Author Archives: Heta Tarkkala

CFP: Health data and public value in the Nordic countries (Nordic STS conference, Oslo 7-9.6.2023)

The Nordic welfare states have always been systematically collecting large amounts of population data (Bauer 2014, Tøndel 2014), including health and welfare data. Traditionally, this information was meant for governance and improving public health. In recent years, some Nordic countries, such as Finland, have positioned themselves in the global health data economy to attract investments (Tupasela, Snell, and Tarkkala 2020). This development includes efforts in building large national health infrastructures, such as Findata in Finland (Snell, Tarkkala and Tupasela 2021), Denmark’s National genome center (Jensen and Svendsen 2021), or a Health analytics platform in Norway (Åm, Frøyhaug and Tøndel 2021). There are multiple ways health data can become valuable (Fiske, Degelsegger-Márques, Marsteurer and Prainsack 2022). The potential to derive financial profits from health data may challenge relations between citizens and the welfare state. The question emerges how publics are considered, and how efforts, that increase the availability of health data, are for the benefit of society and of public value. There is little civic engagement in this topic, but the building of health infrastructures has caused some controversies. In this panel, we invite contributions on the issue of public value and health data in the Nordic countries. We invite empirical and theoretical contributions addressing questions and topics such as:

  • How do relations between citizens, Nordic welfare states, and marked actors change through new ‘data logistics’ (Tupasela 2023)’ in health care?
  • What and who is driving developments towards a health data economy in Nordic countries? What are the justifications? Which benefit-sharing-models are envisioned (if any)?
  • How do developments in health data governance build on or morph values expressed in the Nordic model concerning ‘community’ and ‘collectivity’? What are the similarities and differences among Nordic countries as regards public values and health data governance?
  • How does the policy work on a European Health Data Space influence health data governance in the Nordic countries, and vice versa?
  • How is policy learning from biobank governance in the Nordic countries translated into the new health data economy, regarding issues of data ownership, relations between samples and data, consent and opt-out, or public purpose evaluations
  • What new roles and forms do ‘quality indicators’ take in this larger picture of the health data economy and datafication?
  • Definitions and conceptualizations of public value and social benefits of health data in theory and practice

Organizers: Heidrun Åm, Lotte Groth Jensen, Karoliina Snell, Aaro M Tupasela, and Heta Tarkkala

 

For more information about the conference see conference website: https://www.sv.uio.no/tik/english/research/news-and-events/events/conferences/2023/nordic-sts/

Abstract submission, see: https://www.sv.uio.no/tik/english/research/news-and-events/events/conferences/2023/nordic-sts/accepted-panels.html

CFP: Annual Conference of The Westermarck Society 2022

STS Helsinki will host the working group ‘Science, technology and society’ at The Annual Conference of The Westermarck Society 2022 in Jyväskylä 24–25 March 2021. The theme of the 2022 conference will be “Democracy!”. Keynote speakers include Chris Bail, Mischa Gabowitsch, and Minna Ruckenstein.

The conference will be organised in-person at the University of Jyväskylä. The conference will be moved online if the pandemic situation so demands.

Science, technology and society working group

Science and Technology Studies (STS) is an interdisciplinary field of study that examines the interaction between society, science, and technology. STS pays attention to how different fields, such as law, politics, and everyday life, become intertwined with science and technology. This is relevant when thinking about heatedly debated topics as diverse as climate change, the role of experts, medicine, genetics, gender, robotics or organic food. The field calls for a deeper understanding of the development, processes, practices and outcomes of such social phenomena. STS explores the mechanisms behind knowledge claims and ontological assumptions that guide our everyday. Or, as is often said: STS looks at how the world defined by science and technology could be otherwise.

STS Helsinki calls for theoretical, methodological and empirical papers on current research in social studies of science. Papers both in Finnish and English are welcome. The aim of this working group is to offer a forum to discuss the practices that contribute to the shaping of technoscientific objects and subjects. How is scientific knowledge established and negotiated, and how do historical processes contribute to the development of certain technologies? We especially welcome papers that reflect on the role and state of democracy in the field of STS. This working group is defined as a meeting point for both Finnish and international scholars to share and discuss their work with others studying science, technology and society.

