Backstage Decisions, Front-stage Experts

April 6, 2021

An illustration depicting the public performance of scientific expertise. Four white figures in a science lab handle puppeteering strings that hold up a white lab coat. A crowd watches the lab coat as if they are watching a marionette show -by Sophie Wang"Backstage Decisions Front-stage Experts" is a new blog series co-authored by Santiago Molina, ISSI Graduate Fellow and PhD Candidate in Sociology, that examines what informs the decisions made by scientists about new technologies. "This series offers a critique of the current ways in which scientists are given autonomy to make decisions that shape how these technologies will be used in the lab, how they’ll be regulated, and what effect they’ll have on communities of patients and consumers when taken up by industry."