CfPs: Spaces of Technoscience Workshop; July 21-23, at National University of Singapore

Call for Papers

Spaces of Technoscience Workshop

Dates: July 21-23, 2014

Venue: National University of Singapore

The Science, Technology, and, Society cluster and the Department of Southeast Asian Studies in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, National University of Singapore, invites interested scholars to submit abstracts for an inter-disciplinary workshop entitled “Spaces of Technoscience,” to be held in Singapore.

Abstracts should be no longer than 500 words and sent to stsworkshop2014@gmail.com. Kindly also include a short resume and mention of notable publications, along with contact information. The proposed paper should be based on original work, written for this workshop, and not published or committed elsewhere. We encourage you to identify the particular theme your paper speaks to (see below), although we are also open to considering papers on aspects of technoscience and space that are not identified in the project statement.

Unfortunately, we are not able to offer travel or other financial support, however, partial funding for local expenses for scholars based in developing countries will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

• Deadline for submitting abstracts: March 1, 2014.
• Successful candidates will be notified by March 15, 2014.
• Final Papers will be due on July 1, 2014

Project Description: The need to focus on “Spaces of Technsocience” begins from the recognition that much of contemporary technoscience can no longer be contained by analysis at the national scale. From flows of expertise and movements of bodies to the mutations of labour, value, instruments, and artifacts, technoscience is increasingly determined by transnational horizons. The inertial weight of the national scale, however, has not disappeared from our concepts, scholarship, or policy recommendations, and this tension opens up a productive point of departure for this workshop.

“Spaces of Technoscience” thereby offers STS scholars the opportunity to explore technosciences in one location or many, through networks and across different scales of theory, action, and struggle. In the process, it also offers the possibility of side-stepping intellectual aporias that have plagued STS for too long, namely, the varieties of cultural essentialisms that typify “East v. West” distinctions, familiar markers of difference that are nonetheless reliant on shallow and reified concepts of space. For convenience, we find it useful to break down the idea of “Spaces” as follows.

• New Sites: Technosciences always come from somewhere. While the scientific laboratory has long been privileged as a site for specialized knowledge production, the conceptual turn to technoscience, rather than Science or Technology, has upset the lab’s analytic and intellectual centrality. First, the boundaries around laboratories were disassembled and its material and political allies and adversaries exposed. We now appreciate that there are important differences between scientific and corporate labs, for example, but also that meaningful technoscientific knowledge can emerge from places as different as zoos and science parks. Museums, military bases, buildings, clinics, asylums, and farms have all been or become sites of technoscientific activity. Moreover, rather than single sites, we may often be called to examine networks that include a variety of nodes, from factories and power stations to mines and hospitals. Networks in turn are rarely static, or for that matter, permanent. The dynamism of technoscientific transformations requires attention to the passages, circulations, and immobilities that characterize networks, that lead to intersections between them, and that distinguish one technoscientific chain of production and dissemination from another.
• New Geographies: An entirely different set of spatial coordinates is mapped by technoscientific activity seen through the lens of geopolitics. Some of these connections go back centuries, others are ongoing negotiations between places separated by boundaries of power and wealth. The close linkages between colonial medicine and metropolitan public health institutions, or, the indispensability of tropical landscapes for the creation of biomedical knowledge and commercial value mediated through botanical gardens, are well known examples of how colonial technoscience brought far-flung locations into a common space of uneven circulation and unequal exchange. Imperial divisions of the world have given way to joinings and separations produced by national and transnational capitalisms, within and across state borders. Nowadays, not all net value flows from South to North. Complex new geographies of technoscience are shaping an unequal world along fault lines both old and new. The remarkable expansion of clinical drug trial infrastructures in poor countries and the growth of international medical tourism, are, in the own way, are examples of how structural differences in political economy maps technoscientific chains onto discrete spatial locations.
• New Bodies, New Publics: With new geographies and new sites of technoscience comes the interpellation of new publics. Some have been tacitly invoked already: “reserve armies” of potential mothers, organ donors, and clinical drug recipients joined by battalions of young and globally mobile skilled professionals, typified by IT “techno-coolies.” Some publics emerge due to their locations: villagers and fisherfolk who live near sites of radioactivity and nuclear power stations, migrant workers who are denied access to the technology parks they build, forest dwellers who find themselves blocked from access to forest produce in order to allow “wild” animals to live more easily in their “natural” habitat, urban dwellers who find themselves subject to new public health concerns due to the increased mobility of viruses that come from far away. Other publics have emerged through contestation. The feminist activists who successfully mobilized to force the end of amniocentesis devices being used to identify female fetuses and the villagers who organized themselves in a campaign that led to the national Right to Information in India are both examples of publics forged in techno-struggle. A different set of technoscientific relations are situated in and through the bodies of subjects. These may range from embodied resistances to antibiotic drugs to mass inoculation campaigns and the systematic mapping of populations to locate genomic value, “bio-capital.” Individual bodies as well as biopolitical “populations,” in other words, constitute publics interpellated by technoscience. Worries over regulation, citizenship, participation, consent, traveling diseases, and biomedical surveillance constitute the political counterpoint to proliferating spaces of technoscience, even as it is increasingly clear that conventional sites and modes of governmentality may no longer be adequate to monitor or cope with them.

Workshop Organizer: Associate Professor Itty Abraham

Further Details: http://www.fas.nus.edu.sg/research/researchclusters/sts/technoscience.html

Nexus narratives - water politics in Asia, as discussed in STEPS-JNU Symposium

Nexus narratives – water politics in Asia, as discussed in STEPS-JNU Symposium
By Ian Scoones, Co-Director, STEPS Centre
Posted on 11 February 2014

