The 50th Anniversary for the Annual Meeting of the Society for Social Studies of Science (4S): calls for presentations, panels, and adjacent gatherings that engage our theme of TechnoPower. Science, technology, and innovation are not neutral; as STS scholars, we understand them as socially, culturally, and economically constructed and deeply entangled with a specific form of technoscientific power. The theme emphasizes that money and wealth are increasingly shaping our technoscientific futures, raising urgent analytical and normative questions about how to reclaim power from “tech” billionaires and oligarchs. At this critical juncture, our task is not only to critique and demystify technoscience but also transform how others perceive and engage with technoscience. From the reinforcement of harmful value(s) systems to the assetization of knowledge and the erosion of ecological and social justice, a specifically technoscientific capitalism has embedded market logics and elite control into our knowledge institutions, innovation choices, and into technological change itself. Yet, as we also know so well, technoscience is always contested, and STS offers plural and grounded alternatives to understanding and reframing technoscience, from citizen science to community engagement in innovation to Indigenous knowledge. A key challenge now is to accelerate our interventions into public, policy, and political debate by using our empirical, analytical, and normative tools to shift technoscientific futures away from the dictates of a wealthy few towards a technoscience that fosters collective wellbeing, justice, and sustainability.
This conference is hybrid. The conference will be held at the Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel located in downtown Toronto. You may choose to stay at the Sheraton at the 4S conference rate, if you book before Sept. 11, 2026.
The meeting includes a Making & Doing exhibition that showcases a plurality of formats and inquiries.
Shannon Murray selected six tones of voice for inspiring her design: Critical, Empowering, Transformative, Intellectual, Justice-driven, and Collective. The color palette is influenced by the locale offering varying options—pacific depth, deep crimson, burnt orange, golden ochre, walnut bark, and olive green.
Shannon Murray is a designer at Running House Graphics. Shannon is a proud member of Kwantlen First Nation, and stands as an accomplished graphic designer, leveraging her education, extensive design expertise, and unwavering passion to establish Running House Graphics. With the invaluable support of her husband Tyler, member of the Upper Nicola Band, of a decade, who handles the business aspect, Shannon nurtures the company while finding daily inspiration from her two incredible children.
View more of their work on the Running House Graphics website.
Contact: shannon[at]runninghousegraphics[dot]com.
The land acknowledgement recognizes the enduring relationships between Indigenous Peoples and their traditional lands.
Toronto, or Tkaranto, has been the site of human activity for 15,000 years. This sacred land is the territory of the Huron-Wendat and Petun First Nations, the Seneca, the Mississaugas of the Credit River and the nations of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. It is marked by a history of settler colonialism and genocide, as well as resistance; it is a site of ongoing colonial projects, even as their persistence and violence is erased in dominant accounts of the city.
Tkaranto is still the home to Indigenous people from across Turtle Island. Intersecting communities consist of those native to this land, Indigenous people from other territories; settlers who have come here by choice; communities forced into diasporas by the trans-Atlantic slave trade; or otherwise a result of settler colonialism and imperialism. The territory is the subject of the Dish With One Spoon Wampum Belt Covenant, an agreement between the Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabe Confederacies to peaceably share, care for, and protect the land around the Great Lakes. Subsequent Indigenous Nations and peoples, Europeans and all newcomers have been invited into this treaty.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission has 94 Calls to Action including reaffirming that treaties with Indigenous Peoples be lawfully honoured. Tkaronto is covered by Treaty 13 and the Williams Treaty. We are grateful for the opportunity to visit and work on this land and recognize our varied responsibilities towards it.