Technoscience, Law and Society: Interrogating the Nexus

Science and technology are increasingly important to society. At the same time, controversial research (such as around stem cells and climate change science) feature in fierce public and policy debates. Many people have strong feelings over what kinds of research should be undertaken, and what its acceptable limits are. Often, the law is looked to as a way to control or shape science. However, others see regulation as a means of stimulating innovation. Regardless, advances in science and technology are closely related to the law and legal processes, and the role of these in society is changing as a result.

This proposal is to create a new network of 'law and science scholars'. It builds on an earlier event that we held in Kent Law School in 2011, which was funded by the journal Social and Legal Studies. The workshop explored the feasibility of bringing together researchers from different traditions who all share an interest in law and science, and was extremely successful. Subsequently, many of our participants urged us to look for ways of sustaining and further developing the dialogue and debates that we fostered. Thus, our proposed network will bring together people from different traditions in the arts and humanities (especially distinct areas of law) who are already working on particular aspects of law and science, in order to stimulate new ways of thinking about these issues and to push forward novel kinds research. The central aim of the network is to create a unique platform from which to explore the relationships between science, technologies, and legal processes.

Whilst there are already some people working in this broad area, interaction between them has long been too limited. The primary problem is that opportunities for all these different people to interact with - and learn from - one another are rare. Most events cater for particular traditions (e.g. critical legal studies), or are focussed on a particular legal or regulatory problem in science and technology (such as genetic modification). This means that questions that cut across research areas and disciplines are relatively under-explored - and these may be some of the key matters that need to be addressed. What makes our proposal different and valuable is that we deliberately seek to bring together a whole range of different kinds of scholars with interests in diverse issues around law and science, in order to forge new forms of research in this important area.

Our network will therefore focus on how science and technology have affected law and legal processes, and what the broader implications of this are for society. To this end, we will address a range of cross-cutting questions, including how ideas about law influence scientific innovation, and how this in turn creates new possibilities for developments in regulation. Furthermore, we will examine how governance and regulation is related to wider public concerns - both how law reacts to and manages these. Finally, we will explore what new methods and concepts law and science scholars need to develop in order to make sense of the nexus (or meeting points) between technoscience, law and society.

The network will proceed over five events, beginning with an innovative arts event and culminating with a major international conference. The work of our group will not just be of interest to researchers in the arts and humanities; rather, it will also afford considerable benefit to scientists, as well as scientific institutions and policymakers. The activities and outcomes of the network will also be of interest to a range of wider publics - and we will actively seek to foster this through a deliberative public engagement event that will explore the insights and attitudes of interested non-academics in relation to the regulation of controversial areas of science.

In sum, this network will break new ground, and be of wide academic and social relevance long after the funding for it has come to an end.

As we outline in the Pathway to Impact attachment, we expect our project to be of interest to a range of academic and non-academic actors beyond the humanities disciplines described in the Academic Beneficiaries section. More specifically, we will seek create impact within communities of (1) policy actors (broadly defined), (2) scientific professionals, and (3) wider publics. In addition to the academic outputs outlined in the Case for Support and in the Outputs section, we will produce a range of materials that aim to generate impact in diverse communities and ensure a legacy for the network. We will: maintain a project website; produce briefing papers; author a final network report; submit at least one commentary to an e-bulletin list; write a short article for a magazine such as the New Scientist or for Guardian Comment is Free; and, upload YouTube clips of talks and/or interviews with network participants (and link to these from the website). Our public engagement event (and associated media coverage) will also be an important means of generating impact within civil society.