TaSTI

Knowledge, Science, Technology, Innovations

TaSTI houses and organizes cutting-edge social research on knowledge and society. The Centre is structured around three focus areas addressing the intersection of knowledge, the social context within which it arises, and the effects it has on societies.

• The Tampere research group for Cultural & Political Sociology studies power and knowledge from a cultural, constructionist perspective with an abiding interest in processes of globalization and the local-global nexus.
• The Science Studies Group investigates the epistemic and social dimensions of scientific knowledge production and formation of expertise. Our focus is on how the transformations of the science-society relationship shape research practices, academic identities, scientific ideals and disciplinary boundaries.
• The Innovation Studies Group studies and engages innovation ecosystems, communities and open innovation platforms, with a focus on inclusion and expansion of innovation activities. All three groups conduct pioneering empirical and theoretical research, as well as studies that inform policy and strategic decision-making relevant to our knowledge-intensive society.

TaSTI also coordinates highly ranked educational programmes in the field, including the specialisation in Global & Transnational Sociology in the university’s Master’s programme in Social Science Research and the Globelics Academy PhD summer school in innovation.

All three groups involve interested researchers from across the Faculty of Social Sciences and other faculties in the university studying similar processes. Considered one of the leading units of its kind in the Nordic region, TaSTI enjoys broad-based and active collaboration with researchers and centres worldwide.