The challenges of "upstream" communication and public engagement for Irish nanotechnology

This paper sets out some challenges for Ireland’s contribution to nanotechnology public engagement in the context of current STS and science communication theoretical practice approaches. I report on a pilot set of public engagement activities and accompanying‘multi-sited ethnographic’ and frame analysis methodologies. I reflect on how the theoretical context of these methods and findings present a challenge for nanoscience communicators in the first instance, but also for the social scientists and academics that are themselves contributing to the discourse of nanotechnology and, intentionally or not, communicating nanotechnology to diverse publics. I identify six discourse sites of nanotechnology which have the potential for public engagement

Dialogic science and democracy: the case of nanotechnology

How do we mean ‘democratic’ and ‘dialogic’ when referring to something supposedly universal such as science? This chapter will look at nanotechnology in an Irish context drawing from current thinking in science communication and science studies, particularly ideas concerning public engagement and public participation in science governance. The specific approach used here extends the concept of engagement to include how publics might interact and potentially shape the discourses, and indeed even the 'products', of emerging science. I will address two key areas: first, a separation between a strategic science and a constructed ‘public’ where public participation might happen, on the one hand operating as a one-way communication process but now increasingly dialogic, yet on the other hand also increasingly the context for strategic vision for Ireland in a global economy. We are in the era of technoscience, application-driven science with extraordinary epistemological position of legitimacy and public resonance (Nowotny et al, 2001). ‘The public’ here is often constructed as ‘disadvantaged’ in the sense of having a knowledge deficit, requiring education and more scientific literacy. Second, I ask why and where public participation should occur for something as abstract and technical as the nanosciences among communities that are truly disadvantaged in a social and economical sense, removed as they are from hi-tech policy discourses. However, there has, in recent decades, been greater emphasises in science communication theory and practice on public engagement (Wynne, 2005; Dalgado, 2010). I will focus on the citizen jury as one potentially strong, public -oriented model, drawing from an Environmental Protection Agency project on which I worked (Murphy, 2010). The chapter concludes with a description of how a sub-political dialogue, contributing to social action beneath mainstream politics, can best be achieved in an Irish context and how policy could realistically change in response to public response to nanotechnology

Young people's perspectives on genetics, identity and society using film and discussion

Since Darwin, knowledge about biology has, for many, had a diminishing effect on ideas of identity and humanity's place in the world. In recent years biotechnology has raised further public concerns about 'playing God' and 'interfering with life.' School biology curricula however rarely open up the socio-scientific debate to allow students to explore such philosophical issues. This study aimed to identify connections biology students make between current accepted genetic knowledge, biotechnology and philosophical issues of society and identity. One major element of popular culture - film - was used in classrooms to engage students to explore the interfaces of biological knowledge, technology, society and identity. Ninety-seven students across eight schools watched a film about genetic disease exploring pre- implantation genetic diagnosis(PGD), eugenics, individual identity and science in society. Structured classroom debates and discussion were recorded and coded for three categories modified from Driver et al's (1996) youth representations of science - content, process and social enterprise. Following discussions,the social enterprise category was broadened further to include cultural perceptions of biology as part of identity and society and coded for five themes

Come on, be serious: positioning and framing in the power play of classroom-based reproductive and genetic technology debates

In this new era of upstream communication, scientists and science policymakers are expected to involve non-scientists earlier in technological decision-making. One of the earliest points of entry must surely be a secondary school classroom. It is here that young citizens can explore the choices they might one day make as clinicians or technologists in future policymaking, or indeed as parents, in future moments of crisis. The use of new reproductive and genetic technologies (NRGTs) is one arena for these choices. This essay describes a type of biology class where science meets its young publics—a classroom debate using films and presentations by a bioscientist as the basis for discussion about reproductive decisions and their implications for identity and society. The aim of this essay is to report how young people connect in such a forum to wider NRGT discourses in news reports, films, comics and other media. It draws on ethnographic research in six secondary level schools, with students aged from 15-17 years throughout the Irish province of Leinster. I will look at the positions young people take on an NRGT debate in the form of physical, embodied self-representations on the classroom floor, as well as personal status in debate relational to other classmates. I wish to trace also their framing processes—how the debate is shaped by individuals using tactics of emphasis and verbal omissions. There is, as will be shown, a complex relationship between common discursive practices of “positioning” and “framing.” The data is analysed in the structure/action tradition of Bourdieu (1990) and de Certeau (1984), but also in that of practice-based science studies such as Schatzki et al. (2001)

Anticipatory governance: can we imagine a future scientific Ireland?

