WASS Research Day "Knowledge in Society: Contestation, Boundaries and Bridges"

Through some combination of participating in a WASS Talents and Topics course and in the WASS Research and Assessment Committee, I got involved in organizing this WASS Research Day. WASS stands for Wageningen School of Social Sciences, by the way, and the Research Day addresses one of the four research themes of the school. I'm very happy that both Mike Hulme and Marjolein van Asselt were willing to give a talk at the Research Day, and I'm looking forward to the abstracts and presentations. The call is still open, until October 15th - I copied the announcement below.

WASS Research Day "Knowledge in Society: Contestation, Boundaries and Bridges"

1 Nov 2011, 9:00 - 16:00, Wageningen

While it is agreed that the world is facing important challenges, there are strong disagreements in society on how these can or must be tackled. Interdependent actors tend to frame problems and underlying causes differently and hence pursue different solutions and strategies to realize these. In addition, different stakeholders have different views on the risks associated with developments in science and society. At the same time the capacity of scientists to offer authoritative interpretations of reality seems to be diminishing. Yet, for developing and realizing innovative solutions to societal challenges it is imperative to accommodate and integrate diverging understandings. This theme studies how and why different perspectives of reality emerge, how science and other forms of expertise interact, and which prospects exists for dealing with diverging understandings in a productive manner.

"Climate change: knowledge, risk and governance"

Mike Hulme
Professor of Climate Change
University of East Anglia



For the mini-conference we invite contributions on the topic "Climate change: knowledge, risk and governance" or on the broader WASS research theme "Knowledge in Society: Contestation, Boundaries and Bridges". This is an excellent opportunity to meet internationally renowned scholars on the topic and to exchange and discuss your work in the WASS community.

If you want to present your work on the WASS Research Day "Knowledge in Society", please send a 300 word abstract to wass@wur.nl by October 15. Based on the submissions different thematic sessions will be organized.

The Research Day is an initiative of WASS Research and Assessment Committee, and is organized by the WASS Office together with Art Dewulf (PAP), Esther Turnhout (FNP) and Severine van Bommel (COM).