Heidrun Åm
Background and activities
I am an Associate Professor at the Department for Sociology and Political Science at the Norwegian University for Science and Technology (NTNU). My background is in Political Sciences, and Science and Technology Studies (STS). My research is on the governance of science and technology, with a focus on nano- and biotechnology research, sustainable energy and society, and interdisciplinarity. I am particularly interested in the governance of commons and in democratic decision-making. My research is based on qualitative methods. My approach draws on interpretive (policy) analysis, concepts from STS (such as co-production of science and society, and actor-network theory), and political discourse theory.
Currently, I am leading the research project “Res Publica. Responsibility, practice, and the public good across Digital Life”. This project is a concomitant research project to the newly founded, national Centre for Digital Life Norway. From 2016-2018, I was group leader for "Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI)" at this center. In 2017, I have become enrolled in NTNU's Outstanding Academic Fellows Programme.
Scientific, academic and artistic work
Displaying a selection of activities. See all publications in the database
Journal publications
- (2020) Transforming Scientists’ Understanding of Science–Society Relations. Stimulating Double‑Loop Learning when Teaching RRI. Science and Engineering Ethics. vol. 26.
- (2020) The imagined scientist of science governance. Social Studies of Science.
- (2019) Limits of decentered governance in science-society policies. Journal of Responsible Innovation. vol. 6 (2).
- (2018) Experiments in interdisciplinarity: Responsible research and innovation and the public good. PLoS Biology. vol. 16:e2003921 (3).
- (2018) Ethics as ritual: smoothing over moments of dislocation in biomedicine. Sociology of Health and Illness.
- (2018) Forskningsetikk: Mindre press framfor flere krav. www.universitetsavisa.no.
- (2018) Tappet for energi. www.universitetsavisa.no.
- (2017) Forskningspolitikken må tenke nytt. NITO-refleks.
- (2016) Dragvoll og Gløshaugen trenger hverandre. Adressavisen.
- (2016) Hva slags utdanning og kunnskap trengs for å skape en bedre verden?. Universitetsavisa.
- (2016) Den evige usikkerheten. Klassekampen.
- (2016) Making policy move. Towards a politics of translation and assemblage, by John Clarke, Dave Bainton, Noémi Lendvai and Paul Stubbs. Critical Policy Studies. vol. 10 (2).
- (2015) The sun also rises in Norway: Solar scientists as transition actors. Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions. vol. 16.
- (2014) Herbert Gottweis remembered by colleagues. Critical Policy Studies. vol. 8 (4).
- (2014) Quibbling and the Fallacy of Critical Scholarship: Response to Thorstensen. NanoEthics. vol. 8 (3).
- (2013) ‘Don’t make nanotechnology sexy, ensure its benefits, and be neutral’: Studying the logics of new intermediary institutions in ambiguous governance contexts. Science and Public Policy. vol. 40 (4).
- (2012) Buchbesprechung Wullweber: HEGEMONIE, DISKURS UND POLITISCHE ÖKONOMIE Haddad: ZWISCHEN LABOR UND GESELLSCHAFT. Österreichische Zeitschrift für Politikwissenschaft.
- (2011) Crossroads as Places. EASST Review. vol. 30 (3).
- (2011) Trust as Glue in Nanotechnology Governance Networks. NanoEthics. vol. 5 (1).
Part of book/report
- (2015) Co-production and public policy: evidence, uncertainty, and socio-materiality. Handbook of Critical Policy Studies.
- (2015) Preparing for new solar cells through integrated research: challenges in translating social robustness into the selection of materials. Practices of Innovation and Responsibility: insights from methods, governance and action.
- (2010) Uncertainty, Governance. Encyclopedia of Nanoscience and Society.
Report/dissertation
- (2011) Regulating the Unknown: Governing Nanotechnologies by a Logic of Pre-emption. 2011.
Others
- (2020) Exploring choreographies of responsibilities: Biotechnology research, farmed salmon, and public issues. 4S/EASST conference . Society for the Social Study of Science (4S); Prague (virtual). 2020-08-18 - 2020-08-21.
- (2020) The Norwegian debate on tax on rent in salmon farming. A pragmatist policy analysis of an attempt of re-politicizing salmon governance. ECPR Conference: Interpretive Approaches to Policy Studies. Developments, Challenges and Ways Forward . ECPR Standing group; Virtual. 2020-09-02 - 2020-09-04.
- (2019) How many jobs has your research created? Constructing Value From Norwegian Biotechnology Research. STS Conference Graz 2019 . Graz University of Technology; Graz. 2019-05-06 - 2019-05-07.
