STS Talks Vienna

Dienstag, 25. Juni 2024, 17:00 - 18:30 iCal

Nicole Dewandre

There is nothing less innovative than a speech on innovation:

The STS paradox in EU R&I policy

STS Seminar Room, NIG, St. II. 6th floor
Universitätsstraße 7, 1010 Vienna

Vortrag

Abstract

The need and value of scientific advice for EU policymaking is widely acknowledged and

practiced, notably in the impact assesment accompanying any major Commission

proposal. So, scientific knowledge is mobilised by policymaking. However, there is a blind

angle insofar as R&I policy itself is concerned. Indeed, it resists taking up STS findings and

debunking fallacies it goes by. I shall explore this paradox, drawing from Hannah Arendt’s

work.

Biography

Nicole Dewandre is an independent researcher and visiting professor at the College of Europe, in

Bruges, BE. She stepped out of the Commission on April 2024, after a 40 years-long career.

She studied applied physics engineering, economics, operations research and philosophy in

Belgium (UC Louvain and ULB) and in the USA (UC Berkeley). She is also a Policy Fellow Alumni

from the University of Cambridge.

In the European Commission, she was a member of Jacques Delors' think tank, in charge of

research and industry between 1986 and 1992. Since 1993, in DG Research & Innovation, she

focused on science and society issues. She developed policies on (i) gender equality in research,

(ii) partnership between civil society and researchers, and (iii) harnessing EU-funded research to

sustainable development. In 2011, she joined DG CONNECT as advisor for societal issues, in charge

of fostering human-centricity in the course of the digital transition. Between 2016 and 2019, she

has developed a research project in the Joint Research Centre, based on a critical analysis of the

language use in EU policy-making, deeply inspired by the work of Hannah Arendt. From December

2019 until October 2023, she was in charge of strategic foresight in the President’s cabinet. For

her last six months in the Commission, she was senior policy coordinator in the Secretariat

General

Katrin Hackl
Institut für Wissenschafts- und Technikforschung
01427749607
katrin.hackl@univie.ac.at

Erstellt am Montag, 10. Juni 2024, 11:19
Letzte Änderung am Dienstag, 11. Juni 2024, 12:14