The fourth panel at the STEPS-JNU Symposium focused on the highly contested narratives around how water is stored and accessed in Asia, with cases from Nepal, Laos, and Thailand. As Uttam Sinha from The Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses (IDSA), New Delhi, commented, Asia is facing a "hydrological moment" that is redefining the politics of water and the relations between nation states in the region. New connections between epistemic and policy communities with a regional basis are being forged that suggest a fundamental rethinking of transboundary and riparian policy and politics.
It is in this context that the STEPS project team has set about interrogating and unpacking the increasingly popular idea of the resource 'nexus'. The intersection of food, water and energy has been popularised in policy discourse, as a focus for intervention in recent years. In the region and internationally the nexus discourse has been building over time to reach fever pitch. As Jeremy Allouche from the STEPS Centre observed, this is accompanied by metaphors such as the ‘perfect storm’, as well as operational frames such as the 'green economy'. This is very much associated with international donor-led efforts and increasingly framing research. As Carl Middleton from Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand, pondered, is the nexus idea in fact just a rediscovery of what communities already knew? Why is it only now that such integrative ideas are becoming central to a mainstream narrative? Is this the moment that experts emerge from their silos, as they realise that sustainability questions are highly complex?
However, how ideas around the food-water-energy nexus play out is highly dependent on the national and regional political context and is deeply influenced by framing and interest politics, as the case studies showed. In the Laos Mekong case, a detailed analysis of policy documents across different institutions showed how framings of scarcity, security and nexus intersections differ. Carl showed how the Asian Development Bank highlighted economic and physical scarcity and therefore prioritised infrastructure interventions, particularly by the private sector. This contrasted with the International Water Management Institute that highlighted local production practices, and solutions were connected global and local projects, while conservation organisations such as IUCN focused on natural resource scarcity and the need for protection measures. While adopting the nexus discourse, very different perspectives on what is scarce, what needs to be secured, and what to do about it are shown.
The session asked is ‘the nexus’ a useful concept? Currently, as the cases showed vividly, the framing is very top down, often linked to external interests, and outsider-generated managerial solutions. In addition, in identifying a particular crisis at the nexus, a space for appropriation is opened up, often linked to a partial enclosure of previously shared, regional commons (a form of 'green grabbing'). Investment imperatives linked to notions of food, energy, or water 'security' drive such appropriations by the private sector, supported by national political interests. As Jayanta Bandyopadhyay, formerly Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (IIMC), Kolkata, pointed out such a politics of knowledge has dominated by investment intervention and engineering design results in formerly public goods being captured and sold, resulting in an adaptation of a popular saying: "Rivers should flow uninterrupted, but only through my tunnels".
As Dipak Gyawali, Nepal Academy of Science and Technology, former Minister of Water Resources, Nepal, pointed out this has resulted in a contested regional politics between 'landlord' countries and the 'battery' countries that supply the water. As he observed: "Age old questions are coming back to haunt us. Issues of security are being recast". Whose security are we talking about? What is the most effective locus for resource governance? How do can multiple uses and users be accommodated? What institutions can respond? Is a river a source of energy for hydropower, food through fisheries or water for domestic use and agricultural irrigation? And who is responsible and accountable?
The challenge, as Dipak pointed out, is that each of the potential multiple institutions involved come with their own framings, different definitions of the problem, and particular histories and proclivities. There is, it was argued, a need for space for different providers to provide diverse options, and for negotiation between them across different groups. “The imagination of plural pathways can only become a reality if a diversity of users and their practices are involved”, as Lawrence Surendra, University of Mysore, observed. “Plural pathways and clumsy solutions” are needed, the panel contributors argued. Only a diversity of responses – “many ten percent solutions” – can, Dipak argued, can create pathways to sustainability more effectively and securely.

Source: http://steps-centre.org/2014/blog/stepsjnu_securitisation/
Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/23190361@N08/sets/72157640812155224/

STEPS-JNU Symposium: Every case is its own study? Every movement has its own goals?

STEPS-JNU Symposium: Every case is its own study? Every movement has its own goals?
By Adrian Smith, Researcher, STEPS Centre / SPRU
Posted on 11 February 2014
Learning with and across diverse grassroots innovation movements

Here in Delhi, first at the Grassroots Innovation Movements Workshop, and then at the STEPS-JNU Symposium, participants were interested in the commitments and positions taken in STEPS Centre research projects. Our project on Grassroots Innovation Movements in Historical and Comparative Perspectives is investigating six grassroots innovation movements whose diverse histories arise in very different geographies, and whose activities, participants and sectors are similarly varied:
- Honey Bee Network in India  - Peoples Science Movement in India  - Social Technology Network / Technologies for Social Inclusion in South America  - Appropriate Technology Movement in South America  - Movement for Socially Useful Production in the UK  - Grassroots Digital Fabrication in Europe.
Not only does this raise questions about research methodology, but also what the project expects to achieve practically in engaging with these movements. At root, this is a question of motivations for the research: why study such a collection of disparate movements? I tried providing my own, personal answers to this question when introducing both the workshop and the session on grassroots innovation at the symposium.
My answer had three aspects to it: each engaging with different communities. The first relates to activists and practitioners. The second relates to the research community. And the third aspect relates to the world of policy-making.
At any time, in many places around the world, if we look carefully enough we can find networks of activists and communities generating bottom up solutions to the challenges, opportunities and aspirations for development as they view it. Ingenious grassroots activity produces a variety of innovations, and which activists, engineers, scientists, and others (including investors and entrepreneurs) sometimes try to develop further and help scale-up and spread in some form. This activity can involve improvisation as well as knowledge, and both of which can be elusive for formalisation and dissemination. Conversely, activists concerned for the problems of often marginal or disadvantaged communities, and overlooked by many innovation institutions, try to bring science, engineering, and project development into dialogue with the grassroots, and to develop solutions in which communities are empowered to shape the design and execution of projects that make use of appropriate innovations (even if they did not originate within the particular grassroots setting).
What we see repeatedly over time is participants in these varied grassroots innovation initiatives looking to those involved in similar activities elsewhere. Networks are formed, experiences shared, reflections are made, and discourses and practices emerge around how to help deepen and spread this mix of grassroots innovation activity and grassroots activism making use of innovations. We call these developments grassroots innovation movements.
The first aspect to our research motivation is to engage with these movement processes, and to try and contribute to the dialogues involved by making connections with other movements elsewhere. Even where movements appear to have little in common at face value, such as the Honey Bee Network in India today and the movement for socially useful production in the UK in the 1970s, bringing them together and contrasting them can still have its uses. Looking carefully at a contrasting case can help activists step outside their day to day activity, and in thinking about grassroots innovation experiences in very different times and places, reflection can help reveal, recast, and rethink the processes they are engaged in, and which daily pressures may obscure. Just as foreign travel can enrich how we think about our home countries, so we hope dialogue between contrasting grassroots movements will enrich the reflections of activists in each. Contact such as these may even help processes of international solidarity. As we’ll see below, policy for inclusive innovation has an international dimension, and so it might make sense for movements to engage internationally too.
The second aspect to our research motivation relates to how we study these movements, and how we engage others in our analysis. There exists already considerable research into grassroots movements. However, much of this research attends to either protest movements, movements for rights, or movements for cultural identification. Studies of grassroots movements that innovate, and that are doing alternative development, are fewer. Some exist, such as the work of David Hess. But few have looked across a diversity of grassroots innovation movements in the way we are trying in our project. Elsewhere, we have also argued how the field of innovation studies gives insufficient attention to the particularities of grassroots innovation. Innovation studies have tended to focus on systems of innovation based around firms, markets and research institutes, and if they turn to questions of alternative innovation, then they tend to apply the same conceptual apparatus developed for market-oriented settings. So a second motivation for the project is to contribute an empirically-grounded, theoretically-informed understanding of grassroots movements involved in innovative solutions for alternative developments.
The third and final motivation for our project is to engage with renewed policy interest in grassroots innovation. The activities of grassroots innovation movements are attracting attention in the context of elite policy interest in inclusive innovation. The OECD and other international bodies are interested in inclusive innovation. They are conducting studies and developing programmes. A common feature for the discussions is the search for models of inclusive innovation, and how to scale-up the use of these models. Understandably, these discussions often draw on conventional innovation terms and concepts familiar to these organisations. So, for example, grassroots innovation is seen in terms of the development of innovative devices, which can be developed into products through processes for cultivating entrepreneurship and marketing. These approaches do make sense to some in grassroots innovation movements. But they do not make sense for all participants. Terms like inclusion, scaling-up, and even innovation itself, need to be interrogated in the context of grassroots attempts to democratise innovations for alternative modes of production and consumption.
There is much more to grassroots innovation than an overlooked reservoir of appropriable ideas and devices, open for selection, inclusion, and commercialisation. Grassroots innovation movements are also about mobilisation around different visions for development and alternative ways of innovating. In the process of developing solutions for alternative development problem frames, grassroots innovation movements generate new subjectivities, discourses, agendas, and visions for innovation in development, and not just devices, capabilities, and infrastructure. Some grassroots innovators become protagonists in a different kind of development. Some even present alternative innovation as a tool to resist being included, or subsumed as they might term it, into conventional innovation agendas. This is a position that asserts a right to innovation in a way that poses discomfiting challenges to the fundamental notions held by elite innovation institutions. It is a position that speaks to knowledge politics and relations of political and economic power. It is a position we were reminded about in the discussions in our workshop and Symposium in Delhi. It is important to pressure policy-makers also to recognise this more radical and transformational aspect in grassroots innovation movement.

Source: http://steps-centre.org/2014/blog/stepsjnu_grassroots_smith/

Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/23190361@N08/sets/72157640812155224/

The Hindu article "Paralysis in science policies" by V. V. Krishna

Paralysis in science policies
V. V. Krishna
The Hindu, February 7, 2014
Neglect of research in higher education has led to very low research intensity. Ninety per cent of our universities end up as teaching institutes where research is given a low priority for lack of funds

In the last few years, the government has announced a number of policies in science and technology which include bills on patents, specialised innovation universities and regulatory measures. These are supposed to power India’s growth engine via science and technology and, at the same time, enable the country to keep pace with the comity of nations. Unfortunately, the Manmohan Singh government’s policy paralysis is not just confined to the social and economic sectors, but also manifests itself quite prominently across various segments of science and technology institutions including research in universities. The failure of the government in this area stems from poor governance mechanisms, as from low priority accorded to science and technology in the overall budget.

Falling behind R&D
Ever since the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) came to power, Dr. Singh has promised to increase the gross domestic expenditure on research and development (GERD). He committed two per cent of GDP and reiterated it every year since 2007 at the annual session of the Indian Science Congress Association (ISCA). In the last nine years, Indian GERD to GDP either stagnated at 0.9 per cent or even relatively declined adjusted to inflation; 58 per cent of GERD is consumed by the strategic sectors (atomic energy, defence and space research) and about 29 per cent is met by the private sector. So, what is left for civilian R&D, spanning a dozen or so science agencies, is rather pathetic. Look at what is happening in Asia! The Chinese GERD witnessed a dramatic increase from one per cent to 1.84 per cent of GDP in the last decade. In 2012, Japan spent 3.26 per cent, South Korea 3.74 per cent, and Singapore 2.8 per cent. After a decade, the government announced a new Science, Technology and Innovation Policy 2013 or STIP 2013. The scientific community and the nation were left disappointed as the government had failed to fulfil its earlier commitment. There has been no commitment to increase public R&D. The government will only match the private R&D investment to bring it to the level of two per cent of GDP. When is this going to happen?

Realistic goals?
The new policy envisages “positioning India among the top five global scientific powers by 2020,” increasing the number of full-time research and development personnel by two-thirds within five years, and increasing publications from the current 3.5 per cent of global share to around seven per cent by 2020. Not only this, the policy aims at increasing the publication record in the world’s top one per cent of journals fourfold. India has already fallen behind China and emerging economies on these indicators. For instance, India produced three times the science output of China in the 1990s with a comparable GERD. Today, China has overtaken India by more than three times. It is the same in the case of patents. Why have we fallen behind so much? This is not unrelated to massive R&D investments by China in the last decade. The continuing policy paralysis in science and technology is visible across various segments of S&T. Even after the Fukushima disaster, Dr. Singh has been relentlessly batting for new nuclear plants costing several billions of dollars in the coming decade. The newly inaugurated plant complex at Gorakhpur, Haryana, is estimated at Rs.23,502 crore. According to research studies, just 25 per cent of the future nuclear budget for renewable energy sources (wind, solar, biomass etc) will generate almost double the energy planned in a more sustainable manner. Ninety per cent of water in India is consumed by agriculture, yet we have no inclusive energy-water policy. The list runs across several sub-sectors. Let us look at two of them.
R&D in higher education has been the prime victim of policy paralysis. There are over 600 universities and 30,000 colleges with a GERD of around 18. Though universities contributed 52 per cent of the total national research publication output in the last decade, they were allocated a dismal 4.1 per cent of GERD. In fact, this has been the case for six decades since independence. Universities in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) 25 countries accounted for 20 per cent and Japanese universities accounted for around 15 per cent of GERD in the last decade. Even Chinese universities increased their share of GERD from five per cent in the 1990s to 12 per cent currently. The neglect of research in higher education has led to very low research intensity; 90 per cent of our universities end up as teaching institutes where research is given a low priority for lack of funds. Policy measures to increase research intensity in universities and nurture them to attain world-class standards in China, South Korea, Singapore and Japan were a part of their respective national innovation strategies since the 1990s. Such policies enabled two to six universities in these countries to be listed in the World’s Top 100 University Rankings in recent years. India could not register even one. Just four to five universities figure in the list of 400 or 500. STIP 2013 is silent on strengthening research in higher education. Ninety per cent of the National Knowledge Commission’s recommendations remain unimplemented as much as the proposal to create 14 innovation universities. Until the higher education sector is given its due importance in the national innovation system and allocated at least 10 per cent of GERD, it will continue to remain sub-critical at the national level and we will fall behind our Asian neighbours.

Innovation
After the President of India declared 2010–2020 the “Decade of Innovation,” STIP 2013 proposed new schemes such as the “Risky Idea Fund” and “Small Idea Small Money.” The government launched the India Inclusive Innovation Fund (IIIF) under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model, with the government chipping in with just two per cent of the budget. But private partners have hardly evinced any enthusiasm to invest in this scheme. Is the government serious? The policy paralysis in science and technology innovation can be seen from the dismal amount of money allocated to a dozen innovation schemes under the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR). Out of the total budget of Rs.2,998 crore given to the DSIR in 2011, only Rs.155 crore went to innovation schemes. And, of the Rs.2,349 crore given to the DST in 2012, only Rs.57 crore went to innovation schemes.
With 90 per cent of Indian labour in the informal sector and faced with dwindling fortunes of rural agricultural activity, millions will migrate from the rural to urban areas in the coming decade. The UPA government launched a number of schemes such as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme; Bharat Nirman; Indira Awaas Yojna; Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission; Health Mission, among others. Besides problems underlying their governance and implementation, which are well known, they lack an institutional framework to infuse employment potential with skills, training and grass-root innovation. There is hardly any serious policy perspective or thinking to create institutional avenues for vocational training to infuse skills to labour in the informal sector. There are about 7,500 Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) with the overall intake capacity of 75,000. With the growing demand for technicians and an expanding informal sector, one can imagine the task ahead. Long-term solutions to problems here are so complex and are becoming even more interconnected. We have so far failed to evolve any strategy to connect with these schemes at the “bottom of the pyramid.” IIIF is a good scheme if it gets off the ground with a full budget. In any case, such schemes managed by corporate fund managers are relevant more at the “middle of the pyramid” and not the “bottom.” We urgently need to build and strengthen intermediary institutions to forge linkages between formal and informal institutional structures. It is time the government wakes up to addressing the impending S&T policy paralysis before it is too late.

(V.V. Krishna is professor in science policy, Centre for Studies in Science Policy, School of Social Sciences, JNU, Delhi.)

