The Ethos of Integrative Research: The case of systems biology

Dr. Dorothy J. Dankel Foto: UiB

The Ethos of Integrative Research: The case of systems biology

Click here to register

Invited Workshop, 26-27 November 2012

Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim

It now seems to be accepted, or at least not especially controversial, that large-scale, socially relevant science projects should include or “integrate” social and humanist research. Initiatives for such, integrative, research include the Human Genome Project in the US and EU Framework Programmes, as well as Biotek 2021 and Nano 2021 in the Norwegian context.

This general agreement is surprising. Proponents’ analyses of why such integration is needed are not uniform, nor clearly articulated, and there are few worked-out methods or exemplary cases for how integration is to be carried out. This two-day workshop invites participants from different experiments of integration in order to create an arena where methods and rationales can be further discussed. Through this discussion we examine:

What is the ethos of integrative research?  What character of research is formed and manifested through its practices (be they related to ethics or epistemology), and what are its actual and envisioned moral implications? What is experienced as good, or worth doing by practitioners experimenting on integration?

We focus discussion by examining the work of differently integrated systems biology research groups in Norway and abroad, and we also invite researchers experimenting on integration in different science arenas to join us.

Invited Participants Include

Kevin Burrage (Oxford University, Center for Integrative Systems Biology and Computer Science)
Annamaria Carusi (Copenhagen University, Philosophy and Health Sciences)
Dorothy Dankel (University of Bergen, Centre for the Study of the Sciences and the Humanities, SVT)
Sophia Efstathiou (NTNU, Philosophy)
Martin Kuiper (NTNU, Biology)
Astrid Lægreid (NTNU, Cancer and Molecular Medicine)
Bjørn Myskja (NTNU, Philosophy)
Rune Nydal (NTNU, Philosophy)
Roger Strand (University of Bergen, Centre for the Study of the Sciences and the Humanities, SVT)
Heidrun Åm (NTNU, Interdisciplinary Studies of Culture)

Registration in the workshop is open and free, though places are limited.

For further information e-mail: sophia.efstathiou@ntnu.no