Dr L. Krabbenborg (Lotte)
Associate professor - Institute for Science in Society
Heyendaalseweg 135
6525 AJ NIJMEGEN
Internal postal code: 77
Postbus 9010
6500 GL NIJMEGEN
My research studies the ways in which new techno-scientific developments such as nanotechnology, biofuels and artificial intelligence affect and are adopted by society. Exactly how new technologies materialize in society, and thus shape our social order, depends on deliberation and decision making processes that take place throughout an innovation trajectory, in e.g. laboratories, firms, government agencies, and the public sphere.
The main aim of my research is to explore the power and to enhance empowerment of civil society actors, either individual citizens or non-governmental organizations, to engage in these deliberation and decision making processes.
This entails, on the one hand, an inquiry into concrete activities of how civil society actors organize themselves in relation to new science and technology, paying attention to both invited and uninvited participation (microlevel), and on the other hand, an inquiry into the broader institutional context in which participation of civil society takes place (mesolevel), and the socio-political landscape providing a cultural, and moral backdrop of opportunities and constraints for the type of interactions and collaborations that can be developed between science and technology developers and civil society actors (macrolevel).
Importantly, the relation between these three levels (micro, meso, macro) are dynamic, and it is exactly these dynamics that I seek to understand.
My research projects adopt an interdisciplinary approach, building upon insights from science and technology studies, political philosophy and innovation studies, and are developed and performed in close collaboration with natural scientists, companies and civil society actors. Currently, I study opportunities and constraints of co-creation processes between science and society in a biomedical context, in particular regarding digital self-monitoring (NWO Data2person 2019-2021) and biomarkers and artificial inteligence (NWO MVI 2018-2021)