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Science, Technology and Society Studies (STS) is an interdisciplinary research field concerned with how science and technology shapes and affects society and vice versa. The field has existed for roughly 50 years and emphasizes empirical studies of science and technology as practices. This means that knowledge and technology is seen as products of heterogeneous, situated, contingent and ‘messy’ processes in which social actors, materiality, other technologies, concepts and theories take part. The field of STS draws on extensive resources such as constructivism, post structuralism, process philosophy, social anthropology, critical theory, actor network theory, feminist studies, ethnography, work place studies, phenomenology and others.

At the centre, STS forms a methodological and conceptual resource for studying the role of technology and especially IT in a range of everyday and work life settings. STS helps us attend to the more or less visible and trivial aspects of the interaction between human actors and technologies. Our research often focuses on how humans and technologies forms - or attempts to form – functioning assemblages capable of action. The meticulous and tedious work of making something work is one of our central concerns.

The STS centre was established in 2000 and has over the years hosted a range of substantial national and international conferences, seminars and guests.

On behalf of the centre, the steering committee:

Researchers



Research areas

  • Healthcare practices and technologies
  • Surveillance practices and technologies
  • Organization, work and technology
  • Philosophy of technology
  • Governance, performance and technology
  • Social media and methods
  • Self-tracking and subjectivity
  • Empowerment and technology
  • Design practices and participation
  • Project management and innovation
  • Constructivism, democracy and normativity

