# **Collaborations between Scientists and Philosophers of Scientific Practices** Within [contemporary philosophy of the sciences as practiced](https://osf.io/pr74x/wiki/home/) there are a wide range of ways in which philosophers engage with practicing scientists. To illustrate this range, the following offers a a small collection of examples - focusing on individuals directly engaging within specific scientific practices, institutionally supported interdisciplinary research projects, and specific ways in which collaborations between scientists and philosophers can be valuable. ### Individuals directly engaging within specific scientific practices One way of of studying scientific practices involves individual philosophers collaborating directly with scientists - via participating in laboratory practices, co-coordinating projects, co-designing studies, co-authoring papers, and contributing to the 'unseen work' behind the scenes of investigation practices. For a small sample of examples, see: * Deepanwita Dasgupta's 2004 co-authored book [Earth Ways: Framing Geographical Meanings](https://philpapers.org/rec/DASEWF) - for more recent interdiciplinary work see this interview on the [SCI PHI Podcast Episode 77, 2022](http://sciphipod.org/podcast/2022/3/16/episode-77-deepanwita-dasgupta) * Lucie Laplane's 2017 book [Cancer Stem Cells: Philosophy and Therapies](https://doi.org/10.4159/9780674969582) - for the interdisciplinary context see this [interview in the SPSP Newslettter #7](https://sway.office.com/9BAOrK8koNZYYsKe?ref=Link) * Alara (Jessy) Wright's 2018 paper [Seeing Patterns in Neuroimaging Data](https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.pbr.2018.10.025), written while conducting a [postdoctoral fellowship]((https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1655839&HistoricalAwards=false)) that involved residence in [Russell Poldrack's lab](https://twitter.com/russpoldrack/status/1111989490292154368https://twitter.com/russpoldrack/status/1111989490292154368) * Ann-Sophie Barwich's 2020 [What Makes a Discovery Successful? The Story of Linda Buck and the Olfactory Receptors](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2020.04.040) and co-authored 2021 paper [Odor Coding in the Mammalian Olfactory Epithelium](https://doi.org/10.1007/s00441-020-03327-1). For more, see the [SCI PHI Podcast](http://sciphipod.org/podcast) features interviews with prominent and up-and-coming philosophers of science who engage with scientists in interesting ways. There are also some Twitter threads with more examples, and open for posts about your own collaborative projects - including one posted by [SCI PHI Podcast in March 2019](https://twitter.com/SciPhiPod/status/1111407702620594177) and another by [Eden Smith in June 2019](https://twitter.com/tariqeden/status/1143790840944291840). ### Institutionally supported interdisciplinary research projects Another approach is to contribute to more interdisciplinary research projects - many of which are supported by institutional programs. For a few examples, see: * The [AHRC Culture and the Mind project](https://philosophy.dept.shef.ac.uk/culture&mind/) at the University of Sheffield, U.K. * The [Center for the Philosophy of the Sciences](https://philosophy.cass.anu.edu.au/centres/cps/home) at the Australian National University (ANU) - a space for empirically informed philosophy that 'brings together scholars from across the university to work on topics such as the evolution of cooperation, the nature of causation, and decision making in science and public policy'. Also see, the ANU interdiciplinary projects on [Major Transitions in the Evolution of Cognition](https://www.majortransitions.org/our-team) and [Humanising Machine Intelligence](https://hmi.anu.edu.au/). * [Egenis, the Centre for the Study Of Life Sciences](http://socialsciences.exeter.ac.uk/sociology/research/sts/egenis/) at the University of Exeter, U.K. for 'interdisciplinary research into the nature, history, and socio-political as well as epistemic implications of the modern biosciences—including the cognitive, biomedical, and agricultural sciences'. For an example of the outputs of this project, see the volume on [Data Journeys in the Sciences](https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-37177-7), edited by Sabina Leonelli and Niccolò Tempini 2020 * The [Epistemology of the Large Hadron Collider Research Unit](https://www.lhc-epistemologie.uni-wuppertal.de/home.html) - an interdiciplinary team investigating the philosophical, historical and sociological implications of activities at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) located at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva, Switzerland. For an example of the philosophical components of this project, see [Sophie Ritson's 2016-2019 contributions]((https://blogs.unimelb.edu.au/shaps-research/2019/11/29/philosophy-at-the-large-hadron-collider-an-interview-with-sophie-ritson/)). * The [MetaMelb Research Group](https://www.metamelb.org/) - the Interdisciplinary MetaResearch Group that connect the School of BioSciences and the School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne, Australia. For an example of the role of philosophical perspectives within this group, see the co-authored 2021 pre-print [Goal-Directed Uses of the Replicability Concept](https://philpapers-org.eu1.proxy.openathens.net/rec/SMIGUO). * The [Public Engagement in Science and Technology Adelaide (PESTA) research group](https://www.adelaide.edu.au/stem/pesta/research) at the University of Adelaide, Australia. For an example of the interdiciplinary outputs, see Rachel Ankeny and Ernst Wolvetang's 2021 [Testing the Correlates of Consciousness in Brain Organoids: How Do We Know and What Do We Do](https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2020.1845869) * The [Presidential Scholars in Society and Neuroscience program](https://presidentialscholars.columbia.edu/content/2020-presidential-scholars-application), at Columbia University, New York, U.S.A. ### Articulating the value of interdisciplinary collaborations For more on the value of collaborations between scientists and philosophers more generally, see: * Rachael Brown's 2020 paper [‘Why Philosophers and Scientists Should Work Together’](https://thebiologist.rsb.org.uk/biologist-opinion/why-philosophers-and-scientists-should-work-together) in The Biologist. Also see the related session at the [Association for Interdisciplinary and Metaresearch and Open Science, 2019 Conference](https://www.aimos2019conference.com/blog/rachael-brown) * Tobias Uller and Kostas Kampourakis's 2020 introduction to [Philosophy of Science for Biologists](https://www.cambridge.org/au/academic/subjects/life-sciences/life-science-professional-development/philosophy-science-biologists) - 'Why should biologists care about philosophy of science?' * Cailin O'Connor's 2020 interview on [Episode 120 of Everything Hertz Podcast: How false beliefs spread in science](https://everythinghertz.com/120) * [Between Science and Philosophy](http://betweenscienceandphilosophy.org/) website maintained by Deepanwita Dasgupta and Carlos Neira. * [‘Science and Philosophy’](https://medium.com/science-and-philosophy/science-and-philosophy-e122efd12ad1) a The Medium Blog edited by Walter Veit, c2020 **** Note: this is an in progress resource being created as part of the [Resource Development for Interdisciplinary Studies of Scientific Practices Project](https://osf.io/szq3c/?view_only=654a57b60d8846508fcf3d456c85017a). 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