“Do-It-Yourself Science and the Transformations in Science” in collaboration with the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission

DIY (do-it-yourself) science is the practice of scientific activities in garages, makerspaces, Fablabs, hackerspaces, and other local organizations. Practitioners, amateurs, so-called ‘makers’, or simple science enthusiasts, although from their often grassroots contexts, carry out experiments that sometimes reverberate even in the institutional world (such as the measure of radioactivity, or the editing of the genome). What happens at the interface of official science and the DIY world? Resulting from a collaboration between the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission and Maastricht University, this thesis departs from the perspective of STS (science and technology studies), shedding light on DIY science’s organizational aspects, recurring elements, expectations, moral aspects and even policy implications. A fascinating figure emerges, at times characterized by alternative visions of science as it should be, that is science liberated from institutional control. What is going to be the role of DIY science in the currently undergoing transformations in science?