Science in Society

Course goals

By the end of this course, the student is able to:

• Critically contextualize contemporary science–society relations within their historical development.
• Systematically analyse socio-scientific controversies by identifying key actors, forms of expertise, interests, power relations, and underlying values.
• Differentiate and apply major typologies of expertise to assess the roles scientists adopt in contemporary public debates.
• Compare and evaluate models of the science–policy interface and relate them to four distinct roles of scientists in policymaking processes.
• Critically analyse how science is represented across different media formats and explain the factors shaping these representations.
• Identify and analyse framing processes in language and visual communication related to socio-scientific issues.
• Explain and apply central concepts and models from Science and Technology Studies to cases of public science and science communication.

Content

Science and technology play a central role in shaping contemporary societies. From climate change and public health to artificial intelligence and energy transitions, scientific knowledge informs policymaking, public debate, and technological innovation. At the same time, the authority of scientific expertise is increasingly contested. Public trust in institutions fluctuates, scientific knowledge circulates widely through diverse media ecosystems, and socio-scientific controversies unfold in complex and polarized environments.
This course examines these developments using theoretical and analytical perspectives from Science and Technology Studies (STS). STS provides conceptual tools to understand how scientific knowledge is produced, validated, communicated, and negotiated within society. Using key models of expertise, the science–policy interface, media studies, and framing, students will critically investigate how science functions in public contexts.
Throughout the course, students will analyse real-world socio-scientific controversies, assess different roles of experts in policymaking and public debate, and reflect on how scientific authority is constructed, challenged, and transformed. Special attention is given to media representations of science. By the end of the course, students will be equipped to formulate a theoretically informed and critically grounded perspective on the relationship between science and society, and to position themselves as reflective professionals operating at this interface.