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Rob Smith @rdjs.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

#STS canon in Trump's Science Policy

The screenshot says:

This process knowledge, embodied in an experienced workforce, is the true
keystone of technological capability.
The same applies to the practice of science. When the sociologist Harry
Collins studied laboratories attempting to replicate a new type of laser in the
1970s, he found that no scientist succeeded using published sources alone. Those
who built working devices had all spent time in a laboratory with someone who
had already done it. The knowledge to build the laser flowed through personal
contact, often so subtle that scientists themselves could not fully articulate what
they had learned.123
Likewise, a synthetic biologist improves through countless failed experi-
ments while coaxing cells into expressing a novel protein. An immunologist, after
years of experience and guidance from senior mentors, develops intuitions for
which protocols will work with finicky cell lines, knowledge no methods section
can capture. This is why many forms of scientific expertise require years of on-
the-job training in working research organizations, and why academic publica-
tions alone remain insufficient to transmit the craft of science.

Rob Smith @rdjs.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

Great to see that UKRI's new strategy for organisational reform includes returning science communication to 90s....¯\_(ツ)_/¯ #scipol #scicomm

A screenshot explaining that UKRI thinks telling people how what science does for them will lead them to trust UKRI

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Rob Smith @rdjs.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

Also our new book came out! It's technically a textbook, but should be a good primer for anyone trying to work out how to understand synbio in society using an approach global.oup.com/ukhe/product... #synbio #engbio #sts #governance

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Rob Smith @rdjs.bsky.social · 18/07/2025

a collaborative researcher's packing list.

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Rob Smith @rdjs.bsky.social · 10/03/2025

I'm still not sure what to make of a meeting that in many ways replayed the meeting it was thinking with (and all the tired tropes we've learnt since then), but I am VERY into it accommodating our weird events on the beach. #asilomar #sts #synbio www.science.org/content/arti...

A photo of Blue from Pigeonwing dance company digging a hole on a beach

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Rob Smith @rdjs.bsky.social · 29/01/2025

Then on Tuesday at 3pm UK time, Sarah Hartley and I will be talking about our squirrels work (↓↓↓). That's online as part of the Biological Engineering Collaboratory and very much open to all. (Send me a note if you want to come)

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Rob Smith @rdjs.bsky.social · 29/01/2025

Some promo! On Monday I'll be talking about Asilomar, why old visions of governance repeat, why it's so tiring and whether there's any way out of that loop. That's in Exeter at the wonderful Egenis Centre.

a castle in tuscany, surrounded by clouds. The text on it says 'Conferences as sites of governance, or haunted by dreams of a tuscan castle'

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Rob Smith @rdjs.bsky.social · 13/12/2024

This is really rare! Synthetic biologists saying the path forward is 'don't do it'.... obvious parallel is rDNA in the 60s/70s, but that's probably a red herring... www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1...

screenshot of the final section of a science paper available at the link in the post

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Rob Smith @rdjs.bsky.social · 18/11/2024

What do conservation managers, animal welfare experts, red squirrel advocates, foresters and land managers think about the idea of gene drive squirrels? I think this is the most evocative piece of work I’ve ever done 🐿️…made anti-charismatic by science policy. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

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Rob Smith @rdjs.bsky.social · 11/10/2024

What it's actually like to see the aurora in Edinburgh

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Rob Smith @rdjs.bsky.social · 11/09/2024

museum makes outstanding #STS curriculum

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Rob Smith @rdjs.bsky.social · 29/07/2024

So happy that Liliana recognises me as a contributor to the scholarly field of science...definitely gonna file it in the promotion case.

An email from Liliana inviting me to submit to the Journal of Global Entrepreneurial Management.

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Rob Smith @rdjs.bsky.social · 15/05/2024

We wrote a paper about some of our experiences being in and trying to create spaces for responsible innovation in #synbio and #molbot. It's a preprint so thoughts and comments would be lovely to have! #sts Oh and it has my favourite title ever.... doi.org/10.31235/osf...

a drawing of a circle of colourful soba noodles with people chatting informally. in the centre is a black and white elsi panel with people saying the same thing over and over again. the drawing is by Anais Moisy

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Rob Smith @rdjs.bsky.social · 27/03/2024

Edinburgh's AI transcription software has a brilliant new feature to autocorrect billionaires' names.

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Rob Smith @rdjs.bsky.social · 17/11/2023

My friends and I have a new paper about the ways that funders enact ideas like 'responsible innovation', 'ethics' etc. and what the problems with that might be. Click the link to give us ++ metrics please. doi.org/10.1177/0306...

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Rob Smith @rdjs.bsky.social · 29/10/2023

Guess Michelle is making sure she depoliticises science...

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Rob Smith @rdjs.bsky.social · 15/10/2023

Feeling a tiny bit Annihilation (not Natalie Portman!) on Cape Cod right now...

A lighthouse and outhouse in the distance

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Rob Smith @rdjs.bsky.social · 13/10/2023

Learning how to get out of the ivory tower at the public interest technology conference from the top floor of a $305 million building overlooking the charles river.

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Rob Smith @rdjs.bsky.social · 12/10/2023

Just finished a workshop on responsible innovation with a European funding programme and the main finding is... There's ALWAYS someone with a massive post it.

a workshop participant carrying a massive post it note on Miro

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Rob Smith @rdjs.bsky.social · 04/10/2023

Oops...we just submitted a response to a DSIT consultation saying that attempts by government to depoliticise science were actually more likely to politicise it. Guess we were wrong. 🙃

flyer saying the conservatives will kick woke ideology out of science

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Rob Smith @rdjs.bsky.social · 02/10/2023

let's see what we have here then...

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