Future Directions in the History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Biology

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PROJECT SUMMARYWe propose to host a 5-day intensive graduate training workshop for students of history,philosophy, and social studies of biology. The workshop will be modeled on the verysuccessful graduate training FDISH conference held in San Francisco in 2004, which wassponsored by both the NSF and ISHPSSB (the International Society for the History,Philosophy, and Social Studies of Biology). Ten researchers of distinction from thefields of history, philosophy, and social studies of biology will be invited to addressthe specific questions: what is the future of biology studies? what are the benefits andchallenges of interdisciplinary collaboration? what can philosophers, historians,sociologists, and biologists learn from one another? In addition to these plenary talks,the faculty attendees will also participate in hands-on workshops addressing trainingissues, such as: how to write a paper for submission to a journal; strategies fornavigating the job market; how to obtain funding for research in biology studies. Aninnovative feature of the San Francisco FDISH meetings will be continued at the IUmeeting, namely, "office hours", wherein faculty members make themselves available at aspecific time and location (coffeehouse, restaurant, classroom), for students to drop inand make informal contacts or discuss research ideas.The intellectual merits of the workshop are expected to be widely distributed and varied.Disciplinary training in philosophy, history, and social studies of biology is taken as agiven. More unusual intellectual fruits of the workshop will involve interdisciplinarysynergies arising from the interactions of the scholars at the various individual sessionsand personal interactions. For example, one researcher in philosophy from the pastworkshop gained access to work of another in ecology that proved fruitful in herpostdoctoral project. These sorts of idiosyncratic and unpredictable interactionspredictably appear when these groups of researchers on biology are thrown together in theright ways, as we plan to do with the organization of both formal and informal sessions.Broader impacts include: increased interdisciplinary understanding, especially amongsciences and humanities; dissemination of up-to-date information regarding high-prioritybio-risks and bio-ethical issues; training opportunities and opportunities fornetwork-building for graduate students from a wide variety of institutional backgrounds,including historically black and women's colleges; and emphasis on future employmentopportunities for well-trained bio-ethics personnel.