Dan Santos Collaboration Bio

My name is Dan and I am a PhD candidate in human geography at Clark University, USA. Broadly, I am interested in examining the spatial, material, and political-economic dynamics of scientific and technological innovation, and the prospects for more open and democratic forms and spaces of technoscience. My dissertation is about how biotechnology is being democratized in community science labs in the San Francisco Bay Area. These community labs are sites where DIY biologists, interested amateurs, and the general public can learn more about biotechnology and pursue their own scientific projects. I am interested in understanding both what the ‘democratization’ of biotechnology means and how it is practiced within these spaces, and the potential for knowledge and innovations emerging from these spaces to affect the broader biotechnological landscape. Before my PhD, I worked as a Research Assistant in the Geography departments at the University of Melbourne and Monash University (both in Melbourne, Australia, my hometown).

I am excited about participating in these workshops because I would like to meet other folks who are inspired by and draw upon STS – having been trained primarily in Geography in recent years, I haven’t had the chance to meet too many people who engage closely with STS!

I am also interested in meeting others who might want to collaborate on projects related to emerging biotechnologies (e.g. synthetic biology).