Embedding human and social sciences in technological universities. Raising critical awareness from research to teaching, public engagement and policy

The impact of emerging technologies on individual and social life is one of the most pressing issues of the present time both because of their ethical, social, and political criticalities and because of their epistemological, legal, and economic ones, which exponentially increase day by day. Thus, it is more urgent than ever to train students as future technology designers capable of being aware of the critical challenges of emerging technologies. This book makes a timely contribution by providing the reader with an in-depth analysis of why and how future technology designers should be trained through both the acquisition of technical skills and the acquisition of critical skills, starting with ethics, if they are to be capable not only of focusing on immediate profit but also, and especially, on the long-term impacts of what they do on individuals and societies. Based on the experiences and reflections shared with colleagues worldwide, this book also provides the reader with concrete examples and best practices of how to make a difference by promoting the effective collaboration, from research to teaching, public engagement, and policy, between technology designers, on the one hand, and human and social scientists with a critical focus on science and technology, on the other hand, by systematically embedding human and social sciences with a critical focus on science and technology in technological universities—that is, first, by co-designing technologies by working side by side with technology designers and, second, by training future technology designers by raising their critical awareness when it comes to addressing ethical, social, and political issues, especially by co-teaching technology design courses with colleagues who are engineers, architects, and designers.