The STS Center was established at the EUSP in December 2011 with the support of the Skolkovo Foundation.
Science and technology studies present one of the most rapidly developing research areas that encompasses different fields of studies such as sociology of science, sociology of technology, anthropology of science, anthropology of technology, industrial sociology, science and technology history, philosophy of science, comparative sociology, etc. In the 1980s the STS sprang up as a sociological discipline. However, due to the constantly changing research objects that have become more and more complicated with the lapse of time, the need for borrowing the research tools from the allied fields of studies (such as history, anthropology, philosophy and even ethics) became very clear. Due to the accelerating technological progress and the rise of new threats and challenges related to this progress, within the three last decades the science and technology studies have become one of the most strategically important fields of studies. Courses on history, sociology and philosophy of technology now make part of the leading universities' curricula, be it Harvard, Cambridge, Cornell, Stanford or the MIT. Today STS departments and centres can be found almost in every American or European university.
Already at the kick-off of the STS Center at the EUSP, there has been scholars in Russia fruitfully working in the STS research area for already few years. The researchers from the Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences, the Higher School of economics, the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, the New Economic School, the Institute of Ethnology of the Russian Academy of Sciences and some other universities were among the pioneers in this field.
Several teams of researchers developing this field have also been formed at the EUSP. Some STS researchers work at different departments of the University (Political Science and Sociology, Anthropology, History); others are research fellows at the interdepartmental research centers. Since the autumn semester 2011 the University's curricula have been enriched by the courses on Introduction in the Science and Technology studies and Anthropology of technology; as well, the curriculum of the Department of History is now being revised.
The interdepartmental research center «Res Publica» has published the major works of the founders of the science and technology studies in Russian. Also the Center's activities have included education and research on the fringe of political philosophy and sociology of materiality.
The Center of Science and Technology Studies is the first one in Russia that aims at coordinating the activities of the the STS scholars from the EUSP, Moscow and other regions of Russia. The Center was launched with the support of the Cornell University (the first one in the world to establish the STS Department), the MIT, the Sciences Po Paris and the University of Exeter, UK. Coordination of the activities of the STS researchers from Russia, the US and Europe is one of the major tasks of the STS Center.
The educational dimension of the Center's activities includes education of specialists in the science and technology studies; education of researchers for the SkTECH, technology transfer centers, industrial parks, universities and research centers; training of administrative personnel and experts for the technology companies and state corporations.
The Center's fellows are engaged into both scholarly and applied research in the following areas: sociology of science, sociology of technology, anthropology of technology, science and technology history, cross-cultural research projects.
