Talks – CompCoRe

Di Giulio and Monteiro discuss their work on Covid-19 recovery at University of York

Gabriela Di Giulio and Marko Monteiro participated in a discussion on the recovery from crises – Brazilian public health and environment reflections at University of York on May 19, 2022. The event examined the ways in which recovery from pandemic- and climate change-induced disasters can present opportunities for social change as much as amplifying pre-existing vulnerabilities in societies.

Di Giulio delivers lecture at Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University

Gabriela Di Giulio presented her paper, “Risk, emergency and sustainability: Reflections on the Brazilian context for global health,” at the LEC Seminar at Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University. In her talk, Di Giulio argued that there is a need of a global health approach that enables us to better understand how Covid-19 pandemic and other systemic crises are the result of complex interactions between environment and social actions, and how their synergistic and cumulative effects demand deep changes in the pattern of civilization and urgent transformations for a more adapted future.

Jasanoff talks at the joint event organized by Thailand Institute of Justice and Harvard Institute for Global Law and Policy

Sheila Jasanoff talked about technology and surveillance in the post-Covid era to scholars from Thailand Institute of Justice and Harvard Institute for Global Law and Policy on May 5, 2022. Jasanoff’s remarks drew on the research conducted by the members of the CompCoRe project.

Jasanoff delivers the Dr. Seng Tee Lee Lecture at University of Cambridge

Sheila Jasanoff delivered the Dr. Seng Tee Lee Lecture at University of Cambridge on March 11, 2022. Titled “Democracy and Distrust after the Pandemic,” her talk explored the ways in which the Covid-19 pandemic brought into sharp focus the strengths and weaknesses of the links between science, technology and society. Situating the opposition to vaccines, masks, and other public health mandates within a framework of constitutional theory, she argued that building better after the pandemic will require an explicit engagement with the tacit rules of delegation and deliberation that underpin modern democracies. You can watch the lecture here.

Jasanoff speaks at Oxford’s Institute for Innovation and Science

Sheila Jasanoff was hosted by the Institute for Science, Innovation and Society at University of Oxford on March 9. Titled Sovereignty Unmasked: STS, the Pandemic, and Political Theory,” Jasanoff’s remarks focused on the governance regime that she calls “public health sovereignty.” She explored the rules and practices of delegation that help explain why resistance has followed divergent paths across the 16 countries included in the CompCoRe project. The talk reflected on the method of comparison as a device for illuminating STS’s contributions to political and constitutional theory.

Jasanoff gives the keynote at the OECD workshop

Sheila Jasanoff gave the keynote of the OECD Global Science Forum (GSF) workshop, Scientific advice in crises: Lessons learned from COVID-19, on March 3. The event was part of a project on mobilizing science in response to crises. Titled Comparative Covid Response: crisis, knowledge, politics, Jasanoff’s presentation outlined the CompCoRe project and its key findings. The event can be viewed here.

Jasanoff participates in the Humboldt Digital Dialogues series

Sheila Jasanoff participated in an online panel entitled “(Mis)trust in Science and Elites” on February 25. The event was organized by the American Friends of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and was part of a speaker series on Society, Science, and Policy: Lessons from the Coronavirus Pandemic. The series seeks to strengthen understanding of the changing cultural and societal context of science in the United States and other nations and explore the implications for science-based policies, scientific careers, and scientific cooperation. You can watch the event here.

Tooze presents his new book, Shutdown, in conversation with Hilgartner and Jasanoff, moderated by Özgöde

Historian Adam Tooze (Columbia University) discussed his forthcoming book, Shutdown, at the first STS@Tea, a new series of occasional events co-organized by Harvard STS and CompCoRe. Using a critical macro-finance framework, he examined how the Federal Reserve’s emergency interventions in the US Treasury market in early 2020 made lockdowns possible throughout the world. Hilgartner and Jasanoff engaged with Tooze’s global perspective from a comparative STS perspective, arguing that the nation state was the key unit of analysis for understanding why many wealthy nations failed to control the virus. Despite their orthogonal perspectives, the consensus was that economic resources were necessary but not sufficient to manage the pandemic. The event was moderated by Özgöde.

Neil Walker gives lecture on democracy in pandemic times at Harvard STS

Walker’s talk addressed “The Crisis of Constitutional Democracy in Pandemic Times,” exploring how the pandemic challenges the paradigm of representative democracy and raises opportunities for democratic renewal. J. Benjamin Hurlbut and a panel of scholars responded, and Sheila Jasanoff moderated the event.