In the 21st century, the production of scientific knowledge has moved beyond academic or industrial laboratories to online communities, low-rent “hackspaces”, personal wearable devices, and low-cost kits ordered from the internet. Does DIY science provide a more democratic, relevant and accountable form of self-guided expertise? Or are authority and control simply shifted and permeating the production of DIY activities in unknown ways? How are quality and outcomes assessed? Like an ever-evolving ecosystem, knowledge production and use is expanding into new niches and functioning in creative ways among new sets of actors.

This seminar series explores the changing ecologies of knowledge and the implications of the public taking the production of science “into their own hands”.

Seminars will be held on Tuesdays of the Oxford University Hilary Term (January to March) 2017, at 3pm, at 64 Banbury Road, Oxford OX2 6PN.