From July 21st to 25th, secondary school students will have the opportunity of contacting with research carried out by CES.

Shooting-point

Researchers: José Manuel Pureza, Sílvia Roque e Rita Santos

‘Beyond several hunting weapons, pistols and ammunition, two war weapons were also apprehended (…)’. News such as this give notice of the frequent presence of light arms in violence practices in Portugal. But, this is a reality poorly studied, both regarding the dimension of the problem, as the profound motives and different types of effects. This traineeship integrates two main components. One incurs on the study of the proliferation and use of weapons in Portugal (survey of bibliography, statistical data, etc). The other falls upon the realization of questionnaires and interviews to specialists of the public security sector in Coimbra.

The digital deferential in internet uses

Researchers: Virgínia Ferreira e Mónica Lopes

The digital gap between sexes is a phenomenon internationally studied by social analysts. We know, since the 80s, that men and women have different uses and approach styles regarding computers. Recent studies continue to confirm different uses of internet by boys and girls – boys with a more ludic and exploratory style and girls with a more utilitarian and communicative one. The aim of this traineeship consists in verifying, through interviews, possible alterations in the using styles of boys and girls (age group 18 to 24), now that the age group differential narrows more and more in Portugal.

Possible views: the different uses of image in contemporary societies

Researchers: Giovanni Allegretti, Juliana Torquato e Cristiano F. Lima

Image can be used as a forma of observation, revelation and discovery of the world, offering a more critical reflection on social, political, cultural and environmental issues. Hence, this traineeship has as aim the comprehension of the different uses of image in the Social Sciences and their contribution towards a critically based construction regarding social issues. The activities taking place will include the exploration of audiovisual resources (such as films and photographs), illustrating the possible uses of images in Social Sciences, and field trips during which images concerning relevant themes of contemporary societies, shall be created (photographs).

Information – cienciaviva@ces.uc.pt

http://www.ces.uc.pt/cienciaviva/indexen.php

There is no structure of an organisation that can be seen as the ultimate construction. How science shops are organised and operate is highly dependent on their context. When establishing a network of science shops new contexts may add new organisation structures. Therefore the definition of science shops is a working definition. The term Science Shop should be considered a brand name, including all kind of organisations that fit in the definition.

Definition

A science shop provides independent, participatory research support in response to concerns experienced by civil society.

Mission statement

Science shops use the term ‘science’ in its broadest sense, incorporating social and human sciences, as well as natural, physical, engineering and technical sciences.

Science shops seek to:

• provide civil society with knowledge and skills through research and education
• provide their services on an affordable basis
• promote and support public access to and influence on science and technology
• create equitable and supportive partnerships with civil society organisations
• enhance understanding among policymakers and education and research institutions of the research and education needs of civil society
• enhance the transferrable skills and knowledge students, community representatives and researchers

Criteria

Science Shops in general have three criteria for accepting clients:

1. Clients should have no commercial objectives with their question, and the research results must become public (or ‘the question must be for the common good’);
2. Clients must be able to use the results of the research to achieve their mission (thus, scattered individual questions may not be accepted; but if necessary clients can also be assisted in applying the results);
3. Clients may not have the (full) financial means to acquire their research by other means (sometimes applicable questions from these clients are accepted as paid research or research at least subsidised by the client).

Observa – Science in Society is a non-profit cultural association which aims at promoting the study and the discussion of the interaction between science and society, stimulating dialogue among researchers, policy makers and citizens.
Observa focuses on three main areas:
Science Communication;
Research and Innovation Policy;
Science, Citizens and Technology

Through its activities, Observa has established collaborations with several national and international organizations, including the European Commission – DG Research, CERN, Lancaster University, Bielefeld University, University College London, University Pompeu Fabra Barcelona, Austrian Academy of Science, Gran Sasso National Laboratory, European Association of young biotechnologists.

In line with its mission of fostering an informed debate on science in society issues, keeping a balanced and independent point of view, Observa is not affiliated to any private or public organization. Activities are funded through specific projects, members’ contributions and donations.

In public and academic discourse risk gained ground in the last decades. Many sociologists believe that risk has become the core category to understand social reproduction and change (Beck 1992; Giddens 1991). However, there are still major debates about the characteristics of risk as a social semantic and how risk occupies a position as a social “master-discourse”.
This session invites papers from linguistics researchers, sociologists and other social scientists who examine the semantic of risk, how risk discourse takes place in different social domains and how it developed historically. Contributions which reflect on the ideological character of risk are particularly welcome.

Please send abstracts no longer than 400 words by end of November 2007 to j.zinn@kent.ac.uk”

Further details here 

The role of communication in the process of political socialization is gaining renewed attention among both mass communication and political science researchers. This intensified attention is partly a consequence of concerns about the effects of media on declining rates of political participation, especially among adolescents and young adults. Yet, it also grows out the rise of the Internet, the development of life-long learning models, the increase of studies on generational and contextual differences in communication effects, and the expansion of research scope to include civic participation alongside the political. Political Communication is dedicating a special issue to this topic.