Publications from our members

Bertelsen, P., Bossen, C., Chen, Y. & Pine, K. H. (2025). Constructing Healthy Data Data work in healthcare. Scandinavian Journal of Information Systems, 37(2), 219-232. Article 8. https://doi.org/10.17705/3SJIS/037.17
Kusk, K., Pedersen, A. M. & Bossen, C. (2026). Screening AI: Implementing Artificial Intelligence in Mammography. In F. Nunes, C. Chung, H. M. Mentis & I. Avellino (Eds.), IH 2026 - Proceedings of the 2026 ACM Interactive Health Conference Article 54 Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/3786579.3804930
Kusk, K., Nouwens, M. & Lee, M. K. (2026). Moderating the Workplace: Governing Communication Channels for Platform Workers. In N. Oliver, D. A. Shamma, H. Candello, P. Cesar, P. Lopes, A. Bozzon, T. Kosch, V. Liao, X. Ma, V. Artizzu, F. Draxler, G. Lopez, A. V. Reinschluessel, X. Tong & P. O. Toups Dugas (Eds.), CHI 2026 - Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems Article 335 Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/3772318.3790554
Lindegren, S., Jørgensen, K., Sandbukt, I. J., Kruse, A. E. & Pedersen, M. R. (2026). Interview research with individuals convicted of sexual offenses: Navigating barriers and building strategies. Nordic Journal of Criminology, 28(1), 1-20. https://doi.org/10.18261/njc.28.1.1
Bossen, C., Kusk, K. & Pedersen, A. M. (2026). ”I didn’t become a physician to be a glorified secretary”: Controversies in clinical AI implementation and scaling. In I. T. Gulbrandsen, T. E. Jensen, S. N. Just, C. Lioma, H. F. Ratner, A. Rehn & L. Seabrooke (Eds.), Controversies of AI Society: Book of abstracts (pp. 29-30). Aalborg University Open Publishing. https://doi.org/10.54337/aau.add.scai.boa
Bossen, C., Knudsen, C. & Pedersen, A. M. (2025). Working with Data in Healthcare. A scoping review and thematic analysis. Scandinavian Journal of Information Systems, 37(2), 1-36. Article 9. https://doi.org/10.17705/3SJIS/037.18
Albrechtslund, A. & AÏm, O. (2026). Cultural Scripts of Surveillance: Datafied Welfare in Denmark and France. Abstract from Surveillance Studies Network conference, Lille, France.
Bossen, C. & Jensen, L. G. (2013). Clinical overview: A framework for analysis. In MEDINFO 2013 - Proceedings of the 14th World Congress on Medical and Health Informatics (1-2 ed., pp. 1116). IOS Press. https://doi.org/10.3233/978-1-61499-289-9-1116
Bossen, C., Ehn, P., Karasti, H., Di Salvo, C., Clement, A., Pipek, V. & Dittrich, Y. (2014). Infrastructuring, collaboration and evolving socio-material practices of changing our world. In Proceedings of the 18th International Software Product Line Conference: Companion Volume for Workshops, Demonstrations and Tools (pp. 221-222). Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/2662155.2662211
Hansen, N. B., Dindler, C., Halskov, K., Iversen, O. S., Bossen, C., Basballe, D. A. & Schouten, B. (2019). How participatory designworks: Mechanisms and effects. In Proceedings of the 31st Australian Conference on Human-Computer-Interaction, OzCHI 2019 (pp. 30-41). Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/3369457.3369460
Amsha, K. A., Grönvall, E., Saad-Sulonen, J. & Bossen, C. (2017). Understanding and supporting emergent and temporary collaboration across and beyond community and organizational boundaries. In C and T 2017 - 8th International Conference on Communities and Technologies, Conference Proceedings (pp. 331-333). Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/3083671.3083717
Ostrowski, K. (2025). Narrating Techno-Futures. Paper presented at 4S/EASST Conference 2025 Seattle, Seattle, Washington, United States.
Ostrowski, K. (2025). Mapping Roquefort – Diffracting a popular cheese. Paper presented at STS-Hub 2025, Berlin, Germany.
Bjerre Olesen, S., Leimbach, T. & Krancher, O. (2025). Three faces of autonomy: Exploring configurations of high autonomy in software project teams. Paper presented at EURAM: European Academy of Management, Florence, Italy.
Dindler, C., Iversen, O. S., Bossen, C., Kaspersen, M. H. & Dalsgaard, P. (2026). Enacting Utopias: A Participatory Design Approach to AI. In D. Selloni, A. Meroni, L. Galluzzo, D. Fassi, D. de Sainz Molestina, S. Broadbent, A. D. Campbell, L. Forlano, E. Giaccardi, F. Jegou, L. Kimbell, S. Maffei, I. Mariani, M. Mortati, M. Pasari, J. de la Rosa, S. Roudavski, R. Rugeles, S. Schade, P. Scupelli, M. Tironi, O. Tomico, F. Vergani, B. Villari, J. S. Baek ... T. Franqueira (Eds.), PDC 2026 - 19th Participatory Design Conference, Vol. 1: Full Papers, Peace, Dialogue, Coexistence. Designing for living together (pp. 118-128). Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/3796624.3796657
Bertelsen, P. S. & Bossen, C. (2026). Data professionals in healthcare: Who they are and what they do? Health Information Management Journal, 55(2), 348-360. https://doi.org/10.1177/18333583251393395
Bossen, C., Chandhiramowuli, S., Comber, R., Møller, N. H., Lampinen, A., Pine, K. H. & Taylor, A. S. (2025). Data/Work in Crisis. In Conference Proceedings: Computing X Crisis - 6th Decennial Aarhus Conference, AAR Adjunct 2025 Article 24 Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/3737609.3747089
Bossen, C., Knudsen, C. & Pedersen, A. M. (2025). Working with Data in Healthcare. A scoping review and thematic analysis. (24 ed.) (pp. 1-29). SJIS Preprints. Scandinavian Journal of Information Systems https://aisel.aisnet.org/sjis_preprints/24
Pedersen, M. R. (2025). Workshop: Socialrådgiverens faglighed i en digital verde. Abstract from Socialrådgiverdage 2025, Denmark.
Danholt, P., Ratner, H. F. & Andersen, L. B. (2025). Tre forestillinger om AI i uddannelse og pædagogik: og deres alternativer. In Chatbots: Kritik og didaktik med kunstig intelligens i undervisningen (2 ed., Vol. 25, pp. 9-18). Unge Pædagoger. https://u-p.dk/vare/2025-nr-2/
Meyer, A. (2024). Scattered Safety: Working with Surveillance in Dementia Care. [PhD dissertation, Aarhus University].
Kusk, K. (2025). Divergent Temporal Dynamics and Time Work Among Delivery Workers in Denmark and Malta. In Rhythm and Vigilance: Ethnographies of Surveillance and Time (pp. 85-98). Bristol University Press. https://doi.org/10.56687/9781529246544-007
Pedersen, A. M. & Bossen, C. (2025). Making healthcare data-driven: Ordering, experimenting with, and discovering data. In InfraHealth 2025: Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Infrastructures in Healthcare 2025 (pp. 1). Article 010 European Society for Socially Embedded Technologies (EUSSET). https://doi.org/10.48340/ihc2025_p010
Lauritsen, P. (1998). Livsverdensteknologi. Institut for Kommunikation.
Olesen, F. (2003). Vidensapparaturet: Om forskningsprocesser og epistemisk teknologi. Skriftserie - Center for Sundhed, Menneske og Kultur.
Meyer, A., Ballegaard, S. A. & Albrechtslund, A. (2025). Careful Vigilance: Using GPS tracking in dementia care. Abstract from 7th Nordic STS Conference, Stockholm, Sweden.

What Danish STS are doing