• Home
• About ISS
• Research
• Involvement
• News
• Events
• School of Sociology and Social Policy

Welcome to the Institute for Science and Society

Welcome to the Institute of Science and Society (ISS), a leading interdisciplinary centre for the study of science, technology and medicine.

Our research is transforming how we engage with science; expanding public participation in knowledge and innovation; and developing novel ways to influence scientific, technological and policy change.

The Institute for Science and Society (ISS) is one of the leading centres in Science and Technology Studies (STS) in the UK, Europe and internationally. We investigate the social, political and ecological aspects of science and technology. This requires transdisciplinary approaches, that bring together the sciences, the humanities and the social sciences. ISS members use a variety of research methods, including qualitative, quantitative, and participatory approaches. Since ISS was established in 1998 we have attracted significant external research funding, in collaboration with partners across many different disciplines.

Our role in the School of Sociology and Social Policy is to bring together staff and students with an interest in STS and aligned fields, support collaboration on funded research activities, and provide high quality teaching and training. We also seek to model positive research cultures, and are strongly committed to supporting new generations of STS scholars, postgraduate research students and early career researchers.

Our role in the University of Nottingham is to act as a hub for academics and students who seek to study, problematise or reflect on the past, present and future role of science and technology. In this way, we act as a bridge between the Faculty of Social Sciences, and other faculties in the university, helping to ensure the university succeeds in its mission of being a university ‘without borders’. 

Our role nationally and internationally is to champion and promote the importance of co-produced scholarship on science and society. We do this by seeking to influence research trajectories, funder priorities, and social and ethical debates.

Staff and students in ISS study a wide range of topics, including: 

• Health and healthcare: biomedicine, bioscience and public health
• Sustainable infrastructures: energy, climate change, and the Anthropocene
• Alternative technoscience:  engagement, participatory practices and activism
• More-than-human perspectives:  animals, ethics and materialities
• Expanding bio-economies: circular economies, responsible innovation and risk
• Language and science: metaphors, representations and public/media framings
• Digital lives: big data, mapping and AI
• Interdisciplinarities: identifying synergies between social science, medicine, veterinary medicine, and biosciences

About Us

Research

Involvement