The Cultural Dimensions of Studies of Science and Innovation (SSI)

RESEARCH / FOCAL AREAS

Vision

Science and innovation are deeply embedded in cultural, geographical, historical, and political contexts that shape how knowledge is produced, circulated, and applied. Yet science and innovation studies have barely explored the valuable contributions that dialogue between the humanities and the social sciences can offer to the analysis of these processes. Focal Area 5 brings together a variety of backgrounds to study the cultural, symbolic, and ethical dimensions of scientific and innovation practices. It is an exploratory endeavour that seeks to turn the thematic, methodological, and disciplinary diversity of its members into new approaches capable of fostering a more complex and integrated understanding of innovation. In order to deepen the intersection between science, society, culture, and innovation, the area aims to develop innovative methodologies combining digital humanities, archival sources, ethnography, visual studies, content analysis, psychometrics, and regression analysis, among others. In short, FA5 aspires to consolidate INGENIO as an international reference in the integration of the humanities into science and innovation studies, attracting diverse talent and establishing collaborations with cultural institutions, museums, and historical archives.

Objectives

Our research agenda is structured around three main axes. First, it aims to situate innovation and science practices and discourses within their ideological, technological, social, and territorial frameworks, offering renewed perspectives on how local, regional, and global dynamics—including transnational interactions and geopolitical forces—shape the production and governance of knowledge. Second, it seeks to generate new epistemologies of innovation that acknowledge the historical agency of diverse actors, the axiological implications, and the cultural valuation regimes of scientific knowledge. It also aspires to integrate knowledge transfer, science communication, and artistic practices as pathways for the social impact of science and the consolidation of a scientific culture. Finally, it pursues the denaturalisation of linear narratives about innovation and science, revealing the historical, ideological, moral, and cultural contingencies that mediate and legitimise the generation and circulation of knowledge across different contexts, from the Early Modern period to the present day.