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Centre for the Study of the Sciences and the Humanities
Annual SVT symposium

SVT symposium 2021

The annual SVT symposium will encompass satellite events and a main event 3 December 2021 on the relation between knowledge and action under Covid-19 times.

Murmuration of starlings
This picture of tail fluke murmurations illustrates choreographies of knowledge and action; new patterns, new purposes.
Photo:
Sue Cro/Flickr - Tail Fluke Murmuration November 2018

Main content

The SVT symposium explores the relationship between knowledge and action in a pandemic. This relationship is fraught with complexity and uncertainty, and our societies have responded with a state of exception, which has reduced the conception of health to a single value, and the political actions to one plan – that of reducing contagion. This task has been heavily invested in science and technology, and it has revealed important features of science conducted in high-stakes social, political and economic arenas.

In this symposium, titled ‘sick society’, we want to critically discuss the enduring ‘state of exception’ we are experiencing, and explore the responsibility of science to inform action under complexity and uncertainty. How does science provide legitimacy for the far-reaching governance measures that reshape our everyday lives? How is science reorganising at speed in order to address the challenges of the current pandemic? And what kind of data and evidence are used (and which are not) in support of political decision-making?

The final session of the symposium is devoted to exploring the relationship between knowledge and action in practice, with a panel of actors who had to apprehend and implement the new regulations passed during the ‘semi-lockdown’, in order to keep their activities going, in schools, kindergartens, hospitals and newspapers.

Satellite events in the fall of 2020

The events below are organized by Filosofisk poliklinikk, AFINO - Ansvarlig forskning og innovasjon i Norge and INGSA – International Network for Government Advice -  and address relevant issues for this year's SVT symposium:

2 September, 19.00-21.00: Filosofisk Poliklinikk: "Øynene som ser – hva er en pandemi?"

7 September, 10.00-15.30: AFINO webinar: "Risks, uncertainties and resilience - Responsible Research and Innovation after the Covid-19 crisis”

14-18 September: INGSA Global Week of Dialogue - Science Advice & Covid-19: What are we learning? European Program and Global Program

7 October, 19.00-21.00: Filosofisk Poliklinikk: "Det som går tapt – hva kan ofres under en pandemi?"

4 November, 19.00-21.00: Filosofisk Poliklinikk: "Frykt og beven – er kollektiv redsel for Covid-19 bra eller dårlig?"

2 December, 19.00-21.00: Filosofisk Poliklinikk: "Når det virkelig gjelder – hva kan vi lære av pandemien om handlekraft og bærekraft?"

SVT symposium 2021

The main event that was initially planned for 4 December 2020, Sick society: Exploring the relation between knowledge and action in a pandemic, was postponed until 3 December 2021.

See the event page in the link above for the full program.