Marija Brajdić Vuković, PhD and Ivan Tranfić, PhD participated in the Nordic STS conference in Stockholm

Marija Brajdić Vuković, PhD and Ivan Tranfić, PhD participated in the Nordic STS: “STS in and out of the Laboratory“  conference held from 11 till 13 June 2025 in Stockholm, Sweden.

As part of the panel “Flipping the tables:  Or an STS of humanities and social sciences“ they held a presentation based on the scientific paper titled “Reflexive Objectivity in a Divided Field: Epistemic Cultures and Scientific Responsibility in Social Science“, which is currently undergoing a review process.

The paper is based on a creative qualitative research with 36 female and male researchers, examining the ways in which social scientists understand and apply objectivity in practice. We have shown that objectivity is not a fixed rule, but rather a situated and reflexive practice shaped by disciplinary identity, methodological approaches and institutional context. We identify three types of epistemological orientation: socially engaged scientists, scientists realists and pragmatic hybrids – each of them expressing a different understanding of the purpose of science, rigour and social responsibility.

The findings confirm that attitudes on objectivity are deeply related to the questions of legitimacy, ethics and social relevance, whereby both gender and academic position have an important role. The paper points to the need for plural and reflexive models of objectivity, especially in the times of social crises and institutional changes. The research was conducted as an additional research, emergent and unplanned, within the project “Social responsibility and professional ethics of Croatian researchers – RESETH“, financed by the Croatian Science Foundation.