ESHS/HSS Annual Meeting

Openness in the History of 20th Science Governance

Session Submission Type: Roundtable

English Abstract

Throughout the 20th century, the idea of open inquiry has been consistently recognised as foundational to scientific research and its role in democratic societies, and yet has undergone dramatic shifts in meaning, value and implementation. Such shifts can be identified when examining the ways in which nation states, policy organisations, scholarly bodies, industry and public-private partnerships have developed and occasionally modified their policy on scientific funding, governance, communications (including the publishing of data, articles and code) and intellectual property management. This roundtable explores diverse uses of the concept of openness in relation to the governance and conduct of research in North America and Europe. Contributions range from pre-war public discourse on open inquiry for democratic societies (Sabina Leonelli) to post-war debates on national competitiveness (David Irion), Cold War understandings of transnational collaboration (Helena Toth), and end-of-century market-driven regimes of intellectual property, attention to ELSA/ELSI issues and growing emphasis on open access (Miguel Garcia-Sancho, Rachel Ankeny). Panelists will focus particularly on developments in the life and social sciences and their intersections with the institutionalisation of science through national funding bodies, transnational organisations such as the European Commission and UNESCO, and multinational networks such as the Human Genome Project.

Sub Unit

• Roundtable

Participants

• Rachel Ankeny, University of Adelaide

• Sabina Leonelli, Technical University of Munich

• David Irion, Leibniz Institute for Contemporary History

• Helena Toth, Institut für Geschichtswissenschaften und Europäische Ethnologie, University of Bamberg

• Miguel Garcia-Sancho, University of Edinburgh

Session Organizer

• Sabina Leonelli, Technical University of Munich