[Commlist] CfA: "Science Communication and STS: dealing with integrity issues and beyond" - 1st STS-CAT International Conference

Michele Catanzaro and Eduard Aibar are thrilled to inform about the 
official opening of the Call for Abstracts for the 1st STS-CAT 
International Conference: "STS Encounters in the Mediterranean", 
organized by the Associació Catalana d’Estudis de la Ciència i la 
Tecnologia (STS-CAT). The event will take place from 3rd to 5th 
February, 2027, at the Institut d’Estudis Catalans, in the heart of 
Barcelona.

They are writing to encourage you to submit an abstract to the panel 
"Science Communication and STS: dealing with integrity issues and 
beyond", coordinated by us, Michele Catanzaro (UAB) and Eduard Aibar 
(UOC). Submissions are welcome from researchers, early-career scholars, 
communicators and other practitioners with an expertise on the topic. 
Please, find the panel's abstract below the signature.

The conference features outstanding keynote speakers Vololona 
Rabeharisoa (PSL MINES ParisTech) and Melike Şahinol (Science, 
Technology and Society, Orient-Institut Istanbul), alongside a vibrant 
program dedicated to exploring sociotechnical controversies, health, 
digital transitions, and environmental challenges in the Mediterranean 
and beyond.

You can consult the detailed descriptions on the website: 
https://www.sts-cat.org/?page_id=113 <https://www.sts-cat.org/?page_id=113>

Submit your abstract (max. 300 words) directly through the submission 
form: https://forms.gle/uPcRSsZPMB6W6KXz5 
<https://forms.gle/uPcRSsZPMB6W6KXz5>

Submission Deadline: Wednesday, September 23rd, 2026.

Please note that if your abstract is accepted, at least one author must 
register for the conference to be included in the final program (190€ 
for non-members, 150€ for STS-CAT members. Special price for students, 
junior researchers and long-term unemployed: 50€). Notification of the 
acceptance of abstracts will be sent out in early November.

Contact Michele Catanzaro
(michele.catanzaro /at/ uab.cat)

///

Panel 8: Science Communication and STS: dealing with integrity issues 
and beyond
Convenors: Michele Catanzaro, Eduard Aibar

This panel is intended to explore how Science and Technology Studies 
(STS) and the History of Science can help rethink Science Communication 
(both as a practice and as a scholarly field) critically. The panel has 
a special (but not exclusive) focus on science communication around 
topics such as scientific integrity, fraud, reproducibility and public 
trust.

We welcome papers addressing either the embeddedness of science 
communication practices within the social, cultural, and political 
dimensions of science and technology, or the ways in which scientific 
knowledge is constructed, mediated, and contested through social 
interactions, while also facing practical challenges in engaging diverse 
publics.

Beyond this general framework, we also seek papers dealing with issues 
of scientific integrity and misconduct. From an STS perspective, 
contemporary discourses on scientific fraud and research reproducibility 
are often viewed with caution, as they frequently rely on simplistic 
assumptions about scientific practice and are sometimes implicitly aimed 
at imposing homogeneous and narrow epistemic standards across all 
scientific disciplines. Instead, STS scholars have analyzed scientific 
misconduct as a complex phenomenon rooted, among other factors, in the 
pressures of academic reward systems, hyper-competition, and the 
commercialization of research.

For science communication, reporting on integrity issues poses a 
significant challenge, but it may also provide an opportunity to shine a 
light on the social, political, and cultural dimensions of science. It 
may also be a way to claim a more autonomous, more critical, and less 
subordinate role for science communication with respect to science. 
Finally, it may be an opportunity to rethink the broader social role of 
science communication, particularly in an era characterized by 
misinformation, denialism, and so-called “alternative facts.”

We welcome theoretical contributions addressing these issues from the 
perspectives of both STS and Science Communication scholarship, as well 
as empirical studies of specific cases. We also encourage submissions 
reflecting on the everyday experiences and practical challenges faced by 
science communication practitioners.
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