosing sites of examination. The second issue focuses on infrastructural work, particularly performativity of knowledge infrastructures and “struggles over power, values and voice” therein, whereas the third issue engaged further with temporality and labour as connecting themes for infrastructural studies. The last issue unpacks the notion of openness—complexity and contingency associated with translating values of openness to infrastructure design and practice.
Editors note in the fourth editorial,
Editorial Part I
Editorial Part II
Editorial Part III
Editorial Part IV
'The Politics of Innovation for Environmental Sustainability: Celebrating the Contribution of Stewart Russell (1955–2011)' was published in Volumes 27 (No. 3) and 28 (No. 1) initiated by a colloquium held at Edinburgh University to recognise Dr Stewart Russell’s contribution to Science, Technology and Innovation Studies (STIS). Whereas the first part focused on issues that occupied Dr. Russell throughout his academic life, such as rescaling and decentralising of energy systems, the second part contains articles that share his concern with dynamics, barriers and resistances to sustainable innovation, using STS and sociological lenses.
STS Across Borders digital collections are focused through ten shared questions that can be asked across all STS formations so as to enable comparative insight.
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