CIRST Information

CIRST (Centre interuniversitaire de recherche sur la science et la technologie) is Canada's main interdisciplinary cluster of researchers studying the historical, social, political, philosophical and economic dimensions of science and technology. Our work aims to advance our knowledge of these areas, and to help apply them to policies as well as to the resolution of timely societal issues that have an important scientific or technological component. The Centre brings together around sixty researchers from a dozen different institutions and a wide variety of disciplines, such as history, sociology, political science, philosophy, economics, management and communications. Located on the main campus of the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), CIRST is recognized as a research unit by UQAM, the University of Montreal and the University of Sherbrooke. It was created in 1986 with the support of the "Actions structurantes" programme of the Quebec Ministry of Education and, since 1997, has been identified as a "strategic cluster" by the Fonds québécois de recherche sur la société et la culture. CIRST's mission is twofold: a) To perform interdisciplinary research on the transformations and the roles of science in contemporary societies; b) To train young researchers.