History of the Association
In the late 1980s the European Commission Technology Assessment Committee, FAST [Forecasting and Assessment in Science and Technology] chaired by Dr. Riccardo Petrella, envisioned an academic programme that would train a new intellectual ‘cadre’ able to relate science, technology and science in novel ways. This new generation of academics and professionals, who have acquired intimate knowledge about how the laboratory, factory, university, market and science-policy all work together, complement those specialists working in narrowly-defined branches of science, technology, and social science. To this end the European Inter-University Association of Society, Science and Technology (ESST) was established in 1991. From the early 1990s this association provided the Masters programme ESST to train a new scientific generation who has the expertise to address the challenges that Europe and the global community faces, with an eye on the immediate future. The European Inter-University Association on Society, Science and Technology (ESST) is an association of universities who jointly teach and carry out research in the field of social, scientific and technological developments. Universities from across Europe are members of the association, which is registered as a non-profit organisation in Belgium. The intention behind establishing the association was the recognition that education and research within the field of Society, Science and Technology (STS) should be strengthened.
