The key dates in run-up to the conference have been
Call for cases 25. July–22. October 2025Call for case participation 12. November–22. December 2025Call for papers (not case-based) 12. November–22. December 2025Registration 15. January–20. February 2026- The conference 25.–27. March 2026 at Ruhr University Bochum
Conference programme
🚧 We are working on the programme, but the overview looks like this. Scroll down below for detailed daily programme.
Overview
| Wednesday 25. | Thursday 26. | Friday 27. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 09:00 | Case work | Case and student presentations | |
| 09:30 | ↓ | ↓ | |
| 10:00 | ↓ | ⤓ | |
| 10:30 | ↓ | Paper session 1 | |
| 11:00 | ↓ | ↓ | |
| 11:30 | ↓ | ⤓ | |
| 12:00 | ↓ | Lunch events | |
| 12:30 | Welcome | ↓ | ⤓ |
| 13:00 | Opening keynote | ↓ | Paper session 2 |
| 13:30 | ⤓ | ↓ | ↓ |
| 14:00 | Introduction to Ruhr Valley | ↓ | ⤓ |
| 14:30 | break | ↓ | break |
| 15:00 | Opening panel | ↓ | Closing keynote |
| 15:30 | ↓ | ↓ | ⤓ |
| 16:00 | ↓ | ↓ | Closing remarks |
| 16:30 | ⤓ | ⤓ | ⤓ |
| 17:00 | break | Museum visit; screening | |
| 17:30 | stsing e.V. assembly | ↓ | |
| 18:00 | ↓ | ↓ | |
| 19:00 | ⤓ | ↓ | |
| 19:30 | Welcome reception | ⤓ | |
| 20:00 | ⤓ | Social event |
Below are detailed programs for Wednesday 25., Thursday 26. and Friday 27.
Wednesday 25. March
| when | Â where | Â what |
|---|---|---|
| 12:30 | HGBÂ 10 | Welcome |
| 13:00 | HGBÂ 10 | Opening keynote by Anne Pasek from Trent University |
| 14:00 | HGBÂ 10 | Introduction to Ruhr Valley by Uli Paetzel from Emscher Cooperative Lippe |
| 14:30 | *** | break |
| 15:00 | HGB 10 | Panel Planetary Entanglements of Science and Technology with Phoebe Sengers from Cornell University, and Sandra Maß and Tina Asmussen from Ruhr University Bochum |
| 17:00 | *** | break |
| 17:30 | HGBÂ 10 | stsing e.V. General Assembly |
| 19:30 | *** | Reception |
The opening keynote of Before Ruins will be given by Anne Pasek from Trent University. Following the address, Uli Paetzel, the director of the Emscher Cooperative Lippe will present on socio‑ecological transitions in the Ruhr region.
Continuing the first day of the conference, after the opening and a break, we host an interdisciplinary and creative panel Planetary Entanglements of Science and Technology. Phoebe Sengers (department of Science & Technology Studies and of Information Science, Cornell University), meets Sandra Maß (International History at Ruhr University Bochum) and Tina Asmussen (Early Modern Mining History at Ruhr University Bochum, and head of the mining history research department at the German Mining Museum). Expect a multimodal happening.
After the General Assembly of the stsing e.V., the first day will ends with a welcome reception.
Thursday 26. March
| when | Â where | what |
|---|---|---|
| 09:00 | per case | Case work |
| 17:00 | German Mining Museum | STS meets archaeology |
| Screening of Isabelle Stengers: Building hope on the edge of the abyss (2023) | ||
| 20:00 | Rotunde | Music and food |
The second day is focused on the cases working in parallel. Later afternoon there will be a visit to the German Mining Museum, and screening of Fabrizio Terranova's 2023 film Isabelle Stengers: Building hope on the edge of the abyss.
The day concludes with a festive Before Ruins social event with music and food at Rotunde Bochum in the city center near Bermuda3eck.
Friday 27. March
| when | Â where | Â what |
|---|---|---|
| 09:00 | Case and student presentations | |
| 10:30 | Paper session 1 | |
| GABFÂ 509 | Before Repair | |
| GABFÂ 511 | Artful Conviviality | |
| GABFÂ 514 | Knowing and Being | |
| GABFÂ 516 | Working group Capacious Relations | |
| 12:00 | GB 03 | Lunch events |
| STS in times of crisis and war | ||
| Book launch/Wunderkammer | ||
| Up to Date in STS working group | ||
| 13:00 | Paper session 2 | |
| GABFÂ 509 | Architecture Time | |
| GABFÂ 511 | Tinkering with Futures | |
| GABFÂ 514 | Post-Industrial Hopes | |
| GABFÂ 516 | Working group Multiplying Data | |
| 14:30 | *** | break |
| 15:00 | HGB 10 | Closing keynote The vintage, the mouldy and the tarnished: Valuing STS cases in the aftermath by Endre Dányi from University of the Bundeswehr Munich |
| 16:00 | HGBÂ 10 | Closing remarks |
On the third day, the cases will present their work, mixed with student presentations. All the papers are presented in two session before and after the lunch.
Lunch events include STS in times of crisis and war, book launch of Ute Eickelkamp's and Stefan Berger's (eds) Nach der Kohle. Naturgeschichten aus dem Emschertal, and the stsing working group Up do Date in STS.
Finally, Endre Dányi (Sociology of Globalization, University of the Bundeswehr Munich) will close off the conference with a reflection on the collective journey titled The vintage, the mouldy and the tarnished: Valuing STS cases in the aftermath.
Venue
Buildings HGB and GABF
51.443325, 7.258841
Ruhr University Bochum
Universitätsstraße 150
44801 Bochum
North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW)