“Does science lead progress?” This thought-provoking question was explored this summer with hundreds of university students gathered from all around the world at the campus of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), a leading science and technology university in Korea.
 
Established in 2005, the International Conference for Integration of Science, Technology and Society (ICISTS)-KAIST has been hosted for Korean and international university students every August in Daejeon. The conference features distinguished speakers from academia, business, and public sectors and enables participants to exchange views, identify issues affecting science and society, and explore possible solutions.

The ICISTS-KAIST is the largest interdisciplinary conference in Asia. It is organized by undergraduate students of KAIST and promotes the idea of a science- and technology-integrated society through international cooperation of college students from diverse backgrounds. Last year alone, about 400 participants from 103 universities in 25 countries attended the conference.

Marking the 10th anniversary, the ICISTS-KAIST International Conference 2014 examined the fundamental aspect of scientific and technological progress versus social advancement under the theme of “Does Science Lead Progress?”

“We hope that the conference provides students with an interactive platform to look into some of the essential, yet easily neglected, questions such as the purpose of science and technology education in a broader context of social values,” said Dong-Yeon Woo, President of Organizing Committee for the ICISTS-KAIST International Conference 2014.

Among keynote speakers were Langdon Winner, a professor of Science and Technology Studies at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Stephen Hilgartner, an associate professor of Science and Technology Studies at Cornell University, and Steve Breyman, an associate professor of Science and Technology Studies at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Langdon Winner spoke about the fallacy of the public perception that technological innovation leads to social revolution (his presentation was entitled “The Myth of Innovation”). Stephen Hilgartner presented four aspects of the politics of vision in today’s science and technology (“Science, Technology, and the Politics of Vision”), and Steve Breyman talked about the origin of scientific deception, misrepresentation, and prevarication (“The Agnotology of Hydrofracking”).

The conference lasted five days, beginning on August 4th through August 8th, 2014 at the KAIST campus. More details about the conference can be found at www.icists.org.