Please apply to the working group by sending your abstract to the working group co-ordinators. The deadline is Friday 28th of January 2022. The maximum length of abstracts is 300 words and they should be in .doc, .docx, or .rtf format.

Santeri Räisänen, University of Helsinki, santeri.raisanen@helsinki.fi
Heta Tarkkala, University of Helsinki, heta.tarkkala@helsinki.fi
Susanna Vase, University of Helsinki, susanna.vase@helsinki.fi

For more information about the conference, please go to:  https://sosiologipaivat.fi/

Call for Papers: AI AND THE DIGITALIZED SOCIETY

MID-TERM WORKSHOP ORGANIZED BY RN24 (SOCIOLOGY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY NETWORK) OF THE EUROPEAN SOCIOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION

MAY 23-24, 2022; HELSINKI, FINLAND

 

During the past few years, more and more areas of life have been permeated by the idea that digitalization, data and artificial intelligence will provide efficacy, services and new possibilities for both societies and their citizens. This can be seen for example in banking, transportation and health care. At the same time, around the globe, dozens of policies and strategies regarding the development of artificial intelligence have been published. Science and Technology Studies (STS) scholars have paid attention to the processes and developments related to AI and related technologies and practices becoming increasingly ubiquitous in society. For STS this provides a unique opportunity to study and understand social and technological change as well as changes in the ways knowledge is produced.

 

This workshop invites presentations which examine AI and/or digitalized society, and their consequences in everyday life. Possible presentation topics may include, but is not limited to:

 

  • AI/digitalization and governance
  • Algorithmic culture
  • AI/Digitalization and privacy/surveillance
  • AI/Digitalization in different professions such as healthcare, law, and transportation
  • The design of AI systems and building of algorithms and machine learning models
  • AI at home
  • Restructuring of activities for the application of AI, for example in a workplace
  • The role of AI/digitalization in organizational change
  • Implications of AI/digitalization in knowledge production
  • Methodological approaches to study AI, data and digitalization

We invite contributions from researchers at all stages of the academic career, but we particularly encourage early career researchers to submit abstracts. Abstracts should be no longer than 300 words.

 

Keynote speakers:

 

Florian Jaton – STS Lab, University of Lausanne

Nanna Bonde Thylstrup – Department of Management, Society and Communication, Copenhagen Business School

 

Abstract submission deadline is January 21, 2022.  Abstracts should be submitted to aaro.tupasela@helsinki.fi.

For further information please contact Aaro Tupasela (aaro.tupasela@helsinki.fi) or Heta Tarkkala (heta.tarkkala@helsinki.fi)

Cancelled: Next STS Helsinki seminar Thu 19th March: Małgorzata Rajtar

Edit: This event has been cancelled.

Thu 19 March 14:15–15:45, Room 7, Metsätalo, Fabianinkatu 39.

Małgorzata Rajtar, associate Professor, Institute of Philosophy and Sociology at the Polish Academy of Sciences.
Health Passports and Vulnerability: The Case of Rare Diseases

Abstract:

Rare diseases have held a special status within health policy of the European Union (EU) since the 1990s. According to key EU legal documents on this issue, patients who suffer from a rare disease are entitled to the same good quality care as others. Due to the “low prevalence” of each rare disease and simultaneously the large total number of patients affected by them – between 27 and 36 million people in the EU – individuals who belong to this group are regarded as particularly vulnerable.

My aims in this presentation are twofold. First, I examine current notions of vulnerability prevalent in social sciences, bioethics as well as research ethics, specifically in regard to people living with rare diseases. Second, I analyze “instruments” developed by health policies that are tailored to rare diseases. By focusing on the so called “health passport”, I argue that such policies often increase the danger of paternalistic practices and may contribute to discrimination and stigmatizing.