This 2011 article for The Irish Review examines a financial crisis-ridden Ireland's capacity to look at future science policy differently, how a current technocatic system might bring humanities and social sciences principles into 'imaginaries', imagining a future Ireland that contains high-end responsible technology. The paper proposes a move from 'lab to market' policy in favour of new approaches from the STS-influenced areas of technology assessment, and takes the example of nanotechnology as a test case for anticipatory, and responsible, governance

Reprising the Third Way: an early draft of an almost middling proposal

Does the middle of the road always need to have one placed in danger of being, rather tediously and slowly, run over by a minibus full of mediocrity? Must we always hyperventilate ourselves towards the extremes looking for revolution? Unfashionable though it may be, in this paper I want to revise (bring back, if you will) some version of Giddens's Third Way. And back is 'back'. The speculative turn onto the natural sciences and our knowledge of 'nature', has moved us mid-way between correlationism (Meillassoux, 2009) and speculation on the-thing-in-itself. In Dorsality, David Wills brilliantly watches his and others' backs, the splendor in that turn at the edge (but patently not a move back to language, “[a] primary technological system” (p14)). Heidegger wants us to be patient, wait for an event, an occurrence, even while Adrian Johnston (2014) joins Zizek and Badiou in their fear of political and ideological stasis guided helpfully by the structural status quo. And we wait for a revolutionary spark, a cause, that never happens.... On the way back then, back to the centre, some kind of paradoxical conservative, knowing disruption happens. The familiar makes us cozy up to a constantlly-forgotten type of creativity. In my essay paper to The Maintainers, I want to present the following examples, drawing from speculative realist/STS readings of futures: political calmness in the face of capitalist techno-realities, the post-punk New Wave movement from 1970s into 1980s, and the implications of the Paris COP21 ‘deal’. I will address two themes of the conference : 1) what is at stake if we move scholarship away from innovation and toward maintenance; and 2)theories, methods, and sources that might study a steady, yet creative, type of maintenance. This all fits within how we study structure in culture, technoscience and social order

Nanotechnology: public engagement with health, environment and social issues

This EPA STRIVE research fellowship report presents a literature review and fieldwork data for a project that investigated how the topic of nanotechnology can be engaged with by both experts on the topic and nonexperts. The first objective was to map out what can be said about knowledge of nanotechnology in contemporary Ireland. All perspectives on nanotechnology were taken on board, analysed and synthesised, including deviations from the accepted truths about nanotechnology. While perspectives on environmental and health implications were of particular interest, they were not the primary focus in discussions, unless raised by participants and commentators. Methods used for this study included an awareness survey and media and document analyses. The second objective was to pilot a series of nanotechnology communication events, which would provide the basis of a future communications/ consultation strategy for policy-makers. The types of activities used in these events included focus groups, a ‘citizens’ jury’, online forums and an installation in the Science Gallery in Dublin. The contributions from these activities also added to the first objective of addressing nanotechnology knowledge. The third and final objective was to report to the EPA, in order to aid future environmental research associated with public communication and wider science communication and technology assessment policy by the Irish government. The following was concluded from this project: • Scientists were the most prominent voices in public discourse about nanotechnology, but mostly in the context of commercial exploitation and innovation. • Environment and health risks and benefits were tied to social and ethical considerations very closely and participants in public engagement activities were at least as concerned about governance and equity issues (in terms of how nanotechnology is controlled) as they were about the environmental and health implication • Scientists were the most prominent voices in public discourse about nanotechnology, but mostly in the context of commercial exploitation and innovation. • Environment and health risks and benefits were tied to social and ethical considerations very closely and participants in public engagement activities were at least as concerned about governance and equity issues (in terms of how nanotechnology is controlled) as they were about the environmental and health implication • Where nanotechnology was described in the media, it tended to be either framed in commercial terms, or in basic, scientific, didactic terms for education and outreach, for example, ‘nanotechnology is …’ Both representations reduce the chances for nanotechnology risks, of any kind, to be discussed, and are at odds with policy measures of nanotechnology public engagement in other countries. • Dialogicality (expressing multiple voices and views on a topic) was weak in many official nanotechnology texts, new media approaches provided more opportunities for dialogue. • The concept of nanotechnology as an ‘entity’ was important – for young participants in particular. • Levels of attendance at public engagement events were low for the open-invitation focus group and the citizens’ jury pilot especially. The following recommendations are made: • Establish a Convergence Technologies Forum; • Ensure that dialogue initiatives are included for future nanotechnology; • Use all communication channels, including new Web 2.0 media; • Learn from the public engagement mistakes of other emerging technology debates, such as genetically modified organisms (GMOs); • Link to global networks already involved in nanotechnology and emerging technology public engagement; • Include social sustainability as a criterion in future EPA- and exchequer-funded research and technology assessment. Even though there is little media or public interest, Nano-Innovation discourses are growing. In any future campaign for nanotechnology, media exposure and public relations require considerable investment. In other countries, dialogue is considered as important as promoting the technology itself. This report offers a ‘menu’ of dialogue models for policy-makers to address the many objectives of nanotechnology strategy, from less dialogic information transfer to public-led dialogue and the public imagining of a future with nanotechnology. If only some of the predictions are accurate, nanotechnology will have many social implications. Much work is necessary to ensure nanotechnology public engagement is taken seriously in Ireland if the technology is an economic priority, or indeed if it has some bearing on progress in health, environment and technology. This report confirms what is found in international studies of science and society – public engagement needs to be about what can be accepted, not what can be sold. This report recommends that, for a more inclusive approach to nanotechnology knowledge – and to avoid another ‘GM scenario’ – dialogue must form the basis of the communication strategy with embedded ‘triple bottom line’ values, that is, where society and environment are given the same level of importance currently granted to the economy

