In 2016, the Master’s Degree program in “Science, Technology, and Society” was launched under the Institute of Social Sciences at Istanbul Technical University (ITU) with the initiative of Prof. Dr. Mehmet Karaca (president of the university) and Prof. Dr. Aydan Turanlı (director & program coordinator). Currently, it is the only MA program with the name of STS in Turkey. This program has also established Erasmus+ connections with “Science Studies” Master’s Degree Program of Aarhus University, Denmark and “Science and Technology Studies” Master’s Degree program of Munich Technical University, Germany.
ITU STS endeavors “to widen the borders of knowledge in science, technology, and arts and fulfill the needs of society with the applications of this knowledge,” as it is noted on its website. The program is designed to help in understanding and solving “ ethical, social, cultural and political problems created in the complicated structure of modern technological society.”
Further, the aim of the program is noted as follows:
Technology is one of the factors affecting our form of life in today's world. The process starting with the Copernican Revolution and the construction of modern science helped the Industrial Revolutions to occur. The Industry 4.0, characterized by information and communication technologies, smartphones, smart homes, biotechnology, nanotechnology, robotics, accumulation of big data in virtual realm and social networking, is the precursor of the new age. Transformations in the last decades destroyed the stereotype thinking in social, economic, political and cultural sphere. Therefore, this transformation should be evaluated not only from a technical perspective, but also from historical, political, sociological, cultural, ethical and philosophical perspectives. In developing countries such as Turkiye, which not only uses technology effectively, but also tries to create its own style through innovation and entrepreneurship, this becomes highly critical. “Science, Technology and Society” Master’s Degree Program aims at filling this gap through building a bridge between humanities and social sciences and science and technology studies.
Students have to complete coursework and write a thesis to graduate from the program. The courses include:
Core Courses
Science, Technology and Society Studies
History of Science and Technology
Global Politics of New Technologies
Research Methods in Social Sciences
Elective Courses
Science and Technology Policies
Energy, Transport and Society
Ethics in Science and Technology
Sociology of the Environment
Technology and Modern Warfare
Philosophy of Science
Philosophy of Nature
Material Culture Theory and Methods
Science and Religion
Science, Technology and Society Issues in Literature
Science and Technology Issues in Films
Science and Technology in the Ottoman World
Selected Topics in Science, Technology and Society
Integrating Educational Technologies into Engineering Education
People
Prof. Dr. Aydan Turanlı (Director and Program Coordinator)
Assist. Prof. Aslı Çalkıvik (Academic Executive Committee Member)
Assist. Prof. Sevil Baltalı Tırpan
Assist. Prof. Barry D. Stocker (Academic Executive Committee Member)
Duygu Kaşdoğan, "STS @ ITU (2016 - ongoing)", contributed by Duygu Kasdogan, STS Infrastructures, Platform for Experimental Collaborative Ethnography, last modified 20 June 2022, accessed 25 August 2024. https://stsinfrastructures.org/content/sts-itu-2016-ongoing
Critical Commentary
This text provides a general information about the MA Program in Science, Technology, and Society, which was launched at Istanbul Technical University in 2016. The program is the only STS program in Turkey awarding an MA degree with a thesis requirement and, therefore, has an important place in the institutional landscape of STS in the country.
This text should be read together with the PECE essay on STS @ ITU (2000-2006), prepared for the digital collection on An Archeology of STS in Turkey (2018).