 

Małgorzata Rajtar, PhD is Associate Professor and the Head of Rare Disease Social Research Center in the Institute of Philosophy & Sociology at the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw (http://rdsrc.ifispan.pl/en/). She was a EURIAS Senior Fellow at the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies in Finland (2018-2019) as well as an Alexander von Humboldt Postdoctoral Fellow at the Freie University in Berlin, Germany (2011-2013) among others. Since 2016 she has been conducting ethnographic research on rare metabolic diseases in the Baltic Region.

 

STS Courses at the University of Helsinki

During the Spring 2020 following Science & Technology Studies related courses are offered for the students (the list will be updated!):

  • The Politics of Environmental Knowledge course gives students knowledge and tools to critically evaluate the role of science and scientific knowledge in understanding environmental problems and creating solutions for them. Students will be able to apply the theoretical concepts from science and technology studies (STS) to the analysis of historical and current environmental issues.
  • Imagination in Environmental Politics course supplies the students with skills to critically review existing conceptual categorizations and conceptualizations of the future within the field of environmental politics (theoretical aspect); critically apply these categorizations and conceptualizations in relation to specific empirical cases (empirical aspect); and critically assess and evaluate existing future-oriented narration of different kinds and registers (methodological aspect).
  • Analytical approaches to human environmental interaction course gives students the skills to conduct critical interdisciplinary analyses of problems arising in interactions between technology, society and the environment. They can propose theoretically sound, evidence based and sustainable solutions to complex environmental problems. They have the communication skills to convincingly present the solutions to the relevant stakeholders. They are mentally prepared to take on professional challenges in environmental policy analysis, planning, decision-making, implementation and assessment.
  • There are book exams organized in Technology Studies , in Science Studies and in Environment, Technology and Culture. Moreover,  TOTEMI is an ongoing PhD seminar.

 

PAST COURSES (Fall 2019):

  • Science in Society course for doctoral students aims at developing participants’ understanding about how science and scientific experts(/expertise) influence and relate to society and its institutions. the course also provides an opportunity to reflect upon the participants’ own developing expertise in their fields of study.
  • Science Studies course for Master’s and Doctoral Students has two objectives. First, to become familiar with the main streams of thought in STS, the most important authors, situate them in their historical context, and understand how they relate to each other. And second, to be able to discuss different STS approaches in light of their different critiques and relate them to contemporary debates in the field.
  • Artificial Intelligence and Society course introduces students to current discussions, debates, as well as developments in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) from a social scientific perspective. The course will also provide the students with an overview of political, legal and ethical debates surrounding the development of AI.

Call for papers: The Rise of AI Society

THE RISE OF AI SOCIETY

MID-TERM WORKSHOP ORGANIZED BY RN24 (SOCIOLOGY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY NETWORK) OF THE EUROPEAN SOCIOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION

MAY 28-29 2020; HELSINKI, FINLAND

During the past few years, numerous countries and organizations have published dozens of policies and strategies regarding the development of artificial intelligence. The permeation of AI, machine learning and algorithmic thinking into an increasing number of facets of everyday life, from banking and medicine to transportation and law suggests that AI is becoming increasingly ubiquitous in society. For science and technology studies (STS) this provides a unique opportunity to study and understand social and technological change.  Not least since the development of AI touches upon so many of the central themes within STS.

This workshop invites presentations which examine the rise of AI in society and the consequences that is has in everyday life. Possible topics for presentation topics may include, but is not limited to:

  • AI and governance
  • Algorithmic culture
  • AI and privacy/surveillance
  • AI in different professions such as healthcare, law, and transportation
  • The design of AI systems
  • AI at home
  • Restructuring of activities for the application of AI, for example in a workplace
  • The role of AI in organizational change
  • Implications of AI in knowledge production
  • Methodological approaches to study AI

We invite contributions from researchers at all stages of the academic career, but we particularly encourage early career researchers to submit abstracts. Abstracts should be no longer than 300 words.