Choosing identities: the politics and practices of classroom discourse on reproductive and genetic technologies

In this thesis, I draw on contemporary social theory, media communication studies and discourse analysis to explore how micro-political discussions around identity and new reproductive and genetic technologies (NRGTs) in classroom discussions may be connected to wider discourses. Although biotechnology in Ireland is represented by industry and the healthcare sector as a solution to dsease, Irish public opinion, as well as global discourses from popular culture, literature and film, suggests these technologies may represent a scientific or moral threat to humanity or nature. When biotechnology is raised in biology classrooms, identity is central, as existential questions about the essence of humanity are combined with future visions through genetic screeningtengineering and cloning. Yet science curricula and pedagogy in Ireland rarely opens out to address these perspectives on genes and embryos. Six schools with students aged from 15-17 years were presented with two central activities that brought social and moral relevance to NRGTs. Films were used to present reproductive decision scenarios @re-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) and stem cell research), while a visiting health researcher presented on how his work related to society. Participants argued points of view based on the film. Ethnographic notes were taken and discussions recorded. The thesis argues that Giddens' (1991) life politics emerges in how young people bring into discourse ideas about scientific progress, nature, agency, and the body through structured framing strategies of communication and local performed action. In addition to interpreting these, the thesis examines how pedagogic practices may respond to, and take part in, such discursive strategies

Optimal thermoelectric figure of merit of a molecular junction

We show that a molecular junction can give large values of the thermoelectric figure of merit $ZT$, and so could be used as a solid state energy conversion device that operates close to the Carnot efficiency. The mechanism is similar to the Mahan-Sofo model for bulk thermoelectrics -- the Lorenz number goes to zero violating the Wiedemann-Franz law while the thermopower remains non-zero. The molecular state through which charge is transported must be weakly coupled to the leads, and the energy level of the state must be of order $k_B T$ away from the Fermi energy of the leads. In practice, the figure of merit is limited by the phonon thermal conductance; we show that the largest possible $ZT\sim(\tilde{G}_{th}^{ph})^{-1/2}$, where $\tilde{G}_{th}^{ph}$ is the phonon thermal conductance divided by the thermal conductance quantum.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

Characterisation of dairy soiled water in a survey of 60 Irish dairy farms

peer-reviewedDairy farming in Ireland generates an effluent known as dairy soiled water (DSW), which consists of a relatively dilute mixture of cow faeces, urine, spilt milk and detergents that is typically applied to grassland. However, relatively little is known about the volumes generated, nutrient content and management factors that influence volume and concentration. Sixty dairy farms that had a separate storage tank for storing DSW were selected for this study. The spatial distribution of the farms reflected the spatial distribution of dairy cows across the 26 counties of the Republic of Ireland, with each farm representing between 10,000 and 20,000 dairy cows. Samples were analysed for biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), ammonium N (NH4-N), total nitrogen (TN), potassium (K), phosphorus (molybdate-reactive and total) (MRP and TP) and dry matter (DM) content. Management characteristics and parlour properties were quantified. Factors influencing volume and concentration of DSW were determined using mixed model multiple regression analysis. On average, 9784 l (standard error 209 l) of DSW, including rainfall, was produced cow−1 year−1 and this contained significant quantities of total N, P and K (587, 80 and 568 mg l−1, respectively). A typical Irish dairy farm stocked at 1.9 cows ha−1 could therefore supply approximately 13, 2 and 12 kg ha−1 of total N, P and K, respectively, across the farm, annually to meet some of the nutrient requirements for herbage production and potentially replace some of the synthetic fertilizer use. Seventy one percent of samples were within the regulated concentration limits of soiled water for BOD (<2500 mg l−1), rising to 87% during the closed period for slurry spreading (mid October to mid-late January), while 81% were within the concentration limits for DM (<1% DM), rising to 94% during the closed period. The efficiency of a milking parlour (cows per unit, time taken) plays a key role in determining the volume of DSW generated. This, in turn, also influences the concentration of nutrients and other chemicals. Large variability was found in nutrient concentrations and this presents a challenge for effective nutrient management to maximise the fertilizer replacement value of DSW