Risk, uncertainty and technology, India

Risk, uncertainty and emerging technologies in India and the UK

Focusing on issues and settings in India, this project addressed how different institutions and groups frame and respond to risks and uncertainties associated with different areas of rapid scientific and technological advance - including pharmaceuticals, vaccines, crop biotechnology, and nanotechnology.

These are all areas where rapid developments in science and technology are seen as key to economic growth, nationally and in the global economy. Yet, as new technologies are delivered in diverse settings, with different local needs and policy priorities, so a range of risks, uncertainties, ambiguities and indeed areas of ignorance arise.

This project explored the diverse ways that corporations, state agencies, scientific institutions, farmers and consumers understand and seek to respond to such incertitude, how their responses interact, and the implications for Sustainability.

Through both focused case studies (e.g. of genetically-modified crops) and through a wider series of exchange visits and joint workshops between researchers and practitioners from India and the UK supported by a grant from the UK-India Education and Research Initiative, the project saught to build a more deliberative and reflexive approach to considering different options for addressing uncertainties.

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The Knowledge Society Debates

• Find out more about the events we held in Hyderabad, Bangalore and Delhi from 5th-13th January 2009, including reports, people involved, photos and more

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seminar devoted a special issue to the issues discussed at Knowledge Society Debates

 

• THE PROBLEM
  Posed by Shiv Visvanathan, social science nomad

• GOVERNING INNOVATION
  Sheila Jasanoff, Pforzheimer Professor of Science and Technology Studies, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

• DARING TO IMAGINE
  Brian Wynne, Professor of Science Studies and Associate Director, ESRC Centre for Economics and Social Aspects of Genomics, CESAGen, Lancaster University, UK

• RISK, UNCERTAINTY AND POWER
  Andy Stirling, Professor and Director of Science at SPRU - Science and Technology Policy Research, and Co-Director of the ESRC STEPS Centre, University of Sussex, UK

• FROM COMMITMENT TO COMMITTEES
  Mariachiara Tallacchini, Professor of Bioethics, State University of Milan, Italy

• THE SEARCH FOR COGNITIVE JUSTICE
  Shiv Visvanathan, social science nomad

• QUESTIONING TEMPERAMENTS IN AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE
  Rajeswari S. Raina, Senior Fellow, Centre for Policy Research, Delhi

• THE FATE OF AGRICULTURE
  V. Balaji, researcher in knowledge sharing processes in agricultural sciences, Hyderabad 

• KNOWLEDGE AND DEMOCRACY: FABLES FROM SRI
  Shambu Prasad, Assistant Professor, Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar

• THIN ENCOUNTERS WITH KNOWLEDGE
  Chandan Gowda, Associate Professor, Centre for the Study of Social Exclusion, National Law School of India, Bangalore

• DEBATING KNOWLEDGE: NEW SPACES OF CONVERSATION
  Esha Shah, Research Fellow, The Institute of Development Studies; member, STEPS Centre, University of Sussex, UK

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STEPS members on this project

• Esha Shah, Convenor
• Erik Millstone Research Fellow

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STEPS partners on this project

• Indian Instiute of Management-Bangalore
  Rajeev Gowda Professor in Economics and Social Sciences at IIMB, India
  

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Related research & events

• Technology and Ethical Idealism: A History of Development in the Netherlands East Indies, by Suzanne Moon. Suzanne's new book traces the interplay of colonial politics with the technical practices of development taking place in the fields of Javanese farmers.

• Atlas of Ideas: Innovation in India seminar (pdf 148KB)

  The STEPS Centre and its partners, the Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore and Demos, held a joint seminar on November 19 2007 with panellists from Monsanto, Accenture, Mindtree, Bang!Design and more.

• Esha Shah blogs on a sentimental European response to the hyphenated twins 'India-China'
• Esha Shah blogs on risk, uncertainty and regulation issues hitting the headlines in India
• Reframing Resilience The STEPS Centre's theme in 2008 is resilience; engaging with resilience thinking and exploring practical implications for policy in agriculture, water, peri-urban dynamics, epidemics and regulation.

 

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