WTMC Research Program

Aims of the Graduate Training

• To get an overview of classical and contemporary approaches to the study of the relation between science, technology and society.
• To learn how to translate these insights into one’s own research approach and research design.
• To obtain insight into the relationship between current STS studies and disciplines such as philosophy, sociology and history.
• To develop skills to use methodology and theory to study the relation between science, technology and society.
• To develop skills necessary to communicate with and present one’s work to the international research community.
• To develop skills to translate societal and cultural problems into questions of science and technology studies and vice versa.
• To prepare for a professional career in which knowledge of the relations between science technology and society plays a role.

Local and National Component

PhD students who belong to one of the academic groups affiliated with WTMC obtain their training locally in their own institution and nationally from the Graduate Research School. The local component is provided by the local institution and in particular by the supervisor responsible for the PhD student. The local component includes supervision and the training to compensate for gaps in the students’ academic background. The national component is organised by the Graduate Research School WTMC. Central to goal of the national component is to familiarise students with the classical and recent theories and with methodology and approaches to study the interaction between science, technology and society, and to stimulate interaction and learning among the PhD students of the school.

Workshops, Summer Schools & Writeshops

The PhD graduate programme consist of two parts: The first two years of the programme introduce students into the broad field of studies of the relationship between science, technology and society, and train particular skills. During each of these first two years, students attend two workshops and one summer school. Workshops are organised around specific themes (linked to the three clusters of questions around which WTMC is organised), while the summer school is organised around both a theme and an anchor teacher (for examples see themes of workshops and anchor teachers of previous schools).

For workshops and summer schools students receive a reader with texts, well in advance and usually an assignment, to prepare in advance before the actual workshop or summer school. We expect students to prepare 40 hours for each workshop and 80 hours for the summer school. Workshops and summer schools are conducted in English and attract international participants.

In the next phase of their PhD research, students are expected to present their own written work for discussion at writeshops.
Writeshops are held twice each year, once in the spring and once in the autumn. Students comment on each other’s work-in-progress and one or two senior discussants are invited. Texts are distributed in advance. The amount of preparation depends on the number of participants.

The development of general academic and professional skills is important in the WTMC graduate training programme. Workshops and summer schools invite students to reflect critically on theoretical and methodological approaches and on their own research design and findings. Interaction among the students is important which is why workshops and summer schools are residential.
In addition to a selection of research skills (such as textual analysis, network analysis, and ethnographic techniques), there is training in general skills (like how to structure the thesis, writing review articles, and writing research proposals for funding).