Keynote speakers:

Ilpo Helén (University of Eastern Finland): What do algorithms do? An approach for a sociology of datafication of health care.

Francis Lee (Uppsala University): The Politics of Algorithms: The Challenge of AI, Big Data and Digitalization for Social Inquiry

Abstract submission deadline is January 20, 2020.  Abstracts should be submitted to aaro.tupasela@helsinki.fi.

For further information please contact Aaro Tupasela (aaro.tupasela@helsinki.fi) or Heta Tarkkala (heta.tarkkala@helsinki.fi)

CFP: Materiality, Science, and Technology – Reflections on Time

Call for papers for a panel at the “On Time: Biennial Conference of the Finnish Anthropological Society 2019”:

Materiality, science, and technology – reflections on time

Temporalities, temporal orientations and time are inseparable, but often underanalysed, part of the study of materiality and matter. During the anthropocene, human impact over time on matter is undeniable, and yet but one example of the ways in which politics, ethics and matter intersect. The panel focuses on materiality, the liveliness of matter, that cannot be understood without the effects of time: how connections, infrastructures, or timescapes are shifting, and being shifted in science and technology. In the study of materiality, the knowledge that is produced about the time/matter nexus, and ‘how we know what we know’ is often the focal point of inquiries, which opens up intriguing possibilities for what we want to address and discuss in this panel. Recent discussions have addressed expectations, anticipations, future imaginaries, potentiality and temporalities; how these notions relate to the materialities encountered and engaged within our fieldworks will be discussed in this panel. We encourage presentations paying attention to materialities and temporalities, cycles as well as futures and pasts, in knowledge making practices, and the time and materiality that present themselves in the knowledge making we ourselves do as ethnographers. We welcome papers that present and discuss either empirical cases of material vitality (for example, but not limited to, changing views of microbes, decaying research infrastructures, politics around stem cells, loops in archeogenetic knowledge, paradigm shifts in knowledge etc) or reflect methodologically or theoretically the topic and scope of this panel.

Panel conveners:
Salla Sariola, University of Helsinki. salla.sariola[a]helsinki.fi
Heta Tarkkala, University of Helsinki. heta.tarkkala[a]helsinki.fi

The proposals should comprise abstracts of 250–300 words and be submitted directly to the panel convenors. Please include your university affiliation and contact information when submitting the proposal.

Deadline for paper proposals: April 1st, 2019. Acceptance notifications will be sent by April 15th, 2019.

The website for “On Time: Biennial Conference of the Finnish Anthropological Society 2019” can be found at:

http://www.antropologinenseura.fi/en/events/anthropology-conference-2019/

And the full call for papers at:

http://www.antropologinenseura.fi/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/Call-for-papers.pdf

The Finnish Anthropological Society Conference is organised in co-operation with the discipline of Social and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Helsinki and the Finnish Literature Society. The keynote speaker of the conference is Ghassan Hage, and the 2019 Edvard Westermarck memorial lecture will be given by Laura Bear on the eve of the conference (August 28). General inquiries regarding the conference can be addressed to timeFAS2019@gmail.com.

 

Call for papers: “Science, technology and society” – working group at the Annual conference of the Westermarck Society

The Annual conference of the Westermarck Society  will be held under the theme “Circulations” at the University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu campus, on 15-16.3.2018. The keynote speakers are: Amade M’charek (University of Amsterdam), Ruben Andersson (University of Oxford), Mianna Meskus (University of Helsinki) and Maria Åkerman (VTT). STS Helsinki is hosting its own working group and announces call for papers:

 

18. Science, technology and society

Science and Technology Studies (STS) is an interdisciplinary field of study that examines the interaction between society, science, and technology. STS pays attention to how different fields, such as law, politics, and everyday life, become intertwined with science and technology. This is relevant when thinking about heatedly debated topics as diverse as climate change, the role of experts, medicine, genetics, gender, robotics or organic food. The field calls for a deeper understanding of the development, processes, practices and outcomes of such social phenomena. STS explores the mechanisms behind knowledge claims and ontological assumptions that guide our everyday. Or, how a prominent STS scholar, Steve Woolgar, has said: look at how the world defined by science and technology “could be otherwise”.