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/paralysis-in-science-policies/article5661263.ece

Commonwealth Summer School 2014: Global Food Security: Can We Feed a Growing World? 17-24 August 2014; Malaysia

Commonwealth Summer School 2014: The Fourth ACU Commonwealth Summer School
Theme:: Global Food Security: Can We Feed a Growing World?
Sunday 17 - Sunday 24 August 2014
University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus, Semenyih, Malaysia

The Commonwealth Summer School was instigated by the ACU in 2011. It aims to provide a forum to bring together high quality students from every corner of the Commonwealth to discuss interdisciplinary issues of global importance.
A key element of the School is its desire to mix local/regional students with those who may have never  had the opportunity to leave their own regions.
The inaugural School was held at the University of Buea, Cameroon, in July 2011 followed by the 2012 School hosted by the University of Botswana and in 2013, the ACU hosted the School in United Kingdom to coincide with the our Centenary.

About Theme
The world’s population is predicted to hit 9 billion by 2050, and the UN estimates that food production will have to increase by 70% to meet the growth in demand. Issues pertaining to feeding the world’s ever expanding population will be at the heart of the 4th annual ACU Commonwealth Summer School’s programme, designed to take a multidisciplinary look at one of the major issues of our time.
Top speakers and facilitators will help to frame the key issues and challenges allowing participants to learn, interact and work across countries, regions and disciplines to build international research connections.
Participants will journey through various aspects of food production, looking closely at distribution, environmental management, migration, biotechnology, farm management, supply chains, nutrition and health policy in the process.
Delegates will have the opportunity to observe the reality of food management, experience first-hand the food and supply chain, and immerse themselves in the challenges of food production. Through a series of workshops, group work and field-based learning, we will look at how food gets from farm to fork.

Who can attend?
Applicants should be engaged in a course of study at an ACU member university; but applications may be made by applicants from non-member Commonwealth universities. At the time of application, he/she must either be studying for a postgraduate degree (full- or part- time) or in the final year of an undergraduate degree, with the expectation of moving to postgraduate study on completion.
Priority will be given to students from member institutions who have not had the opportunity to travel outside their home region. Bursaries available.

Application Form: https://www.acu.ac.uk/news-events/events/commonwealth-summer-school-2014/application/
PLEASE NOTE: Applications should be received by 11 April 2014. Applications received after the closing date will not be considered. Successful applicants will be notified by end May 2014.

Further Details: https://www.acu.ac.uk/news-events/events/commonwealth-summer-school-2014/

SEMINAR Magazine #654: Theme: State of Science: a symposium on the relationship between science, knowledge and democracy

SEMINAR #654

February 2014

State of Science: a symposium on the relationship between science, knowledge and democracy

 

• The Problem/ posed by Dhruv Raina, Zakir Husain Centre for Educational Studies, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi
• Science, Nationalism and the State/ Benjamin Zachariah, Karl Jaspers Centre for Advanced Transcultural Studies, University of Heidlherg
• The Public Life of Expertise/ Shiju Sam Varughese, Centre for Studies in Science, Technology and Innovation Policy, School of Social Sciences, Central University of Gujarat, Gandhinagar
• Science, State and the Public/ Biswanath Dash, Jamsetji Tata Centre for Disaster Management, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai
• The Realm of Commodified Technoscience/ Sambit Mallick, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati
• Knowledge and Practice/ Milind Sohoni, Centre for Technology Alternatives for Rural Areas, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay
• Technology for Rural Industrialization/ D. Raghunandan, Centre for Technology and Development, Delhi and Dehradun
• Revisiting Science's Social Contract/ C. Shambu Prasad, Professor, Rural Management and Development, Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar
• Shifting Patterns of Research Funding/ Saumen Chattopadhyay, Zakir Husain Centre for Educational Studies, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi
• Beyond Supply Driven Science/ Rajeswari S. Raina, National Institute of Science Technology and Development Studies, Delhi
• Books Reviewed by Om Prasad and A.R. Vasavi
• Further Reading :: A select and relevant bibliography compiled by Shiju Sam Varughese, Central University of Gujarat, Gandhinager

http://www.india-seminar.com/semframe.html

 

Also available at your nearest magazine stalls.

7th CMS VATAVARAN: International Environment & Wildlife Film Festival and Forum

7th CMS VATAVARAN: International Environment & Wildlife Film Festival and Forum

The 7th edition of CMS VATAVARAN: International Environment & Wildlife Film Festival and Forum will be held at Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) Lawns (Near India Gate)from (Thursday - Monday) Jan 30 - Feb 03, 2014. The 2014 theme is mainstreaming biodiversity conservation at different levels to promote living in harmony with nature. For more information visit www.cmsvatavaran.org

This year a kaleidoscope of films (more than 100), seminars, workshops, open forums, contemporary discourses, exhibitions, musical nites, film store, organic green haat, organic food festival and eco-trips will be organised for sustained impact and promoting environment sensitivity at scale. The footfall is expected to be more than one lakh people, over five days.

Festival Highlights include:

• 150 Nominated Films
• 70 Eminent Speakers
• 48 Thematic Sessions
• 20 Best of World’s
• Biodiversity Cinema
• 5 Thematic Lawns
• 5 days of Biodiversity Gala
• 1 Platform
• Music Festival
• Organic Food Festival
• Organic Green Haat
• Open Stage
• Exhibitions

Celebrate diversity in nature in Asia’s largest film festival and forum on environment and wildlife – online registration is now open -  www.cmsvatavaran.org

Venue: IGNCA Lawns at C V Mess, Janpath, 3, R P Road and 11 Mansingh Road

Time:

• Film Screenings and Sessions: 11:00 a.m.- 06:00 p.m.
•  Music Festival: 07:00 p.m.- 09:00 p.m.
•  Organic Food Festival: 11:30 a.m. onwards
•  Organic Green Haat: 11:30 a.m. onwards

Details on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CmsVatavaran2014EnvironmentWildlifeFilmFestival

Applications invited for 2014 Human Development Fellowships

2014 Human Development Fellowships

The application process for the 2014 IC4HD Human Development (HD) Fellowship is now open!

The IC4HD 2014 Human Development Fellowships support three month/six month/nine month programmes which do not involve empirical work with data collection and fieldwork during the fellowship period. The research supported under the 2014 fellowship programme must focus on a well-defined aspect of human development under the theme of Social Security in the Global South.

The IC4HD Human Development Fellowships aim to encourage mid-career professionals (academics, civil servants, and civil society practitioners) to analyze critical development issues from the human development perspective. This contributes to development theory, and identification of applications and policies that put people at the centre of development debates.

The objectives of the IC4HD HD Fellowships are to:

• Support innovative analytical work on a particular theme, which is selected every year, from the human development perspective
• Identify actionable goals that could be prioritized in development initiatives in countries in the South based on the existing evidence and analysis
• Promote South-South learning and sharing of expertise and experiences
• Promote a network of experts who can identify innovative options for policy measures in the global South

This is a residential fellowship offered at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS), Shimla, India. As the Indian Institute of Advanced Study organizes several national level seminars every year, on themes of pressing contemporary relevance as well as of fundamental theoretical significance, the fellowship provides the opportunity to interact with several scholars.

