Sociologist, social scientist and researcher Barbara Prainsack in conversation with Gerald Bast, Rector of the University of Applied Arts Vienna, Oct 2022.
Welcome: Elisabeth Falkensteiner, Curator and Co-Head of AIL
Barbara Prainsack is a professor and Head of Department at the Department of Political Science at the University Vienna, where she also directs the Centre for the Study of Contemporary Solidarity (CeSCoS), and the interdisciplinary Research Platform Governance of Digital Practices.
Her work explores the social, ethical, and regulatory dimensions of genetic and data-driven practices and technologies in biomedicine and forensics. She holds honorary positions at the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Sydney, at the Department of Global Health & Social Medicine at King’s College London, at the Centre de recherche en éthique (CRE), University of Montreal, Canada, and at the Centre for Health, Law, and Emerging Technologies (HeLEX) at the University of Oxford.
Her latest books are: Personalized Medicine: Empowered Patients in the 21st Century? (New York University Press, 2017), and The Pandemic Within: Policy Making for a Better World (with H. Wagenaar, Policy Press, 2021).
Barbara is also involved in policy-related work, e.g. as a member of the Austrian National Bioethics Commission, and as Chair of the European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies which advises the European Commission.
Gerald Bast, rector of the University of Applied Arts Vienna, invites artists and experts to the new Café Exchange for an open discussion series. The interdisciplinary conversations will cover topics from the field of art, science, culture, technology and politics and give audiences a chance to join the discussion.
To be able to grasp the complexity of today’s societal challenges, we need multiple perspectives and methods. A critical approach to the present requires more than a singular perspective, it needs the interdisciplinary approach of artistic and scientific research to create a better understanding and come up with solutions for the future.