The Local Configuration of New Research Fields

This new Yearbook addresses the question of how policy, place, and organization are made to matter for a new research field to emerge. Bringing together leading historians, sociologists, and organizational researchers on science and technology, the volume answers this question by offering in-depth case studies and comparative perspectives on multiple research fields in their nascent stage, including molecular biology and materials science, nanotechnology and synthetic biology. The Yearbook brings to bear the lessons of constructivist ethnography and the "practice turn" in Science and Technology Studies (STS) more broadly on the qualitative, comparative and critical inquiry of new research fields. In doing so, it offers unprecedented insights into the complex interplay of national research policies, regional clusters, particular research institutions, and novel research practices in and for any emerging field of (techno-) science. It systematically investigates national and regional differences, and probes them for organizational topicality and policy relevance.