Fellows must have relevant work experience of about 10-12 years, and be nationals of countries from selected countries of the Global South (please refer to the brochure for the list of selected countries).

For more information on the fellowships and on how to apply, please view/download the brochure.

The application form can be downloaded here.

Incomplete applications will not be processed. Candidates should submit their complete applications by 15 February 2014 to: hdfellowships@ic4hd.org

Rajya Sabha Secretariat invites applications for Dr. S. Radhakrishnan Chair and Rajya Sabha Fellowships

Rajya Sabha Secretariat, Parliament of India, New Delhi invites applications for Dr. S. Radhakrishnan Chair and Rajya Sabha Fellowships

Dr. S. Radhakrishnan Chair
Applications are invited for Dr. S. Radhakrishnan Chair from eminent scholars who have proven record of scholarship and publications. This prestigious Chair has been established in the name of the first Vice-President of India and Chairman, Rajya Sabha for conducting an indepth inquiry and research on different aspects of parliamentary democracy in India. The proposals received shall be placed before the Search & Advisory Committee (SAC) which will recommend a panel of the names to the Hon'ble Chairman, Rajya Sabha. The SAC may also suggest on its own name(s) of eminent scholars for the Chair. The tenure of the Chair will be two years. The Chair will be required to get the research output published in the form of a book. The research grant for the Chair is Rs. 14 lakh and a contingency amount of Rs. 2 lakh for the entire period to be paid in instalments. The person selected, if already employed, will be required to produce a 'No Objection Certificate' from his/her institution for taking up the assignment. The detailed terms and conditions for the Chair and the Application Form are available on the Rajya Sabha website: http://rajyasabha.nic.in/rsnew/fellowship/main.htm.
Applications may be sent to Shri S. D. Nautiyal, Director, Rajya Sabha Secretariat, Room No. 147, Parliament House Annexe, New Delhi - 110001 on or before February 28, 2014. Applications can also be forwarded through email at sd.nautiyal@sansad.nic.in.


Rajya Sabha Fellowships
Applications are invited for two Rajya Sabha Fellowships on Parliamentary Studies from academics with aptitude for conducting an indepth inquiry and research on different aspects of parliamentary democracy in India. The proposals received shall be placed before the Search & Advisory Committee (SAC) which will recommend a panel of the names to the Hon'ble Chairman, Rajya Sabha. The SAC may also suggest on its own name(s) of scholars for the Fellowships. The tenure of the Fellowships will be one year. The Fellows will be required to get the research output published in the form of a book/monograph. The Fellowship grant is Rs. 3 lakh to be paid in instalments. The person selected, if already employed, will be required to produce a 'No Objection Certificate' from his/her institution for taking up the assignment. The detailed terms and conditions for the Fellowships and the Application Form are available on the Rajya Sabha website: http://rajyasabha.nic.in/rsnew/fellowship/main.htm.
Applications may kindly be sent to Shri S.D. Nautiyal, Director, Rajya Sabha Secretariat, Room No. 147, Parliament House Annexe, New Delhi - 110001 on or before February 28, 2014. Applications can also be forwarded through email at sd.nautiyal@sansad.nic.in.

Further Details: http://rajyasabha.nic.in/rsnew/fellowship/main.htm

CfP: Summer School Programme for Future Leaders in Development; May 31- July 11, at IIM Udaipur

Summer School Programme for Future Leaders in Development: A learning event for Development Students and Practitioners
May 31- July 11, 2014, Udaipur, India
Organizers: Indian Institute of Management, Udaipur; Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University, USA

IIM Udaipur and the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University are pleased to invite applications for the 2014 edition of the Summer School Program for Future Leaders in Development. This program is a six-week signature academic workshop sponsored by the Center for Development Management, Indian Institute of Management, Udaipur and the Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University, USA. It brings together a select gathering of students and practitioners of development drawn from Duke University, prestigious Indian universities, non-profit organizations and social enterprises. Aimed at students and NGO professionals seeking careers in the academic field and practice areas of development and related sectors, the summer school program imparts theoretical perspectives, research skills and empirical tools for young development leaders who are engaged in or getting ready to apply themselves to contemporary socio-political challenges.
The program provides a unique opportunity for students to work and interact with globally reputed faculty (including academics and practitioners) through a combination of coursework that includes lectures, discussions, direct field investigations and project work that aims to help in transforming the lives of some of the poorest people in the world. The curriculum will be of particular significance to young development leaders who are engaged in, or getting ready to apply themselves to contemporary socio-political challenges. Some of the themes included in the curriculum program are as follows:

•     Concepts and theories of Development
•     Investigative research methods
•     Thematic modules on health, education, livelihoods
•     Professional development through grant writing and data presentation skills

To encourage peer-learning and project development, students will be placed in a three-person team that will include one student each from an Indian University, an early career staff member from a non-governmental organization (NGO) and Duke University. Teams will spend considerable time in rural areas as hosts of an NGO in order to identify and assess existing gaps in community needs. Through this experience, they will employ academic learning from the classroom for transforming real-life.
The program is fully residential. Students will stay in IIMU dorms while classes are in session. Host NGO's will arrange home stays during field visits. Selected participants will receive a full scholarship to attend the program and cover program costs, although they will have to arrange for their own travel to and fro from Udaipur.

Program Structure: In the six-week program, each student will be part of a three-person team that includes a student from Duke university, a student from an Indian University and an early career staff member from an Indian non-governmental organization (NGO). Each team will be assigned to a regional NGO and will produce for the host NGO a detailed project proposal, including a needs appraisal, an implementation plan, budget and cost-benefit analysis, which the NGO may present to a potential funder. A considerable amount of time will be spent living in rural villages or urban slums served by the host NGO, where the student team will be required to identify gaps in existing responses to community needs and develop plans for responding to them. The curriculum will be of particular significance to young development leaders who are engaged in, or getting ready to apply themselves to con-temporary socio-political challenges.

Why Apply?

• Use classroom knowledge first-hand in implementing your project proposal in the field.
• Collaborate with the sharpest young minds who will be leaders in development tomorrow.
• Further your professional development through interactions and lectures by NGO and governmental officials

Admissions/ Eligibility Criteria

• For applicants from Indian universities and colleges: Mandatory: Master's Degree (or) must have appeared for final exam of final year of degree; Preferred but not required: Work Experience.
• For applicants from NGOs and Social Enterprise Professionals: Mandatory: Bachelor's Degree (and): Work Experience – 5 Years; Preferred but not required: Master's degree

Selection procedure: Online Application form, Statement of Purpose, Telephonic Interview

Costs: All selected students will get a full scholarship that covers program costs, Accommodation and Boarding charges.

Curriculum
Students will earn a Certificate from IIM Udaipur. Course Modules include:

• Concepts and Theories of Development
• Investigative Tools and Methods
• Managing Development
• Thematic Modules
• Professional Skills
• Three weeks of collaborative field investigation

Housing: Students will live in IIM Udaipur student hostels while taking classes in Udaipur. While in field locations they, along with other members of their study team, will live with host families

Some Participating NGOs: Aajeevika-National Rural Livelihoods Mission; Action Research and Training for Health; Foundation for Ecological Security; Seva Mandir; Vidya Bhawan; Many more that focus on child labor, agriculture, and women's rights.