The deadline for submissions is March 1, 2008. Decisions about publication of your manuscript will be made in June 15, 2008.

Click here for further details.

RC23 seeks a dialogue among scholars to address the issues of science, technology and innovation (S, T & I), converging technologies; S, T & I in the Third World; S, T & I and gender; university research; and others in the hope of making a contribution to the understanding and guidance of S, T & I in the world.

For Forum updates, please visit:

ISA website: www.isa-sociology.org

RC23 website: www.dsa-ateneo.net/rc23

The Science, Technology and Society Research Group focuses on domains like the sociology of science, scientific policy, scientific and cognitive citizenship, multicultural conceptions of knowledge, north south relationships in areas like intellectual property rights and knowledge, relations between health and environment and science and law.

The main objective of the research group is to create a discussion and working platform, promoting the cooperation between researchers and graduate students who have research interests in these domains or in participating in debates in progress on these issues.

Click logo for details.

A one-day workshop was organised on this topic at the Parliament, held last Monday, and involving multiple stakeholders, as well as the representatives from the parties with a seat in Parliament (program at the end of this post). In a surprising move, the Minister of Public Works, Mário Lino, during his intervention at the workshop considered that more studies were needed in face of new information received on the conditions for the location of the airport at a location only rarely considered so far, at the shooting ground in Alcochete, and that he would be contracting LNEC to provide a new comparative study between the two locations.

It is indeed interesting that this change in position, with an opening to further views, was made public at the Parliament. Whether this is simply a happy coincidence, following the proximity of dates between the parliamentary workshop and the dissemination of the study by CIP which considered this new location, or also reflects the symbolic meaning of a deeper involvement by the Parliament, leading the Government to reconsider its stance, remains to be concluded, but it is clear that the Parliament intends to have a more visible voice in the process. An additional example of this is the request by the president of the Parliament to receive all the existing studies on this issue, namely the oldest ones which were not in its possession, as reported by Público.

What remains to be seen is who, within Parliament, will process the 40 thousand pages received… Certainly not the Parliamentary Office of Technology Assessment…

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COLÓQUIO

O NOVO AEROPORTO INTERNACIONAL DE LISBOA

Assembleia da República

11 de Junho / 9h30 às 18h00

Sala do Senado

PROGRAMA

09h00 – Recepção

09h30 – Início do Colóquio

Presidente da Comissão de Obras Públicas, Transportes e Comunicações (COPTC), Deputado Miguel Relvas

Ministro das Obras Públicas, Transportes e Comunicações, Mário Lino

10h15 às 13h00 – 1.º Painel “O novo aeroporto internacional de Lisboa: opções”

Moderadora: Vice-Presidente da COPTC, Deputada Irene Veloso

Dra. Paula Alves

Eng. José Lopes

Prof. José Manuel Palma

Prof. Paulino Pereira

(15 minutos por intervenção)

11h15 – Intervalo

11h30 – Debate

13h00 – Almoço

14h30 às 17h30 – 2.º Painel “Custos e modelos de financiamento e gestão do aeroporto internacional de Lisboa”

Moderador: Deputado Jorge Costa

Prof. Augusto Mateus

Prof. Diogo Pinto

Prof. Manuel Porto

Eng. Rego Mendes

(15 minutos por intervenção)

15h30 – Intervalo

15h45 - Debate

17h15 – Intervalo

17h30 às 18h00 – 3.º Painel

Representante do Grupo Parlamentar do PS

Representante do Grupo Parlamentar do PSD

Representante do Grupo Parlamentar do PCP

Representante do Grupo Parlamentar do CDS-PP

Representante do Grupo Parlamentar do BE

Representante do Grupo Parlamentar do PEV

18h00 - Fim do Colóquio

ENTRADA LIVRE

The Sixth Annual Meeting of the SDN will take place at the University of Cambridge, on June 27-29, 2007, and will be jointly sponsored by the Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences, and Humanities (CRASSH) at Cambridge. Click here for more information about the meeting, including the program and pre-circulated papers.

Through an annual workshop and other activities, the science and democracy network (SDN) seeks to:

• create an international network of scholars and practitioners interested in the democratic governance of science and technology;
• promote scholarly exploration of the democratic steering, conduct, and uses of science and technology;
• improve the quality, visibility, and dissemination of the research of young scholars;
• connect the normative and political analysis of science and technology to relevant work in adjacent disciplines, such as law, ethics, and political science; and,
• communicate perspectives from S&TS to policy actors and contribute to social problem-solving.

it looks easy to find when you’re working with political discourse…

here