CLASS-NISTH Distinguished Public Lecture II: “How to find a good research question. On the value of curiosity and how to use it”

30 November 2018 | 12:00 – 2:00pm | HSS Conference Room (HSS-05-57)

“How to find a good research question. On the value of curiosity and how to use it.”

One of the most crucial ingredients for a successful research project is to find the right research question. But what is it? Partly, it depends on context, the larger research agenda, the funding agency and its mission and goals, on the state of knowledge in the chosen research field and one’s own positioning in it. But none of these and other preconditions lend themselves to derive easy conclusions. Much depends, so my argument, on the researcher’s or applicant’s own research interests. Surprisingly, many students have difficulty in articulating what drives them and what they would like to know. Enter curiosity: in the rest of my talk I will speak about the function of curiosity in society (including education) and in the sciences. Hopefully, it will become clearer how curiosity can be used to help you find the right research question.

Helga Nowotny is Professor emerita of Science and Technology Studies, ETH Zurich, and a founding member of the European Research Council. In 2007 she was elected ERC Vice President and from March 2010 until December 2013 President of the ERC. Currently she is Chair of the ERA Council Forum Austria, member of the Austrian Council and Vice-President of the Council for the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings. She is also Visiting Professor at NTU Singapore.

Among other, Helga Nowotny is Foreign Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and continues to serve on many international advisory boards in Austria and throughout Europe (e.g. Member of the Steering Board of the Falling Walls Foundation, Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Complexity Science Hub Vienna, Chair of Advisory Board of The Center for Research and Interdisciplinarity Paris, Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the L’Institut d’études avancées de Paris and Member of the Strategic Research Advisory Board of the Austrian Institute of Technology). Helga Nowotny has published widely in Science and Technology Studies, STS, and on social time. Throughout her professional career, Helga Nowotny has been engaged in science and innovation policy matters and continues to serve as advisor at national and EU level. From 2001 till 2005 she was Chair of the European Research Advisory Board, EURAB, advising the European Commission.

Helga Nowotny has published more than 300 articles in scientific journals. Her latest book (in German) is Eigenzeit Revisited in Zeit der Algorithmen. Her previous books include The Cunning of Uncertainty, that was featured by the Financial Times on the list of the best books 2015; Naked Genes, Reinventing the human in the molecular age, (with Giuseppe Testa), MIT Press, 2011, Insatiable Curiosity, Innovation in a Fragile Future, MIT Press, 2008, and Cultures of Technology and the Quest for Innovation (ed.), New York and London, 2006.