Contact Information: You may send in your queries to cdmadmissions@iimu.ac.in

Further Details: http://iimu.ac.in/programs/summer-school.html

CfPs: 11th ASIALICS International Conference; 25-27 September; at DGIST at Daegu, Korea

11^th ASIALICS International Conference

 25-27 September 2014

at DGIST at Daegu, Korea

 

About ASIALICS

Asian Association of Learning, Innovation, and Co-evolution Studies (ASIALICS) is an association among scholars, practitioners and policymakers who are interested in a learning, innovation and competence building system in Asia. It has a cooperative relationship with the Global Network for the Economics of Learning, Innovation, and Competence Building Systems (GLOBELICS). ASIALICS aims to explore and develop the concept of learning, innovation and competence building as an analytical framework. The objective of ASIALICS is to stimulate the establishment of knowledge based strategies for economic development in Asia. The idea is to bring together interesting issues about what is going on in Asian countries and companies and to share experiences regarding methodology, analytical results and policies.

Asia has been a serious player not only in science, technology and innovation but also in linking different cultures of the world. This is in line with the ongoing Asia-wide cooperation schemes that emphasize knowledge and experiences sharing and joint efforts to promote knowledge-based and learning economies such as ASEAN Plus Three (Japan, China, and South Korea), ASEAN-Japan Free Trade Area, and Asian Cooperation Dialogue (ACD). To achieve this aspiration, a group of Asian scholars from Thailand, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, China and Vietnam with strong support from GLOBELICS held the first international conference on Asian innovation systems in Bangkok on April 2004. About 150 professionals who participated in the seminar agreed to organize the ASIALICS conference annually, publish a journal and book in Asian innovation system and clusters, and explore possibilities of joint research and training in this field.

 

 

Paper Submissions

 

Important Dates

Deadline for paper submission                          01 Mar 2014

Notification of paper acceptance                       01 May 2014  

Deadline for discounted registration                   01 Jun 2014    

Deadline for final version submission                  01 Aug 2014   

 

Conference Themes

The contemporary economies of many countries have tendencies for slow growth, and this gives rise to fears of a global economic slump. Consecutive periods of low economic growth, as well as economic growth without job creation, inevitably generates many social problems such as the rise of unemployment, greater polarization between the rich and the poor, the widening of the income gap, decreases in quality of life, and more. Many governments have sought solutions to shift their economies toward more sustainable growth. It has been frequently stated in Korea that the promotion of a creative economy might be a solution to cure the current problems of slow growth in the economy. A creative economy is defined by the convergence of science and technology with industry, the fusion of culture with industry, and the blossoming of creativity in the border regions that were once permeated by barriers.

Sub-themes

A number of sub-themes have been identified for the conference, including:

Nature of creative economy and related policies

Innovation mechanisms through convergence to grow creative economies

Innovation of science and technology through convergence

National innovation systems and technological convergence

Sectoral innovation systems and technological convergence

Regional innovation systems and technological convergence

Innovation clusters and technological convergence

Corporate innovation systems and technological convergence

Cultural analysis of science and technology convergence

Humanities and social science approaches to convergence

Management of innovation for science and technology convergence

Government policies to promote innovation and convergence

Other practices of innovation and convergence (user innovation, open innovation, service innovation, etc.)

Large data analysis of innovation activities

Other issues in creative economies and convergence

Further Details: http://www.asialics.or.kr

CfPs: 12TH GLOBELICS International Conference "Partnerships for Innovation-Based Development"; 29-31 October, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

12TH GLOBELICS International Conference

Theme: Partnerships for Innovation-Based Development

29-31 October 2014, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Organised by: Globelics, Addis Ababa University, Adama Science and Technology University

 

About

The 12th Globelics International Conference will be hosted by Addis Ababa University and Adama Science and Technology University and held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Like previous Globelics Conferences, this conference intends to bring together scholars from different disciplines to enhance the quality of innovation studies in relation to development and growth in the context of globalization and accelerating pace of change. The conference will combine presentation of research papers in parallel tracks with panel discussions and plenary lectures.

This year's key note lectures will be given by the world leading scholars on innovation and development, Martin Bell (the 2014 Freeman Lecture) and Calestous Juma (the 2014 Globelics Lecture).

 

Paper Submissions

We invite submission of original unpublished full papers for the conference. Submission of full paper (in PDF) not exceeding 12,000 words (including notes, tables, appendices, list of references, etc.) should be made via the online submission form available at the conference website http://2014.globelics.org. We especially encourage the participation of young researchers. The selection of the papers will be based on a peer review process. Globelics reserves the right to use available software to control for plagiarism and to take appropriate action in severe cases.

 

Travel Support

Application for travel support is open from 2 June 2014 up to and including 22 June 2014. Scholars from developing countries with accepted papers to the Globelics Conference can apply for travel support from the Globelics Secretariat to attend the conference.

 

Important Dates

Deadline for submission of papers 23 April 2014

Acceptance notification 2 June 2014

Deadline for application for travel support 22 June 2014

Response to applicants for travel support 4 July 2014

Conference registration 2 June – 30 August 2014

Last date for upload of final version of paper 22 September 2014

 

Conference Themes

The 12th Globelics International Conference will give attention to a wide set of themes covering important aspects linking innovation and competence-building to development. The location of the conference in Africa and Ethiopia will be reflected in the list of themes. Special attention will be given to public-private partnerships, including University-Industry relationships. This call thus invites papers addressing one or more of the following themes:

1. Public-private partnerships for innovation-based development

2. University-Industry relationships and the promotion of learning, innovation, and competence building systems

3. Overcoming raw material curse through new manufacturing and service activities

4. National strategies to stimulate spill overs from BRIC-presence in Africa.

5. Indigenous knowledge, informal sector, innovation and development.

6. Work organization, education and economic development

7. Inclusive innovation, gender and development

8. Science, technology and innovation policy and politics

9. Innovation, sustainable development and energy in the South

10. Financial institutions, intellectual property rights, innovation and development.

11. National and regional innovation systems

12. Sectoral innovation systems, industrial policy and development

13. Trade, FDI, value chains and innovation networks

14. Innovation, growth and catching-up

15. Innovation management, organizational learning innovation and development

 

Further Details: http://2014.globelics.org/

ISID-PHFI National Workshop-cum-Conference on Pharmaceutical Policies in India: Balancing Industrial and Public Health Interests; 3-7 March; New Delhi

National Workshop-cum-Conference on Pharmaceutical Policies in India: Balancing Industrial and Public Health Interests

3-7 March 2014

Venue: Institute for Studies in Industrial Development (ISID), New Delhi

 

The Institute for Studies in Industrial Development (ISID) and Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) will co-host this five day workshop-cum-conference. It includes several plenary and technical sessions with a focus on industrial policy-health interface. Several national experts, policy makers, civil society groups, academia and media would participate in the five day deliberations. The workshop-cum-conference is expected to deliberate and discuss the ways and means of strengthening the pharmaceutical policies in India and the key challenges it faces.

The three day workshop followed by two day conference is expected to be held during 3-7th March, 2014, at the Conference Hall, ISID Compus, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi. The three day workshop will feature six expert presentations in the forenoon sessions while the post-lunch sessions are likely to be set aside for hands-on training in evidence gathering and data crunching in the area of pharmaceuticals. The hands-on training is intended to address current technical-deficit in the area of pharmaceutical policy landscape and equip research scholars and civil society members to intervene effectively in the policy arena. The two-day conference will feature 32 invited presentations by experts from policy-makers, civil society, academia, and industry leaders. The conference objective is to bring various stake-holders in the area of pharmaceuticals to debate and address current policy concerns.

