Les régimes de production de la connaissance biomédicale

The regimes of biomedical knowledge production: the changing face of clinical trials

Call for papers

Convenors: 

Olga Zvonareva, Maastricht University

Anna Geltzer, University of Notre Dame

The randomized controlled trial (RCT) has long been considered the gold standard for clinical research, carried out to ascertain the safety and efficacy of health interventions. Recently, however, the authority of the RCT has become increasingly contested and is beginning to be substituted by alternative research designs. Concurrently we observe the emergence of new, apparently more flexible and pluralistic, standards and regulatory forms--and an increasing fascination in biomedical research with the promises of personalized medicine and Big Data. This panel invites papers that explore how STS can interpret these developments and evaluate their implications. How is acceptance enabled of different approaches to medical intervention testing as scientifically reliable and ethically sound? What kinds of technological innovations facilitate new kinds of clinical trials and to what effect?

We are especially interested in comparative and historical perspectives on the rise of RCTs. The panel speaks directly to the conference interest in the fate of “alternative” approaches and futures and encourages submissions exploring how novel clinical research formats can offer insights on transformations in the culture and politics of biomedicine. 

The deadline for paper submissions is 29 February 2020. 

Abstracts must be made via the online form that can be found by logging in with your 4S/EASST credentials here: https://convention2.allacademic.com/one/ssss/prague20/

After you log in, please click the link ‘Submit a New Proposal’, then ‘Papers for Open Panels’. Scroll down through the list of open panels until you find #190. ‘The regimes of biomedical knowledge production: the changing face of clinical trials'. 

Click the panel title and enter the information about your paper.

Submissions should include:

• A paper title (150 words maximum) - type the title as you would like it to appear in the Program. Please Use Title Case (that is, capitalise the first letter of each word).
• An abstract of 250 words maximum.
• From the drop-down box you must select at least one descriptor that best matches your area of STS scholarship.
• If you want, you can identify other potential panels with which your paper would fit in the event this panel does not go ahead or cannot accommodate your paper.

Inquiries are very welcome. Please CC both of us into any email correspondence: 

o.zvonareva@maastrichtuniversity.nl and ageltzer@nd.edu