The aim of this group is to explore and enhance the interface between HPS and science. Although many of us in HPS engage closely with scientists and their practices, we could benefit from more explicit discussions about the relationship between HPS and science itself, and from more opportunities for HPS-scholars and scientists to help each other's work.
We meet on Friday afternoons in Seminar Room 1. Further information, any reading materials, and links for online meetings will be distributed through the email list of the group. Please contact Hasok Chang (hc372) or Marta Halina (mh801) if you would like to be included on the list.
Easter Term 2025
30 May, 2.30–4.00pm
Helene Scott-Fordsmand (Clare Hall & HPS, University of Cambridge) and Anatolii Kozlov (Department of Science & Technology Studies, University College London)
TheCultureLab
TheCultureLab was a series of participatory workshops for postdocs at the Physiology, Development and Neuroscience Department, designed to create a space of shared reflexivity. Each workshop combined creative exercises from applied theatre and creative writing with topics from the philosophy of science and STS to experientially explore scientific and extra-scientific aspects of postdoctoral research life and lay the ground for group reflection with an eye on developing more sustainable research cultures. The workshops became a site of fruitful interaction between philosophers and scientists as a case of philosophy of science in practice. As a result, three postdoctoral researchers agreed to travel 'across the road' to explore relevant links with historians and philosophers of science further in conversation at the HPS Department. In the session, they will introduce their work, share reflections on research culture and on their encounter with and thoughts about history and philosophy of science.
13 June, 3.30–5.00pm
Amy Orben (MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge)
Science advice under uncertainty
In this session, Amy Orben, the leader of the Digital Mental Health Group at the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, will talk about her experience of having to support evidence-based policy in the area of teen mental health and social media. Her vision on how this could be improved was described in Orben, Amy, and J. Nathan Matias, 'Fixing the science of digital technology harms', Science 388, no. 6743 (2025): 152–155.