Some of the broad themes of the workshop-cum-conference would include:

i) Access to medicines: Policies and institutions for availability, rationality, quality and affordability including medicines pricing;

ii) Local production of drugs and pharmaceuticals;

iii) Promotion and marketing of medicines;

iv) R&D, innovation and intellectual property rights; and

v) Investment in drugs and pharmaceuticals. 

Specific issues underlying these themes are expected to focus on the implications for both industrial development and access to essential medicines.

Participants of the workshop-cum-conference will be selected based on the qualifications, experience and interest in the area of public health and pharmaceuticals and on first-come-first-served basis. Research scholars pursuing M.Phil. and Ph.D. in various disciplines in universities/research institutions and mid-level professionals in civil society organizations are encouraged to apply. Participants whose applications are accepted for workshop-cum-conference, the host will make efforts to financially support economically challenged participants for their travel, boarding and lodging. 

The final date of application submission is February 10, 2014. The application should be submitted via email to conference.isid@gmail.com. 

For more information please visit http://www.isid.org.in/workshop.html for downloading application form. Those who wish to participate only in the conference can intimate us so in the application.

Further Details: http://www.isid.org.in/workshop.html

Conference cum Workshop on Development with Dignity: Issues and Challenges; at SRCC, 28-30 March

Conference cum Workshop on Development with Dignity: Issues and Challenges
Shri Ram College of Commerce (University of Delhi)
28-30 March 2014

Researchers/teachers/students are invited to present papers, organize/participate in its annual conference cum workshop.
This conference cum workshop seeks to address the problems of structural imbalances associated with the current growth regime in India, and consequently, its sustainability. While admitting that these different aspects are part of a larger story of imbalanced growth, feeding on each other, it will focus on the following aspects:
1. Sectoral imbalance, 2. Income and wealth imbalance, 3. Ecological imbalance, 4. Technological imbalance, 5. Labour and work force imbalance, 6. Inflationary imbalance, 7. Balance of payment imbalance, 8. Academic imbalance, 9. Political imbalance.

The papers should focus on analytics of linkages of overall growth dynamics with one or more of the above mentioned structural imbalances, possibly with some description of the same. The list above is indicative and not exhaustive.
Scholars are encouraged to explore beyond what is mentioned here. Please send an abstract of your paper/brief proposal of workshop by 10th of February 2014. Selection of the received papers will be subject to screening by a selection committee. The authors of the selected papers and the participants of workshops coming from Indian destination will be provided T.A. and free accommodation as per the UGC norms.
A few selected participants from universities abroad may also be provided with travel expenses. The final submission of full paper/detailed design of the workshop should be done by 10th March, 2014.
For more information and to look at a detailed conference note, please look at the college web site: www.srcc.edu
Email your papers/proposals/questions: conf.srcc2014@gmail.com
Contact the organizer: Rakesh Ranjan (phone +91 9868500456)

National Workshop on Research Methodology for Social Sciences, at GIDR, Ahmedabad, 25 February- 06 March

National Workshop on Research Methodology for Social Sciences

Gujarat Institute of Development Research

Ahmedabad

February 25 - March 06, 2014

 

The Gujarat Institute of Development Research (GIDR) shall hold a National Workshop on Research Methodology for Social Sciences (NW-RMSS) during February 25 - March 06, 2014, sponsored by the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), New Delhi.

 

The workshop aims at orienting young researchers in social sciences (such as Economics, Political Science and Sociology) to both quantitative and qualitative methods of research analysis.  A special module on research writing and publishing will be a distinct feature of the workshop.

 

Pedagogy  

In addition to the interactive classroom lectures the participants will be introduced to the use of selected statistical packages.  They will also have the opportunity to present their research and interact closely with the faculty of the Institute and the invited experts.

 

Eligibility Criteria

Young researchers and teachers affiliated to colleges, universities or research organisations and those pursuing or preparing for their PhD or MPhil courses are eligible to apply.  A limited number of applications from young researchers working as consultants, activists and NGO functionaries may also be considered. 

 

How to Apply

The applicants are expected to submit the application form, recent curriculum vitae and a write-up (maximum 200 words) on what they would expect out of the workshop.

 

Travel and Lodging

The Institute shall provide free lodging and boarding facilities and partial travel assistance to the selected participants.

Email submissions should be made to workshop.2014@gidr.ac.in. The last date of submission of application is January 25, 2014.  Successful applicants will be intimated by January 30, 2014.  

 

The applications shall be sent to:

Dr. Tara Nair 

Coordinator

NW-RMSS

Gujarat Institute of Development Research

Gota, Ahmedabad 380 060

Tel: 02717 242366/67/68

Fax: 02717 242365

Application Form: www.gidr.ac.in/pdf/NW-RMSS-Application%20Form.pdf

 

Call for Proposals: BRICS Initiative for Critical Agrarian Studies

Call for Proposals: BRICS Initiative for Critical Agrarian Studies

2 December 2013: The BRICS Initiative for Critical Agrarian Studies (BICAS) invites applications for small grants for research papers on the themes outlined below, and welcomes applications from PhD students or recent PhDs.

The deadline for proposals is 1 February 2014.

About the BICAS Initiative

BICAS is a collective of largely BRICS-based or connected academic researchers concerned with understanding the BRICS countries and their implications for global agrarian transformations. Critical theoretical and empirical questions about the origins, character and significance of complex changes underway need to be investigated more systematically.

In taking forward this research agenda, we are building on and intending to extend the focus of existing knowledge about the BRICS. The rise of BRICS countries has been accompanied by the rise of interest and academic research initiatives in recent years. Most of these initiatives are Africa-centric, tracking the impact of several BRICS countries on Africa. In building our network, our research focus and analytical frameworks differ from other research on the BRICS in some ways, including: (i) we are pursuing research and analysis framed primarily within agrarian political economy; unlike most BRICS research partnerships, we are not conducting strategic studies nor focused on international relations (IR) explanations; (ii) we are scholars rooted in the contexts of the BRICS countries and their neighbours. These are considered the world's new centres of capital accumulation, but they also need to become hubs for knowledge production, and BICAS is founded on a desire to shape the process and politics of knowledge production about the BRICS, from within them; (iii) we do not focus exclusively on the BRICS countries; rather, we want to examine them in relation to both the older conventional hubs of global capital in the North Atlantic, and the rising MICs.

The BICAS research agenda

BICAS is an 'engaged research' initiative founded on a commitment to generating solid evidence and detailed, field-based research that can deepen analysis and inform policy and practice. In BICAS we will aim to connect disciplines across political economy, political ecology and political sociology in a multi-layered analytical framework, to explore agrarian transformations unfolding at national, regional and global levels and the relationships between these levels.

BICAS is founded on a vision for broader, more inclusive and critical knowledge production and knowledge exchange. We are building a joint research agenda based principally on our capacities and expertise in our respective countries and regions, and informed by the needs of our graduate students and faculty, but aiming to scale up in partnership and in dialogue with others. Our initial focus will be on Brazil, China and South Africa.