- (2019) Doing RRI in Norway. Invited lecture . Institut für Höhere Studien; Vienna. 2019-05-21 - 2019-05-21.
- (2019) Politics instead of ethics: Which room for transformative science policy interventions in research practice?. STS Austria Meeting . STS Austria; Vienna. 2019-02-19 - 2019-02-19.
- (2019) What next, DLN?.
- (2019) Which Common Good Do We Talk About? Digital Life Norway and Value Creation. DLN Annual Conference . Digital Life Norway (DLN); Tromsø. 2019-09-05 - 2019-09-06.
- (2018) STS and democratization of science-society-relations. 30th Anniversary Center for Technology and Society at NTNU . CTS, NTNU; Trondheim. 2018-09-28 - 2018-09-28.
- (2018) The republic of ELSA and RRI. ELSA Norway conference . ELSA Norway Network; Hurtigruten, Norway. 2018-11-02 - 2018-11-04.
- (2018) VESTFRONTMØTET: Vil du oppgradere til kroppen 2.0?. Panelsamtale under Olavsfestdagene, overført på NRK P2 [Radio]. 2018-08-02.
- (2018) Why STS scholars must not be innocents abroad. University of Edinburgh Science, Technology and Innovation Studies seminar series . Science, Technology & Innovation Studies; Edinburgh. 2018-10-08 - 2018-10-08.
- (2017) Politicizing science governance with "Responsible Research and Innovation"?. 11th Conference in Interpretive Policy Analysis (IPA) . DMU Leicester; Leicester. 2017-07-05 - 2017-07-07.
- (2017) Addressing Res Publica in science and technology: Responsible Research and Innovation as an approach to organizing democratic practices in a networked society. Science & Democracy . Techno-Anthropology, Aalborg University; Copenhagen. 2017-11-23 - 2017-11-24.
- (2017) Three coins in the fountain: anticipation, hope and responsibility in the pursuit of science. 2017 Annual S.NET Meeting ; Phoenix, AZ. 2017-10-08 - 2017-10-11.
- (2016) Bringing a Practice Perspective to Responsible Research and Innovation. 11th conference in Interpretative Policy Analysis ; Hull. 2016-07-05 - 2016-07-07.
- (2016) Cyborgs for and with society. NTNU Cyborg meeting . NTNU Cyborg project; 2016-02-05 - 2016-02-05.
- (2016) RRI in the Center for Digital Life Norway. ELSA Norway conference . ELSA Norway network; Hurtigruten Trondheim - Tromsø. 2016-04-11 - 2016-04-13.
- (2016) Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) as decentered governance: Practices of governance and practices of freedom in researchers’ daily lives. Science and technology by other means . 4S/EASST conference; Barcelona. 2016-08-31 - 2016-09-03.
- (2015) Bringing STS concepts to Policy Sciences. After LSG. Looking Back & Looking Ahead . Life Science Governance Research Platform; Vienna. 2015-01-22 - 2015-01-23.
- (2015) Dimensions of power in democratization of science. 10th International Conference in Interpretive Policy Analysis . CERAPS; Lille. 2015-07-08 - 2015-07-10.
- (2015) Getting it right the first time? Nanotechnology governance in the shadow of the past. Nano2021 Workshop on responsible technology development . Forskningsrådet; Oslo. 2015-04-09 - 2015-04-10.
- (2015) "Regulating the Unknown" - Is this possible?. Nano2021 Workshop on responsible technology development . Forskningsrådet; Oslo. 2015-04-09 - 2015-04-10.
- (2014) Making post carbon publics: Technoscientists’ constructions of and engagement with the public. 4S Annual Meeting ; 2014-08-20 - 2014-08-24.
- (2014) Co-production of nanotechnology regulations. "Social construction of technology coming of age: new challenges and opportunities ahead" . Institutt for tverrfaglige kulturstudier, NTNU; Trondheim. 2014-06-03 - 2014-06-05.
- (2014) The SoRoSol-Case: Boundary objects as ways, means, and ends in integrated research?. Snet 6th Annual Meeting . ITAS KIT; Karlsruhe. 2014-09-21 - 2014-09-24.
- (2014) How publics make publics: ‘Othering’ as an energy transitions logic. 4S/ESOCITE ; Buenos Aires. 2014-08-20 - 2014-08-23.
- (2013) Lys i tunnelen: Solenergiforskeres strategier og visjoner i en krisetid. CenSES årsmøte . CenSES; Oslo. 2013-12-09 - 2013-12-10.
- (2013) Are solar cell scientists socially responsible?. Norwegian Solar Cell Conference . NTNU, IFE, SINTEF, UiO; Oppdal. 2013-03-13.