Issues: Who controls science and technology?

Who controls science and technology?

SGR produces a range of resources on the issue of 'Who controls science and technology?' This includes the power of vested interests (especially the military and private corporations), openness and democracy in science, and public engagement and participation. Two of our main projects focus on military influence on science and technology, and corporate influence on science and technology.

Announcing Science4society week 2015

Science4society week is a new collection of science education activities, designed to inspire young people. The project was set up to provide an alternative to activities funded by the arms and fossil fuel industries, such as 'The Big Bang Fair'. Science4society week 2015 runs from 16th to 23rd March.

Media release, 6 March 2015

Scientific Publication in Peril: the Séralini Affair

Dr Eva Novotny discusses the controversy surrounding an academic paper showing health problems in a feeding trial of a GM crop â€“ and what it says about corporate influence in this field.

Article from SGR Newsletter no.43 (advance publication), 24 October 2014

Updates added: 26 February 2015; 9 July 2018

Evidence, uncertainty and values: some key issues

Presentation by Dr Stuart Parkinson, SGR, at the 'Circling the Square' conference, Nottingham University.

Based on SGR's research, the presentation summarises how powerful interests - such as large corporations and the military - can and do distort science for their own ends.

22 May 2014
 

Science Festivals: how can we challenge the power of big business?

ResponsibleSci blog entry by Dr Stuart Parkinson, SGR, 28 March 2014
 

Take arms firms out of the Big Bang Fair

Over a dozen SGR members, including Secretary Dr Charalampos Tsoumpas and Sponsor Prof David Webb are among the signatories of a letter to The Guardian newspaper protesting about arms industry sponsorship of the The Big Bang science fair.

12 March 2014
 

Nuclear weapons over wind turbines? UK R&D policies are warped

Weapons of mass destruction get five times as much public research cash in the UK as renewable energy. Time for a rethink, says Dr Stuart Parkinson, SGR

Article in New Scientist, 10 February 2014

Rethinking security: from projecting power to preventing problems

Dr Chris Langley, SGR, examines how two factors - the embrace of corporate partners by science and technology university departments and the erosion of distinctions between the military and the police - have contributed to disturbing security trends in the UK and elsewhere. The root causes of insecurity meanwhile go unaddressed.

Article published on openDemocracy website, 19 December 2013
 