Hello everybody,
I will be organizing a protocol-themed symposium as part of the biennial conference of the International Society for the History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Biology (ISHPSSB or just ISH) in Porto, next summer 2025.
I am doing an interdisciplinary PhD with a focus on the dynamics of interdisciplinary coordination and collaboration in applied biology research environments (specifically in agricultural plant science). I am basically “researching research” or you could say “studying scientists in their natural environments”, using ethnography and action research to investigate cases of complex applied science environments with a high heterogeneity of expertises and scale of projects. To this is I bring an “artifactual” approach, which is to bring attention to methodological tools, technical instrumentation and protocols as the anchors that bind together different specialists and coordinate their actions.
So I thought I would do something interesting. Since I have also been involved in the Ethereum world for quite a while and have taken part in DeSci-related initiatives, to start a discussion around protocols between my perspective and bring two other perspectives: a) a practicing scientist working in an applied research institute (outside of a university setting) and b) a DeSci founder of a platform that has had experience as a practicing biologist.
However, attempting to bring these three worlds together, I didn’t anticipate it was going to be that hard. The costs of participating in such a conference can be quite high and usually academics cover it through their institutions or research project budgets. But this is an issue if transdisciplinary participation is to happen in such a context. The applied scientist works at a national research institute in an under-resourced institute and country and the founder will happen to be in another continent at the time of the conference. The size and organizational complexities involved with such a conference add another hurdle since I had to already submit and finalize the list of participants early on.
So, I am making this post for three reasons:
- Nerdsnipping those who are interested in the intersection of protocols and scientific practice (especially in biology).
- Open Call for a protocol researcher/developer with biology background who would like to substitute for the technology/innovation perspective (ideally in Europe during late July).
- Exploring the possibility doing a collaborative Gitcoin Grant to cover costs of travel for participants and for working on ways in which this session can lead to useful outputs for the SoP project.
So with that said, here is the proposed session abstract and structure:
The Life of Protocols in the Life Sciences
Abstract
From recipes for creating chemical mixtures (buffers, tissue culture media) to computational procedures and systems (software documentation, accession number formats), the landscape of scientific practice in biology is full of protocols. In concrete research setting, protocols are coordination mechanisms that formalize and systematize procedures and know-how required to conduct research (whether in the lab or field), including ways to develop and handle materials, instruments, setups, systems and pipelines in ways that facilitate coordination towards research goals. They can be either highly standardized and common across contexts (e.g. MS medium, IPEN) leading to problems of lack of appropriateness or highly contextualized leading to problems of lack of interoperability. Given their centrality for research practice in applied biology, focusing on protocol practices is crucial for addressing issues of technology transfer, reproducibility and effective epistemic coordination both inside the local research environment and across geographically distributed settings.
This symposium encourages researchers to think about cooperative processes in biological practice through the design, use and modification of protocols. Its aims are both critical, exploring pertinent ethical and technical issues related to protocol use, and constructive, by facilitating creative imaginings for a future for protocol design through appropriate digital formats and diverse technologies. These aims are pursued by creating a space for a transdisciplinary “trialogue”, merging three different worlds: a) academic studies of scientific practice, b) applied biology practice in agriculture c) and forefront innovation in decentralized science infrastructure.
The session is organized as part of the PHIL_OS project.
Organisers: Fotis Tsiroukis (chair) & Sabina Leonelli
Structure:
The symposium will consist of three presentations covering three different backgrounds and three associated domains of knowledge and practice:
- Academia - STS & Philosophy
- Applied research - Agricultural Biology
- Industry - Technological Development (in DeSci)
The session will be moderated by the chair and discussions facilitated by the commentator(s)
If you are interested in any of the above 3 proposals or if you have any feedback and comments whatsoever, don’t hesitate to comment!