A Meta-Perspective on Societal Security & Safety: Ontological, Epistemological, & Axiological Assumptions in Societal Security & Safety Research

This thesis explores the ontological, epistemological, and axiological assumptions held by societal security & safety researchers by utilizing the scoping study methodology to select and rapidly assess relevant literature for inquiry about these assumptions. The relevant literature is analyzed according to a framework consisting of several questions related to the metaphysical notions of the author(s), which in turn allows for typological classification of the research articles with regards to ontological, epistemological, and axiological assumptions. The typologies are drawn from a literature review explicating on the origins of the amalgamated discipline of social security (& safety) from two separate iterations (identity-based & functional societal security), which adhere to different metaphysical assumptions. This thesis reveals that the identity-based iteration is hardly referenced in the selected literature, while traces of the functionalist iteration are far more frequent. This thesis further reveal that researchers are both conform and congruent with regards to ontological and epistemological assumptions but diverge with regards to axiological assumptions

Time dependent chloride diffusion coefficient : field studies of concrete exposed to marine environment in Norway

The apparent chloride diffusion coefficient derived by evaluating chloride profiles using Fick’s 2nd law of diffusion is found to be time dependent and may decrease considerably with increasing age of the concrete. In service life predictions of marine structures this time dependency of the diffusion coefficient is taken into account by an age factor. However, reliable data for this age factor are limited. Field studies on concrete exposed to marine environment have been conducted in Norway over the last three decades in order to investigate the time dependency of the apparent chloride diffusion coefficient. This paper presents results from some of these field studies. To illustrate the sensitivity of the age factor in service life calculations, a numerical study is performed using a probabilistic approach

Pilot Society and the Energy Transition

This open access book examines the role of pilot and demonstration projects as crucial devices for conducting innovation in the context of the energy transition. Bridging literature from sustainability transitions and Science and Technology Studies (STS), it argues that such projects play a crucial role, not only in shaping future energy and mobility systems, but in transforming societies more broadly. Pilot projects constitute socio-technical configurations where imagined future realities are materialized. With this as a backdrop, the book explores pilot projects as political entities, focusing on questions of how they gain their legitimacy, which resources are mobilized in their production, and how they can serve as sites of public participation and the production of energy citizenship. The book argues that such projects too often have a narrow technology focus, and that this is a missed opportunity. The book concludes by critically discussing the potential roles of research and innovation policy in transforming how such projects are configured and conducted

Pilot Society and the Energy Transition

This open access book examines the role of pilot and demonstration projects as crucial devices for conducting innovation in the context of the energy transition. Bridging literature from sustainability transitions and Science and Technology Studies (STS), it argues that such projects play a crucial role, not only in shaping future energy and mobility systems, but in transforming societies more broadly. Pilot projects constitute socio-technical configurations where imagined future realities are materialized. With this as a backdrop, the book explores pilot projects as political entities, focusing on questions of how they gain their legitimacy, which resources are mobilized in their production, and how they can serve as sites of public participation and the production of energy citizenship. The book argues that such projects too often have a narrow technology focus, and that this is a missed opportunity. The book concludes by critically discussing the potential roles of research and innovation policy in transforming how such projects are configured and conducted

Make the weird (worlds) great again!

2016 has been a wild year for democracy in many different locations. The situation gives room for reflection also from an STS perspective

Unsung heroes and multiple practices

This is the editorial introduction for NJSTS vol 5, no.

Paradoxes of Norway’s energy transition: controversies and justice

Norway exemplifies a number of paradoxes in relation to the just transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy provision. We investigate these paradoxes by focusing on key controversies from the oil and gas sector and onshore wind power. Despite the widespread interest in avoiding conflict and increasing public acceptance, this article sees controversies as useful sites for uncovering justice issues in possible transition pathways. The controversies reveal competing interpretations of just transition amidst an inadequate cross-cutting policy response. Conventional solutions for restructuring petro-maritime industries involve taking controversies out of sight from the public and internalizing the issue of just transition to the sector’s needs. This achieves only shallow engagement with broader society regarding the scope of societal transition needed to meet climate policies. Controversies around onshore wind installations are on the doorsteps of communities themselves and call attention to the difficult social aspects of transition that require a much broader public debate and policy response. We conclude that just transition should not be interpreted sectorally in competing energy futures but rather should infiltrate both the fossil and renewables sides of the Norwegian energy provision paradox.publishedVersio

Making the smart grid through pilot projects. Insights, lessons and ways forward

This report analyses 30 pilot and demonstration projects that advance smart grids with flexible consumption and high levels of renewable energy production in Norway. • We see pilot and demonstration projects as key sites in the production of future societies. • Such projects are usually evaluated based on techno-economic criteria, while their contribution to broader societal processes tends to be overlooked. • We explore how they contribute to the shaping of energy transitions and societies

Orchestrating households as collectives of participation in the distributed energy transition: new empirical and conceptual insights

Building on recent dialogue between sustainability transition theories and Science and Technology Studies (STS), this article conceptually and empirically studies and analyses the orchestration of households as collectives of participation in the process of distributed energy transition. Synthesising across past studies, we explore three types of what we call ‘collectives of orchestration’, relatively durable collectives that work to orchestrate participation at a distance in space and time. These are: a) collectives of policy production and regulation, b) collectives of research, development and innovation, and c) collectives of technology design. We explore how these collectives enroll households, and the ways in which they mediate participation through different strategies and techniques, producing conditions for various modes of participation. We proceed to discuss the co-production of participation in and by households, including ways in which households can re-configure issues around which research and demonstration projects are set up. Through this exercise, we identify four distinct processes through which orchestration is enacted: 1) the production of visions, expectations and imaginations, 2) network construction and re-configuration, 3) scripting and 4) domestication