STS-Helsinki calls for theoretical, methodological and empirical papers on current research in social studies of science. Papers both in Finnish and English are welcome. The aim of this working group is to offer a forum to discuss the practices that contribute to the shaping of technoscientific objects and subjects. How is scientific knowledge established and negotiated, and how historical processes contribute to the development of certain technologies? We also welcome papers discussing the specific topic of circulations. This working group is defined as a meeting point for both Finnish and international scholars to share and discuss their work with others studying science, technology and society.

__________________________________________

Submit your abstract directly to the working group coordinator. The descriptions of the working groups and contact information of the coordinators can be found at www.sosiologipaivat.fi.

The final deadline for the abstracts is Monday 22.1.2018. The length of the abstract is max. 300 words and it should be in .doc, .dox or in .rtf-format.

 

!!! UPDATE: CALL EXTENDED TO 2.2.2018 !!!

 

On behalf of STS Helsinki the coordinator is: Heta Tarkkala  (heta.tarkkala@uef.fi)

Experimentation and Evidence – Symposium next week in Helsinki

8-9.6.2017 an “Experimentation and Evidence” -symposium is going to take place at The House of Science and Letters (Kirkkokatu 6) in Helsinki. It is organized by  The Finnish Society for Science and Technology and The Finnish Association for Medical Law and Ethics. The symposium aims at examining the ontological, epistemological and practical issues in the process of creating, validating, and revisioning knowledge.

On thursday 8th of June at 12:30 the keynotes are:

Professor Barbara Prainsack (King’s College London): Harder, better,       faster? Evidence in citizen science

Professor Ilpo Helén (University of Eastern Finland): Innovation and experimentality: Remarks on a configuration of science and politics

And on friday 8th of June at 12:15 the keynotes are:

Professor Michael Guggenheim (Goldsmiths, University of London): Making STS experimental: Evidencing the future of risk

Comment by Associate Professor Eeva Luhtakallio (University of Tampere)

Please see the full program at: http://www.fssts.fi/index.php?page=news-2

Avoimia kysymyksiä tulevaisuuden terveydestä ja yhteiskunnasta

Kliininen päätöksenteko perustuu tutkittuun tietoon. Tiedon tarkentuessa sairausluokitukset tulevat paremmiksi, diagnostiikka ja hoitotulokset paranevat ja potilaat hyötyvät. Myös lääkeaineiden aiheuttamat haitat vähenevät. Potilaan autonomia kasvaa, kun palvelut ottavat paremmin yksilön tarpeet huomioon. Koko terveydenhuoltojärjestelmä sekä tehostuu että tulee vaikuttavammaksi. Ennaltaehkäisevät toimet voidaan kohdistaa niihin, jotka todella hyötyvät niistä. Kansalaisten ymmärrys genetiikasta ja terveydestä parantuu, jolloin he pystyvät huolehtimaan itsestään entistä paremmin. Ja lista jatkuu…

Yllä olevan kappaleen lupaukset on poimittu brittiläisen terveysalan think-thankin  PHG Foundation huhtikuussa 2017 julkaisemasta raportista ”Personalised healthcare: bringing the future into focus”. Raportissa esitetään tulevaisuudennäkymiä siitä, mitä henkilökohtainen lääketiede oikeastaan tulee tarkoittamaan. Lisäksi raportissa nostetaan esille, mitä eettisiä ja yhteiskunnallisia kysymyksiä terveydenhuollon mahdollisesti radikaaliinkin muutokseen liittyy.  Tässä merkinnässä nostan esiin joitakin niistä huolista ja kysymyksistä, jotka tulevat samassa paketissa lupausten kanssa. Kirjoitus perustuu raportin sisältöön.

