Disaster Science and Technology Studies (DSTS): Advancing an Emerging Subfield

Washington State University, Pullman WA

Investigators

Abstract

Introduction This award will support a two-day interdisciplinary workshop on Disaster Science and Technology Studies (DSTS), an emerging subfield of STS. The workshop will take place in late summer or fall 2013. The frequency and severity of disasters are increasing in the United States and worldwide; many are caused or conditioned by technological systems and processes. Disasters also unleash a torrent of engineering and scientific activity, including basic and applied research, policy innovations, technology development, etc.; activities that have important implications for how governments, industries, legal systems, communities, and other institutions deal with disaster, risk management, emergency response, and longer-term recovery. To date, however, there remains a pressing gap between the concepts, theories and methods that social scientists have developed to understand the social dynamics of science and technology and the rich but largely untapped body of empirical data on the dynamics of disasters. The workshop seeks to remedy this gap. Intellectual Merit This workshop will serve to promote the development of DSTS. It will do so in a variety of ways. First, it brings together North American DSTS scholars to critically assess the state of the emerging field. Part of the workshop plan is to organize an active DSTS research network capable of rapid domestic and international expansion, and to develop a research agenda that emphasizes reflexive, comparative, and collaborative studies. The workshop will also generate strategies for funding and outreach that supports DSTS research and communicates knowledge to the larger disaster research community and to policymakers. Potential Broader Impacts The workshop organizers will prepare and circulate the results of DSTS research through a workshop report, and through press releases and other outreach to researchers, journalists, and policy makers. They will also create a website to facilitate communication and idea sharing among workshop participants and to support continued development of DSTS beyond the workshop.