Course summary

Science and technology have built the modern world, shaping how we live, work, and govern. Engaging with today’s complex issues – from novel therapeutics and artificial intelligence to energy transitions and environmental protection – requires close attention to how science and technology shape, and are shaped by, the societies in which they operate. The MSc Science and Technology in Society will equip you with the critical tools and perspectives needed to explore these relationships. You’ll examine how scientific knowledge and technologies emerge and develop, how they interact with social, political, and economic contexts, and why understanding these dynamics is essential for navigating many of our most pressing challenges. Drawing on ideas and methods from science, technology, and innovation studies (STIS), social science, and history, you’ll analyse real-world case studies of how scientific knowledge and technologies are produced, used, governed, commercialised, and contested. You’ll ask the difficult and important questions:

• How does scientific evidence come to be accepted as authoritative?

• Why do some ideas and technologies spread widely, while others are fiercely contested or ignored?

• Who benefits from innovation, and who bears the risks?