On tärkeää muistaa, että tiede etenee hitaasti ja uusi tieto on aina osittaista ja rajallista. Uuden tiedon vieminen potilaiden hoitoon ja terveydenhoitojärjestelmään hyödyllisellä tavalla tulee jatkossakin olemaan haastavaa. Edes terveydenhuoltohenkilökunnan ymmärtämys ja tietämys aiheesta ei kenties aina ole riittävällä tasolla. Genetiikkaan ja genomiikkaan liittyvä lukutaito onkin keskeinen haaste koko yhteiskunnalle.

”Personalised Healtcare” -raportissa huomautetaan, että on mahdollista, ettei genomitieto voimaannuta kansalaisia tai tee heistä yhtään enempää valmiita ottamaan suurempaa vastuuta omasta terveydestään. Muutenkaan ei ole aivan selvää, miten visio perimää koskevan tiedon lisääntyvästä käytöstä terveydenhuollossa ja sairaanhoidossa oikeasti vaikuttaa ihmisten terveyttä koskeviin asenteisiin. Voiko tiedon liian suuri määrä johtaa vain välinpitämättömyyteen? Tietoon ja dataan keskittyminen voi myös johtaa siihen, että hoito, hoiva ja ihmisen yksilöllinen kohtaaminen sekä kuuntelu sivuutetaan, kun ihminen näyttäytyy vain terveysdatansa summana. Toisaalta pelkona on, että lisääntyvän tiedon kautta luodaan suuri joukko terveydestään erittäin huolestuneita tai ahdistuneita kansalaisia, joilla ei todellisuudessa ole minkäänlaista akuuttia terveysongelmaa. Ylipäätään ero terveyden ja hyvinvoinnin välillä voi hämärtyä, mikä voi luoda jälleen uusia palvelutarpeita.

Iso potentiaalinen haaste on sekin, minkälaisia yhteyksiä tulevaisuudessa mahdollisesti luodaan geneettisten riskitekijöiden, sosiaalisen vastuun ja perheen perustamisen välille. Johtaako perimää koskevan tiedon lisääntyminen pahimmillaan hedelmällisessä iässä olevien naisten elintapojen ja terveyden entistä tarkempaan kontrolloimiseen? Samoin perhe- ja sukulaissuhteisiin terveyden ja perimän kysymyksillä on vaikutusta. Terveydenhuollon perusteiden mahdollinen radikaali muutos voi myös muilta osin merkittävästi vaikuttaa siihen, miten jatkossa ymmärrämme toisaalta sosiaalisen ja toisaalta yksilön oman vastuun suhteessa terveyteen. Huolena on, lisääntyvätkö epätasa-arvo ja ihmisten syrjintä – eli kääntäen esiin nousee kysymys siitä, ketkä konkreettisesti hyötyvät geenitiedosta ja keitä nämä lääketieteen uudet lupaukset koskevat?

Hallinnon ja palvelujärjestelmän kannalta haasteena on löytää parhaat toimintatavat. Uhkana on  järjestelmän tehottomuus ja liiallinen monimutkaisuus. Raportin mukaan usein nojataan liikaa ajatuksiin innovaatioista palveluihin keskittymisen sijaan. Toisaalta juuri lisääntyvä yhteistyö julkisen ja yksityisen samoin kuin hoidon ja tutkimuksen välillä, nähdään oleellisina osina henkilökohtaisen lääketieteen toteutumista.

Lopulta kysymys on myös siitä, kuinka tuleva terveydenhuoltojärjestelmä kykenee vastaamaan yhä enemmän omasta hoidostaan vastuuta ottavien yksilöiden odotuksiin ja toiveisiin. On ratkaistava, millaisten palvelujen kautta vastataan toisaalta ihmisten haluihin ja odotuksiin, ja toisaalta ihmisten tarpeisiin. Tullaanko potilaita esimerkiksi ylidiagnosoimaan? Odotetaanko meidän kaikkien kykenevän jatkossa toimimaan oman terveytemme ja hyvinvointimme projektipäällikköinä, olemaan yhä enemmän vastuussa omasta terveydestämme, ja yhä lukutaitoisempina geenitietomme suhteen?