TUM STS @ the 25th Annual Science and Democracy Network Meeting in Potsdam!

From June 11–13, 2026, members of the TUM STS Department attended the 25th Annual Meeting of the Science and Democracy Network (SDN) at the Research Institute for Sustainability (RIFS) in Potsdam, hosted by the Harvard STS Program. The SDN brings together scholars working at the intersection of science, technology, and democratic governance. This year's anniversary meeting featured discussions ranging from digital imaginaries and energy transitions to contested modernities and the politics of infrastructure, opened by Sheila Jasanoff (Harvard Kennedy School).

The meeting was preceded by the Harvard STS Summer School (June 7–10), also held at RIFS, where Cosimo Simoncini (ISPP Chair) presented his dissertation prospectus on the securitization of innovation across European regions. His research examines how dual-use technologies — including drones, AI systems, and satellite infrastructures — are reshaping regional innovation cultures in Emilia-Romagna and Bavaria, and how the civil-military boundary is being renegotiated at the level of European industrial regions.

At the SDN meeting, Sophia Knopf (ISPP Chair) presented "A Critical Perspective on the Role of Visualization in Governing the City," examining how visualization practices are enrolled in processes of urban governance and raising questions about epistemic authority and the politics of making cities legible through digital tools. Shizuku Sunagawa presented "What roles and responsibilities for STS in turbulent times — the case of climate change," engaging with how STS scholarship can respond to the urgency of the climate crisis through reflexive and symmetrical approaches to science-policy relationships. Dr. Marlise Horvath Schneider and Manuel Jung also participated in the meeting.