The 2026 STS Summer School will take place June 7–13 at the Research Institute for Sustainability (RIFS), Berliner Str. 130, 14467 Potsdam.
Sunday, June 7
2:00 PM – 3:00 PM
Arrival & Check-in
Holiday Inn Express & Suites Potsdam
Am Kanal 15, 14467 Potsdam
3:00 PM
Meet at hotel lobby – walk to Research Institute for Sustainability (RIFS)
RIFS, Berliner Str. 130, 14467 Potsdam
4:00 PM
Welcome & Program Overview
Sheila Jasanoff
4:30 PM
Personal Introductions
Faculty introduce themselves and their research and students present a brief overview of their writing projects.
5:15 PM
Break
5:30 PM
Learning Session: STS Analytic Lexicon (Science, Power, and Politics)
6:45 PM
Adjourn – walk to Restaurant Il Teatro
7:00 PM
Welcome Dinner
Restaurant Il Teatro, Schiffbauergasse 12, 14467 Potsdam
Monday, June 8
Location: Research Institute for Sustainability (RIFS)
Berliner Str. 130, 14467 Potsdam
8:30 AM
Breakfast
Note that breakfast is at the hotel. We will walk over to RIFS together, though you are also free to go by yourself so long as you are there before the first session.
9:30 AM
Learning Session: Interpretive STS Analysis
11:00 AM
Break
11:30 AM
Author-Meets-Critics Block 1: Planetary Futures & Environmental Governance
- Lucy Maun: Planetary Digital Twins, Democratic Decision-Making, and Climate Futures
- Reviewed by Stefan Schäfer, RIFS Potsdam
- Eyal Bar: Sociotechnical Imaginaries and ‘End-of-the-World’ Orders
- Reviewed by Anna Agathangelou, York University and Makoto Takahashi, McQuillan Institute
1:00 PM
Lunch
2:00 PM
Author-Meets-Critics Block 2: The Value of Place
- Sophia Knopf: Urban Digital Twins: Knowing, Representing, and Governing the City
- Reviewed by Nicole Bassoff, University of Virginia and Søren Riis, Roskilde University
- Lily Tomson: Moral Economies, Oil Wealth, and Wind: Competing Futures in Shetland
- Reviewed by Brice Laurent, Mines Paris – PSL
3:30 PM
Break
4:00 PM
Author-Meets-Critics Block 3: AI Imaginaries & Futures
- Conor McGlynn: Interpretive Study of the AI Safety Community
- Reviewed by Margo Boenig-Liptsin, ETH Zürich and Søren Riis, Roskilde University
- Santtu Räisänen: Tech-CEO Manifestos as Secular Apocalypticism: Constructing AI Futures
- Reviewed by Gabriel Dorthe, ETH Zürich and Makoto Takahashi, McQuillan Institute
5:30 PM
Adjourn
6:30 PM
Dinner
Research Institute for Sustainability (RIFS)
Berliner Str. 130, 14467 Potsdam
Tuesday, June 9
Location: Research Institute for Sustainability (RIFS)
Berliner Str. 130, 14467 Potsdam
8:00 AM
Breakfast
Note that breakfast is at the hotel. We will walk over to RIFS together, though you are also free to go by yourself so long as you are there before the first session.
9:00 AM
Learning Session: Comparative STS Analysis
10:30 AM
Break
11:00 AM
Author-Meets-Critics Block 4: Democracy in an Age of AI
- Philipp Neudert: Citizen Deliberation on AI Futures in the NeuroSys Semiconductor Ecosystem
- Reviewed by Anna Agathangelou, York University and Hilton Simmet, RIFS Potsdam
- Kassandra Thompson: Guns N Beakers: Government Spending Models and Economic Outcomes Across U.S. States, 2000–2023
- Reviewed by Melanie Smallman, University College London
12:30 PM
Lunch
1:30 PM
Author-Meets-Critics Block 5: Innovation & Governance
- Cosimo Simoncini: Regional Innovation Cultures in Emilia-Romagna and Bavaria
- Reviewed by Nicole Bassoff, Harvard University and Margo Boenig-Liptsin, ETH Zürich
- Xin Jin: AI Technologies and Germany’s AI Diplomacy Toward China: Co-Productive Dynamics
- Reviewed by Brice Laurent, Mines Paris – PSL
3:00 PM
Break
3:30 PM
Author-Meets-Critics Block 6: Bioethics, Law & Temporality
- Henry Austin: Memory, Law, and Subjectivity in the Information Age
- Reviewed by Aziza Ahmed, Boston University
- Reviewed by Aziza Ahmed, Boston University
- Luke Stalley: Temporal Politics of Death and Dying in the NHS: Electronic Patient Records
- Reviewed by J. Benjamin Hurlbut, Arizona State University
5:00 PM
Break
5:30 PM
Author-Meets-Critics Block 7: Ordering Knowledge, Ordering Society
- Lou Lennad: Lab Ethnographies and the Co-Production of Scientific and Legal Facts
- Reviewed by J. Benjamin Hurlbut, Arizona State University and Aziza Ahmed, Boston University
6:15 PM
Adjourn
7:00 PM
Dinner
Research Institute for Sustainability (RIFS)
Berliner Str. 130, 14467 Potsdam
Wednesday, June 10
Location: Research Institute for Sustainability (RIFS)
Berliner Str. 130, 14467 Potsdam
8:00 AM
Breakfast
Note that breakfast is at the hotel. We will walk over to RIFS together, though you are also free to go by yourself so long as you are there before the first session.
9:00 AM
Learning Session: Abstracts and Abstractions
10:30 AM
Break
11:00 AM
Author-Meets-Critics Block 8: Health, Knowledge & Sovereignty
- Benedetta Muda: Knowledge-Making Practices Related to Long Covid in EU and UK Research Consortia
- Reviewed by Hilton Simmet, RIFS Potsdam and Melanie Smallman, University College London
- Zhen Zhang: From Bodily Action to Neural Signals: How Brain-Computer Interface Reconstructs Self-Narration
- Reviewed by Gabriel Dorthe, ETH Zurich and Stefan Schäfer, RIFS Potsdam
12:30 PM
Midweek Comment Period
1:15 PM
Lunch
2:30 PM
Excursion to Potsdam’s Telagrafenberg (pickup at hotel)
6:00 PM
Return to hotel & Adjourn
The Summer School is followed by the 25th Annual Meeting of the Science and Democracy Network, June 11–13, 2026.
Saturday, June 13
12:30 PM
Group lunch and program review
2:30 PM
Adjourn
