Conferências IST-Ambiente 2011
Promovidas pela Plataforma de Ciências e Engenharia do Ambiente do IST
Governing the social impacts of new
technologies
Palestra proferida pelo
Professor Frank Vanclay
University of Groningen
4 de Março de 2011, 14h-15.30h
Anfiteatro EA4 (Torre Norte, Piso 1)
Organizada em colaboração com a APAI
Associação Portuguesa de Avaliação de Impactes
Sumário
The pace and reach of technological change has led to calls for better technology
governance to deal with risks and conflicts, and to promote the benefits of new
technologies. Technology assessment (TA) – the systematic assessment of the
environmental, social and economic impacts of technological developments in
order to influence policy at all levels – can provide information and processes to
improve technology governance. Good technology assessments understand
technology in its social context and consider the importance of engaging all
stakeholders including the multiple publics. They are systematic, broad, inclusive
and well resourced; and are conducted by organisations that are reliable and
influential. TA is conducted by various agencies in many European countries. On
the other hand, Australia, for example, has never had a TA agency or formalised
TA process, although there are examples of TA-like activities. Drawing on insights
from the fields of international TA, Science and Technology Studies (STS) and
Social Impact Assessment (SIA), we have developed a new framework for thinking
about the social impacts of new technologies, TASC (Technology Assessment in
Social Context). The TASC project has been examining the desirability of
introducing a TA agency in Australia. We argue that a dedicated TA agency would
improve capacity for technology governance. Using a case study of the
development of a land-based source of long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (i.e.
Omega-3) (which were previous derived from oily fish), the seminar will present
some of the social issues associated with new technology and will consider how an
effective TA process would assist in technology governance.
BIOSKETCH
Prof Frank Vanclay is professor in the Department of Cultural Geography in the Faculty of
Spatial Sciences at the University of Groningen in The Netherlands. Previously he was
professor of rural and environmental sociology at the Tasmanian Institute of Agricultural
Research at the University of Tasmania in Hobart, Australia. His interests are in social
impact assessment, and the social aspects of environmental management and agriculture.
Papers from the TASC project include:
Russell, A.W., Vanclay, F., Salisbury, J. & Aslin, H. (in press, available online)
“Technology assessment in Australia: The case for a formal agency to improve advice
to policy makers”, Policy Sciences doi: 10.1007/s11077-010-9120-4
Russell, A.W., Vanclay, F. & Aslin, H. 2010 “Technology Assessment in Social Context:
The case for a new framework for assessing and shaping technological
developments”, Impact Assessment & Project Appraisal 28(2): 109-116.
Email: [email protected]
Webpage: http://www.rug.nl/staff/frank.vanclay/index
As Conferências IST-Ambiente são de livre acesso
Organização e Informações:
Prof. Maria do Rosário Partidário, IST-Ambiente, DECivil ([email protected])
Elisa Costa, DECivil (tel: 218 419 803, isapiresgmail.com)
http://www.civil.ist.utl.pt/shrha-gdambiente/
http://www.apai.org.pt