In 2010, the Association of German Engineers (VDI) established a Professorship of Futures Studies at the Institute of Political Science of RWTH Aachen University. A key objective of this professorship is to advance the field of futures studies, especially with respect to global challenges and the role of science and technology in shaping future society.
Since futures studies is an emergent cross-disciplinary field of research still in need of more online casino reflexive epistemic foundations, we would like to discuss which important contributions exemplary social science and humanities disciplines or cross-disciplinary fields such as science and technology studies can make. While there is a considerable demand for future-related knowledge by actors from various institutional contexts— e.g., to better deal with uncertainties, risks, and ambiguities—we feel that careful consideration of how to appropriately engage with such demand as academic researchers is needed. In addition to a broad range of analytical, conceptual, and empirical issues, the workshop will touch upon themes that concern present or future challenges as diverse as sustainability, climate change, democracy and economic competitiveness in fields such as energy research, life sciences, nanotechnology, geoengineering, etc.