Science, Policy & Social Inequity Workshop

Sponsored by the W. K. Kellogg Foundation

and the Consortium for Science, Policy & Outcomes

Saguaro Lake Ranch and Tempe, AZ

May 22-23, 2006

Click here for the Workshop Summary

Science and technology have made profound contributions to the alleviation of suffering and poverty in the world.  These contributions help to justify the world’s increasing investment in research and development (R&D), and optimism about the capacity of new knowledge and innovation to continue to advance human well-being.  However, few would disagree that poor people, disenfranchised groups, and less-developed nations are often less able to benefit from the continual rapid advance of science and technology than people who are wealthier, better able to participate in societal decision making, and living in industrial or post-industrial nations. Moreover, long-term trends such as the continued concentration of global wealth, combined with the prospect of world-transforming revolutions in such areas as nanotechnologies, genomics, and robotics, more than justify a careful consideration of the ways in which inequity and inequality may be linked to the organization, behavior, and outputs of the R&D enterprise.

In this workshop we will investigate some sources of inequity that may be inherent in the organization of research and innovation, both in the U.S. and internationally. The goal of the workshop is to highlight new knowledge about the connections between R&D policy decisions and societal inequity; to create a network of researchers working on problems of science, technology, and societal inequity; to uncover new approaches to understanding and researching the connections between R&D policy and societal inequity, and, most importantly, to identify and communicate approaches to R&D policy that could help overcome entrenched inequities in the distribution of the benefits of technical advance.

A special issue of Science and Public Policy is now available highlighting papers from last year’s workshop on Science, Policy and Social Equity.

Dates to Remember:

           February 1^st – Titles, abstracts, and biographies due

           April 1^st – Papers due

           Sunday, May 21^st – afternoon outing; accommodations at Saguaro Lake Ranch

           Monday, May 22^nd – Workshop at Saguaro Lake Ranch

           Tuesday, May 23^rd – Morning workshop at Saguaro Lake Ranch

Links for information on the program, papers, accommodations, transportation, and participants are to the left.

If you have any questions that are not answered on this website, please contact:  Jamey Wetmore (jameson.wetmore@asu.edu)