Teaching Summary
My area of expertise is science and technology studies (STS). In a narrow understanding, STS is the study of science as a cultural practice in which explicit attention is devoted to the study of how science and technology are made, by whom they are made, and how the making and using of knowledge, interacts with its societal context. STS relies heavily, both in terms of theory and methodology, on its 'parent disciplines': sociology (of science and technology), anthropology, history and philosophy.
My teaching to biomedical and health science students is based on a broader defenition of my field, in which STS and its parent discplines are offered as a rich package allowing student to reflect on their roles as scientists and their relationships with others inside and outside of science. This I do through confronting students with questions and problems around the authority and credibility of science, their tacit understanding of the scientific method and scientific literature and the social and political nature of the knowledge they are acquiring.
The Global Health Master programme is devoted to the study of global and complex relationships between health, health care (governance), technology, science and international economical and commercial interests, all in their rich political and sociocultural milieus. The relationship between health, technology and science stands firmly at the core of the programme. My teaching in the GH curriculum is more theoretically motivated, guiding students through core STS issues.
For a longer review of my teaching (in Dutch), click here.
Supervision
I supervise students obtaining Bachelor's, Master's and PhD degrees in multiple curricula. If you are interested in writing your thesis under my supervision, do not hesitate to contact me. Click here for a selection of past theses I supervised - for inspiration.
Honours programme
I participate as a teacher and coach in the FHML Honours programme. This means that I regularly coach a group of highly promising students to reflect on scientific practice through a research project of their own.
2017-2019 "A Taste of Success"
Students will study what it means to be successful in biomedicine. They will critically examine what dominant ideas and measurements of sucess are, and how they influence the way research is being done, and careers are made (and unmade). Current dominant regimes promoting excellence in research, researchersand institutions will be an explicit part of this.
The study will be partaly qualitative and partially quantitative, as always challenging students to venture into the unknown. The students will be assissted by their coach, as well as two international experts, John N. Parker (Arizona State University, Honours College) and Martina Franzen (Humboldt University Berlin, Berlin Social Science Centre).
Read the full proposal here.
2015-2017 "Cultures of Credit"
Its assignment is to perform a research to map the breadth of authorship cultures as they exist in the life sciences groups/labs in the (international) region. To that end students willl visit, next to our university, the universities of Hasselt (Belgium) and Aachen (Germany). This research will require them to carefully delineate what they will study, and where. It will also require contextualisation, through consulting relevant literature on the topic. Subsequently, students will have to gather data, analyse data and connect literature, data and analysis in a critical discussion of authorship practices. Given the object of study (moral economies, cultures and practices), this research will be largely qualitative (in depth, semi-structured interviews), further challenging students to venture into the unknown.
This exclusive teaching project is conducted together with Sarah de Rijcke (at Leiden University, Centre for Science and Technology Studies) and Ruth Müller (Technical Unversity of Munich, Munich Centre for Technology in Society).
Read the full proposal here.