Head: Dr. Melike Şahinol
The Science, Technology, and Society (STS) research field at the Orient-Institut Istanbul (OII) centers on the interdisciplinary investigation of how science, technology, and society intersect and shape one another. Building on the “Human, Medicine, and Society” research field established in 2015, STS at OII broadens its scope beyond medical innovations to encompass wider inquiries into scientific and technological advancement, digital transformation processes, and socio-technical networks.
A core objective is to conceptualize scientific and technological developments not as isolated phenomena but as processes deeply embedded in social, political, and cultural frameworks. Thus, STS at OII integrates empirical, ethnographic, and historical-comparative methods with theoretical perspectives. Emphasis is placed on exploring the historical entanglements of science and technology alongside contemporary innovation processes. In addition to studying current technological shifts, STS at OII also addresses the long-term developmental trajectories that have led to specific scientific and technological practices.
Areas of focus include:
- Digital transformation and automation (work, health, production)
- Socio-technical networks and global knowledge circulations
- Innovation cultures, technological development dynamics, and design processes
- Human-technology interactions and conceptualizations of the body
- Historical and contemporary constellations of science and technology within societal contexts
STS at OII is embedded in global STS networks and facilitates interdisciplinary collaborations to analyze how technoscientific practices constitute and transform social orders. Through critical cross-disciplinary dialogue, it investigates the complex societal embeddedness of science and technology.
Projects
Manufacturing Practices of Medical Instruments in Innovation Clusters: A Comparative Study of Tuttlingen, Sialkot, and Samsun
Since 02/2025
Funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG), Project Number 551920228 https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/551920228
Principal Investigator: Dr. Melike Şahinol
Research Associates: Dr. Gülşah Başkavak, Dr. Ayşe Berna Uçarol
Student Assistant: Uğur Kocager
Project blog: https://medicluster.hypotheses.org/
Medical innovations result from socio-technical processes embedded in socio-technical imaginaries, and historically shaped states of science and technology, as well as accumulated knowledge, expertise and craftsmanship of innovating companies situated in specific clusters. For example, the development of clusters of medical instrument manufacturing are not only dependent on historical trajectories of innovation and specific craftsmanship of metal and skilled handwork, but also on collective (craft) knowledge. The purpose of this study is to examine manufacturing practices of medical instruments as part of regional innovation cultures in geographically distributed but interconnected international innovation clusters. The study will use a comparative analysis based on a multi-sited ethnography completed by extensive qualitative interviews to explore the historical roots and traditions of medical instrument clusters and their impact on the evolution of knowledge in craft-based manufacturing. The study will primarily focus on the relationship between international innovation clusters and their impact on craft-based manufacturing practices in the medical instrument industry. In doing so, it will also answer the question of how the global division of labor, value chain, and political economy shape and influence the development of medical instrument manufacturing and innovation practices. The goal is to gain a deeper understanding of the complex interplay between these factors and their impact on medical instrument manufacturing and innovation.
To capture these interdependent levels, we will conduct a comparative study in three different geographies: Samsun (Türkiye), Tuttlingen (Germany) and Sialkot (Pakistan) as these are the worldwide leading hubs for manufacturing surgical instruments – collaborating with each other. The study will answer how each of these three clusters interact with each other despite their heterogeneity. The productive collaboration between these three clusters, which play a key role in the production and innovation of medical instruments, is crucial, as their production chains are highly interdependent. Failure to establish and maintain such collaboration could lead to interruptions or disruptions in the innovation chain for medical instruments. Understanding the mechanisms of innovation transfer between these clusters is therefore essential for fostering collaboration and driving technological advancement in the medical instrument industry.
While delicate handwork and highly skilled craftsmanship remain essential in the manual stages of instrument manufacturing, the integration of high technology in advanced production phases requires a synergy of various artisanal skills and modern technologies. Moreover, digital technologies and automation are becoming increasingly important, particularly through computer-assisted manufacturing techniques, robotics, and data-driven innovation processes, which are further transforming production chains.
This study has the potential to contribute to the development of the concept of regional innovation cultures by providing insights into the materialization of diverse innovation pathways and the diffusion of expertise through interconnected innovation networks.
Two-Wheeled Mobilities in Digital Delivery Cultures:
A Comparative Socio-Technical Analysis of Courier Labour in Freiburg and Istanbul
(2027-2029)
Principal Investigator: Dr. Gülşah Başkavak
Supervisor: Dr. Melike Şahinol
Research Assistant: Yavuz Ülker
This research aims to examine, from a comparative perspective, the work experiences of couriers employed in the digital delivery sector in Freiburg and Istanbul who use two-wheeled vehicles—bicycles and motorcycles. The study seeks to reveal how bicycles and motorcycles are used, experienced, and interpreted as socio-technical elements that shape the organization of labor, time–space relations, embodied mobility, perceptions of risk, and occupational identity within digital delivery cultures.
The research does not assess courier labor solely within the framework of employment relations or individual working conditions; rather, it approaches courier labor as a socio-technical process constituted through digital platforms, mobile phone applications, algorithmic management, urban infrastructures, traffic regulations, vehicle technologies, and practices of embodied mobility. Within this framework, the research is structured around the following questions concerning couriers:
- How their everyday working practices are organized,
- How they experience work-related and temporal pressures,
- How they cope with risk and fatigue,
- How they relate to platform-based monitoring and evaluation mechanisms,
- How they construct their identities as bicycle or motorcycle couriers.
One of the principal objectives of the study is to identify the convergent and divergent dimensions of delivery labor in Freiburg and Istanbul. By comparing the infrastructural, technological, cultural, and regulatory characteristics of the two cities, the research aims to understand how bicycle- and motorcycle-based courier labor is shaped within different urban contexts. In this way, the study will comparatively examine the effects of the vehicles used in the digital delivery sector on the pace of work, forms of mobility, experiences of risk, and occupational belonging. Another objective of the research is to develop the concept of digital delivery cultures and to establish its analytical scope in light of the empirical data. By adopting a holistic approach to delivery processes, this concept makes it possible to evaluate not only labor relations, but also the technologies, digital platforms, mobile phones, vehicles, urban infrastructures, and everyday mobility practices that shape these processes. The concept also aims to render visible the working practices, forms of solidarity and coping, shared repertoires of knowledge, occupational identities, and subcultural formations developed by couriers within different social and spatial contexts.
In this respect, the research aims to examine the role of bicycles and motorcycles within digital delivery labor from a sociological perspective by drawing on the theoretical and conceptual resources of the Sociology of Work and Science and Technology Studies (STS). The study seeks to demonstrate that these technological vehicles are not passive components of the delivery process; rather, they play an active role in shaping the pace of work, embodied experience, spatial mobility, risk, and occupational relations. Within this scope, the research is expected to make a comparative and conceptual contribution to literature and to sociological debates on digital platform labor, urban mobility, and courier work.
