Show me the money! Science and Technology in the Age of Mega-Philanthropy

Session Submission Type: Open Panel

Abstract

The funding of science and technology has been a research interest in STS for a long time. Its relevance does not only reside in the influence that it has on the organization of scientific and technological activities but also, and more importantly, in the research agendas of groups, institutions and countries. In a nutshell, funding seems to direct where science and technology aim at. In the last years, however, a phenomenon emerged that may be the cause of profound transformations of the flow of resources for science and technology: the consolidation of mega-philanthropic organizations that challenge (or merge with) government S&T policies. From the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, the new billionaires who are replacing an old generation of philanthropists (e.g. Rockefeller, Carnegie, Ford) have devoted billions of dollars to influence the directions of scientific and technological investigation during their lifetime. They have argued that poverty, diseases, global climate change and gender inequality, among many other urgent problems, are challenges that should be faced and can be solved in an over-optimistic approach with important political and epistemic implications. In this panel, we want to discuss some of the consequences of the involvement of these organizations: new agendas, new theories, new ways of producing knowledge (e.g. practices of internationalization and transdisciplinary research), new institutional articulations, and new means to diffuse the knowledge produced and engage stakeholders. We invite papers that bring a critical review and insightful perspectives on these issues, as well as those focused on public policy and ethical implications.

Sub Unit

• Papers for Open Panels / Show me the money! Science and Technology in the Age of Mega-Philanthropy

Chair

• Hebe Vessuri

Individual Presentations

• Conservation science and ecophilanthropy in the Iberá Wildlife Reintroduction Program - Emiliano Martin Valdez, CONICET / Centro de Ciencia, Tecnología y Sociedad Universidad Maimonides

• Identifying patterns in research funding of influential philanthropies: insights from funding acknowledgement data - ElHassan ElSabry, Institute of Innovation Research, Hitotsubashi University

• ‘If GoFundMe were a non-profit, we would be the fourth-largest in the world’: The Big Business of Crowdfunding and the Ethical Implications of (Micro) Mega-Philanthropy - Matthew Wade

• Of Social Diseases and Technical Fixes: BMGF and Tuberculosis in India - Anita Buragohain, York University, Toronto

• Scientists in Philanthropy’s Image: Private Foundations and the Fostering of Technoscientific Innovators - Matthew Wisnioski, Virginia Tech

Session Organizer

• Hebe Vessuri