Pa.S.T.I.S.

Updates

Pa.S.T.I.S. is a social sciences research unit focused on the study of science and technology, innovation processes, and communication with particular attention to new media. Since 2008, Pa.S.T.I.S. is part of the Department of Philosophy, Sociology, Pedagogy and Applied Psychology (FISPPA) of the University of Padua.

Pa.S.T.I.S. involves around 15 researchers who carry out research, consultancy, and training activities in relation to the social, cultural, and economic implications of scientific research, technologies, and media in contemporary society. As shown by the partnerships with Italian and foreign entities, PaSTIS places itself in a collaborative perspective for research and dissemination activities. These activities are divided into five thematic areas.

Health, Medicine and Technology

PaSTIS researchers are interested in analysing the transformations of biomedical research, with particular attention to the relationship between treatment practices and innovation processes in the medical and health sector.

Particular attention is paid to the affirmation of new professionals in the sector, such as bio-statisticians and bio-informaticians:

Translational research
Big data and biomedical research
Personalized medicine

Technoscientific Issues in the Public Sphere

This area of PaSTIS activities concerns the presence of science and technology in the public sphere

The research activity is developed along three axes:

New frontiers of techno-scientific research
Science and technology in the media
Technoscientific controversies

Environment, Sustainability and Territory

PaSTIS takes into consideration innovation processes in the quest for the environmental sustainability of human activities. An increasingly large share of basic research develops concerning the interest of environmental protection.

Environment, Sustainability and Territory

Talking about sustainability automatically leads to take into consideration territorial development paths and repercussions at the local level of specific infrastructural choices in the energy and mobility fields.

Research Areas

Open science and open innovation

In the public debate as well as in politics and economic dynamics, innovation is now recognized as an element of central importance for the development of contemporary society.

The research within this area concerns various dimensions:

Innovation in the public sphere
Evolution of consumption in the digital society
Information infrastructures, design and standardization
Local innovation policies

Media and digital technologies

This area in PaSTIS research is represented by the analysis of media and communication technologies, with an emphasis on the digital world.

The area is articulated in four sub-areas.

Digital media, identity, and social relations
Media and technological innovation
Media, gender, sexualities, and intimacies
Digital media and education

Seminar activity

PaSTIS promotes the exchange of knowledge and discussion through seminars, conferences and debates between scholars and events open to the wider public. in addition to scheduling appointments that update the group’s research activities, the PaSTIS calendar welcomes international guests.