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
A selection of recent journal publications, artistic productions, books, including book and report excerpts. 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.
- (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.
- (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.
- (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).
- (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
- (2018) Centre for Digital Life Norway - Annual report 2017. 2018.
- (2011) Regulating the Unknown: Governing Nanotechnologies by a Logic of Pre-emption. 2011.