While we will build on a core coordinating network to facilitate exchange we aim to provide an inclusive space, a platform, a community, hence we invite your participation.

Key themes and questions for the Small Grants Proposals

We are interested in proposals for research papers that address the following broad themes and questions:

1. BRICS and MICs in their regions: what agrarian transformations are underway in Southeast Asia and Southern Africa, and Latin America and how are the BRICS countries and some MICs in those regions shaping these transformations? What are the dominant directions of change but also any countervailing directions? What endogenous and exogenous forces are driving changes in agrarian structures? What are the outcomes for changes in demographics, settlement and migration; inputs and investments in agriculture and other rural productive sectors; agricultural production and the rise of boom crops; agroprocessing and the rise of manufactured foods; and formal and informal markets? What is the character of investment and trade relations between the BRICS countries and MICs located within their regions? What food systems are emerging at the regional level? How is this manifested spatially? Are there winners and losers, and, if so, who are they?
2. BRICS and MICs in relation to the old hubs of global capital: What is the role of BRICS countries in the emerging financialization of agriculture? How are the BRICS countries' roles in global trade in food and agricultural commodities changing? What are their histories of trade and trading partners, what historical processes constituted the current world agro-food system and how is the system changing at present? Through what economic, political, legal and other processes are current changes unfolding?  How is membership of the BRICS group influencing and enabling these changes?  How are other actors responding, and to what effect? What new sites of contestation around food production, circulation, consumption, and forms of accumulation are opening up with possibilities for alternatives to emerge?
3. China in Focus. For this particular Call for Proposals, there will be a relatively larger allocation of funds to proposals that take China as a key reference point. Illustrative examples include the following:

• (i) China in relation to the rest of the BRICS countries
• (ii) China in specific regions: a primary focus on China in Southeast Asia, and a secondary focus on China in Latin America and China in Russia/Siberia (not China in Africa)
• (iii) China in relation to MICs, especially in Southeast Asia
• (iv) China/BRICS in relation to the traditional hubs of global capital (e.g. North Atlantic countries)

(These proposals should make reference to China's 'extractive sector/investments' (broadly cast) and the implications of these for global/regional agrarian transformations, with particular attention to questions of poor people's access to and control over natural resources: including land, water, and forest in these regions.)

Proposals

Please submit an approx. 1,000 word proposal for research papers on any of three broad themes outlined above. (Note that there will be more funds allocated to the third thematic cluster). Explain why your prospective paper will contribute fresh theoretical and/or empirical insights that help provide answers to the broad questions outlined above. Research papers should be between 8,000 and 12,000 words in length.

Please attach a short CV of no more than three pages.

Grants

Each small grant will comprise US$ 3,000.

One-third (US$ 1,000) of the grant will be paid on approval of the proposal, and the remainder (US$ 2,000) on completion of the research paper.

Timetable

• 1 February 2014: deadline for proposals
• 15 February 2014: announcement of successful proposals
• 15 September 2014: deadline for full draft papers
• 30 September 2014: feedback from reviewers
• 31 October 2014: deadline for revised papers for copyediting and publication as BICAS Working Papers

Papers will be published in a BICAS Working Paper Series. Some authors will be invited to an international conference to be held in Beijing in 2015.

Submit your proposal to: bricsagrarianstudies@gmail.com

For further queries, get in touch with any of the co-coordinators of BICAS. For more information about BICAS, see: http://www.iss.nl/bicas

Who we are

The convening institutions and key contact researchers of BICAS are:

• Brazil: Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), with Prof. Sergio Schneider, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), with Sergio Schneider
• Brazil: University of Brasilia (UnB), Planaltina Campus (FUP), with Prof. Sergio Sauer
• China: College of Humanities and Development Studies (COHD) at the China Agricultural University, Beijing, with Prof. Ye Jingzhong and a group of faculty at the college, and adjunct professors Henry Bernstein, Saturnino ('Jun') M. Borras Jr., Jennifer Franco and Jan Douwe van der Ploeg
• South Africa: Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS) at the University of the Western Cape, Cape Town, with professors Ben Cousins, Andries Du Toit and Ruth Hall

In collaboration with: Transnational Institute (TNI – www.tni.org); International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) in The Hague, Agrarian, Food & Environmental Studies (AFES) research sub-cluster is part of the Research Program: Political Economy of Research, Environment and Population Studies (PER). www.iss.nl; Future Agricultures Consortium www.future-agricultures.org

http://www.future-agricultures.org/research/land/7917-call-for-proposals-brics-initiative-for-critical-agrarian-studies

Current Science's Special Focus on Science Writing in India

Current Science's Special Focus on Science Writing in India

Current Science, 2014, 106 (1), 20-21.

• Science journalism in South Asia – untapped potential, by T.V. Padma Download
• Science for all, by Nidhi Jamwal Download 
• Writing science for school children, by Shubashree Desikan and A. S. Ganesh Download 
• The (science) writing life, by Seema Singh Download
• Is blogging journalism and other questions, by Subhra Priyadarshini Download
  
• Science reporting in Hindi, by Sopan Joshi Download 
• Lessons for a climate change scribe!, by Archita Bhatta Download

New Article "Changing Social Relations between Science and Society: Contemporary Challenges" by V.V. Krishna, CSSP, JNU

Changing Social Relations between Science and Society: Contemporary Challenges
by Venni V. Krishna
FMSH Working Papers Series FMSH-WP-2013-54

Abstract:
Social history of modern science, particularly the way it acquired social legitimacy clearly depicts the science and society relationships emerging from the time of Galileo. The social institution of science has evolved as one of the most powerful, highly influential and sought out institutions. Knowledge as public good; peer review of science; prominence attached to open publications; and premium placed on professional recognition and scientific autonomy remained the hall mark of science for the last three centuries. Based on this ethos of science, the social institution of science evolved a unique social contract between science and society in the last six decades. As we enter the second decade of 21st century, the social institution of science is undergoing a major change. Three societal forces are responsible for the change: a) globalization; b) industrial and post-industrial society; and c) climate change. What is at stake? Is there a significant change? Is it transforming the very social institution of Science? And what implications this has for our contemporary and future society? These are some of the important issues, which will be addressed in this essay, which has inspired the lecture given during the awarding of the Charles and Monique Morazé Prize 2013 to the international journal Science, Technology and Society published by Sage India.

Download Full-text PDF: http://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/docs/00/91/07/07/PDF/FMSH-WP-2013-54_Krishna.pdf

Current Science Paper "Science, Technology and Innovation Policy 2013 of India and in Formal Sector Innovations" by Fayaz Ahmad Sheikh, CSSP

Science, Technology and Innovation Policy 2013 of India and in Formal Sector Innovations

Fayaz Ahmad Sheikh

Current Science, 2014, 106 (1), 21-23.

Abstract: This commentary discusses the Science, Technology and Innovation Policy 2013 of India in relation to the bottom-up 'informal science'. The main intention is to see how informal innovations or informal ways of knowledge generation in the in formal sector are dealt with in the new policy document. Informal economy or informal sector, which constitutes a staggering 94% of India's workforce, forms the main source of employment and livelihood. However, neither the current Science, Technology and Innovation Policy document nor any other innovation literature proposes a comprehensive policy framework that leverages the strengths of in formal sector innovations.

Download Full-text PDF