ENGAGED SCIENCE – Scientists and Environmental Changes
Sarah Schönbauer (Technical University of Munich)
Abstract
Environmental scientists often engage with dramatic environmental changes, from plastic pollution and forever chemicals to melting ice caps, sea-level rise, and the decline of biodiversity. These changes are not only the focus of their research but also shape their public roles, whether as activists, policy advisors, or expert commentators. By acting in these different capacities, whether as researchers, policy advisors, or activists, scientists translate environmental changes across multiple social arenas. In so doing, they navigate complex terrains of emotional labor, care work, and career paths. Scientist-environment relationships thus raise important questions: How do scientists relate to environmental changes? And what are the social and epistemic impacts of these relationships? My research focuses on the relationships between scientists and the environments they study – the different temporalities and spatialities in which these connections unfold, and the effects they have for researchers. This research is particularly crucial in anthropogenic times – as scientist-environment relationships represent a central component in democratic knowledge societies. In this talk, I present an example of how scientists experience and research environmental changes, both as individuals and as collectives. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork and interviews in the field of marine science, I introduce the concept of environmental care—a form of care that unfolds across multiple temporal and spatial scales, from laboratory routines to acts of protest. I argue that environmental care needs to be understood not only in relation to the environments under study but also in light of institutional demands and structural pressures. At the same time, it functions as a source of emotional resilience and coping for researchers who research environmental changes. With this conceptual work, the talk provides a tool for researching scientist-environment relationships in anthropogenic times.
Biography
Sarah Schönbauer is a postdoctoral researcher at the professorship for Sociology of Science at the STS department, Technical University of Munich. Her research and expertise unfold in two main areas: academic knowledge cultures in transition and human-environment relationships. In her doctoral research at the STS Department, University of Vienna, she investigated the identity work of environmental scientists, focusing on how they navigate systemic pressures in both their professional and more-than-work engagements. Her first postdoctoral project examined the social and political dimensions of microplastic pollution, with particular attention to how different societal stakeholders perceive the issue and envision possible solutions. In her current postdoctoral project - as a former FWF-funded Erwin Schrödinger Fellow - Sarah explores how the role of environmental scientists is evolving in contemporary societies, with a focus on the field of water sciences.
Location
STS Seminar Room, NIG, St. II. 6th floor, Universitätsstraße 7, 1010 Vienna