About ISoS

Modern societies are deeply impacted by the sciences and their dynamics, involving medicine and technology. While societies depend on science more than ever, its authority as source of valid knowledge is questioned increasingly. Therefore, the systematic analysis of scientific practice and its embedding in the social context is a necessary and urgent task.

At Bielefeld University, the Institute for Studies of Science (ISoS) is the Central Academic Institute for the pursuit of integrated and interdisciplinary studies of science, medicine and technology. The researchers at the ISoS are, first, committed to integrating the relevant disciplines reflecting on science and its relations to society. These reflexive disciplines are in our institute history, philosophy, sociology, and political science. Our program is rooted, second, in an interdisciplinary working mode, collaborating with the sciences. Some of the research in the ISoS is thus characterized by a philosophy/history/sociology in science approach, addressing reflexive questions that arise in the sciences and helping scientists to solve scientific problems. Third, much of the research in the ISoS studies science in society. We thus strive for developing a transdisci­plinary, or immersive, approach by working in close collaboration with relevant societal actors in our studies of science.

Next to being a research hub, ISoS promises to provide the meeting ground for all colleagues at Bielefeld University interested in the reflection on science, medicine, and technology in an interdisciplinary manner. For the natural sciences and medicine, ISoS provides a point of cooperation with the humanities and social sciences.

 

History

At Bielefeld University, there exists a long tradition of studies of science, reaching back to the Institut für Wissenschafts- und Technikforschung (IWT) in the 1970s, and the ZiF Group on the Probabilistic Revolution in the 1980s. Since 2013, relevant activities were centered in the Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies of Science (I²SoS), which was set up in the Faculty of History, Philosophy and Theology in partnership with the Faculty of Economics and the Faculty of Sociology.

In the last years, the foundation of the Medical Faculty and the creation of a focus area in Medical Humanities, together with new efforts to strengthen the topic of Anthropocene studies offered an opportunity to expand the circle of involved faculties.

The founding of ISoS

In May 2025, ISoS  - the Institute for Studies of Science – was officially founded as a central scientific institute at Bielefeld University, bringing together the Medical Faculty, the Faculty of Sociology, the Department of Philosophy and the Department of History as crucial partners active in the circle of faculties and departments working in science studies.

The newly founded ISoS will be the home for a coherent research program in studies of science and medicine, including the study of technology and the environmental sciences, adding medicine to the roster of science studies and introducing new ethical and normative questions.

Learn more about the research program at the ISoS here.