Amazon.com has finally sent me ‘The Paradox of Scientific Authority: The Role of Scientific Advice in Democracies‘ … just in time for Module 5.
To be honest when I first read the title of the course, ‘the Politics of Knowledge’, I wasn’t sure what to think so I went into the lecture yesterday with a fairly open mind. Our tutor, Jens Lachmund, gave us an introduction to the course and seeing how enthusiastic he was, I’m now also pretty excited about the issues covering the relationship between science, technology, politics, ethics, etc. that we’ll discuss in the seminars throughout this block. I feel this part of the program tie together the four other modules we participated in the first semester and also that a few of the seminars will give me some useful background knowledge for the Master thesis I will write in the Spring, particularly the topics about risk assessment and policy making. Module 5 is, for most of us, our last module in Maastricht. The first semester of the ESST program is meant to introduce us to the general field of Science and Technology Studies (STS). In the second semester, we’re given the option to take a semester abroad at one of the partner universities of the ESST network. This experience will give us the opportunity to specialize in our own fields of interest. In February I will be going to the Université Catholique de Louvain-la-Neuve where I will participate in the ‘Nanotechnologies & Societies’ specialization. You can check out where some of the other ESST students will be specializing here.
This afternoon I’ll start reading for the seminar we have on Friday. I’ll still also have tomorrow to prepare, but part of my New Years Resolutions is to stay organized and get my work done on time (We’ll see how long this lasts…) so I’m going to try and get a head start. On the bright side, two of my fellow ESST colleagues had sent the core literature around even before the holidays so now I can easily work from home– thank you.
Until next time,
Grace
ESST Maastricht University 